for the open competition, i would also strongly advise that you get your hands on previous applicants' successful applications, to get an idea of what is required.

be as precise as you can in formulating your aims, research questions, and methods. don't worry - you can always change/adapt this later.

and definitely discuss it with your supervisor.

good luck!

- go up to people after their presentations and talk to them (say what you liked or comment on what occured to you while listening or the like)
- use the coffee breaks to hook up with (random) people. often times at coffee break people are standing around alone, whereas in lunch break they meet up with people they already know. do some small talk, often the past session is a good starting point (were you in session x? how did you like y's talk? i always get so annoyed when people don't stick to their time limits, it's unfair towards the other presenters. my own research is on z, so y's presentation really was interesting to me. which session are you going to next? i was thinking that session 34 sounds interesting because of presenter U ...)
- then afterwards, in the lunchbreak, you can hook up with those aquaintances again. it is always good to know the schedule and to know where there is food. (hey there, i was thinking of going for lunch over at Z. want to come along?)

women in science: you could try the international federation of university women IFUW. they have long decision making periods however! (i think the application deadlines are in autumn, but you can "start" (i.e. you get money) no earlier than the following june or such.)

but, do check with them, in your local country and internationally.
http://www.ifuw.org/ (international federation of university women)
http://www.bfwg.org.uk/2/ (british federation of women graduates)
good luck!

no, _ I _ am winning.

PinkNeuron was around, she posted in the main section but obviously didn't check the off-topics. There seems to have been a family crisis with her eldest child breaking his back. That's all I know; figured I'd let you know as you asked, just in case you missed her post.

If you read this, PN: I'm terribly sorry to hear about your son. I hope it's not as bad as it sounds and wish you all the strength you need to get through this!

how is it going with the paper?

i guess it depends what background work you've already done. in february i "wrote" a conference paper literally the morning before i was due to speak. it definitely was NOT the best i ever did but like you, i had had other priorities and suddenly time was very short, and then i got the noro-virus a day before i had to get on the plane.

sometimes i think i should have cancelled the thing. but then i argue to myself that like everyone else, i'm human, not always at my best, and will sometimes deliver mediocre (at best) work. if you can live with that, it makes life easier!

good luck!

congratulations!
is it for a quota place or for the open competition?

if the former, read the guidelines carefully and make sure you have satisfactorily answered all the required stuff.

if the latter, do talk to your prospective supervisor, they should help you. also, look up the ESRC's current focus areas. Is there any way you can weave them into your project? do also consider how your research might generate "useful" stuff for a wider audience, that could get you all-important extra points.

at the same time, as soon as i reached that magic moment - end of term - i realised that there are still about 6 huge mountains of work waiting, deadlines just around the corner, and so much to be done. until now, i've always been able to rise to the challenge. now i am beginning to think that this "really busy period" that i barely survived is actually what life is going to be like for the rest of the PhD - and maybe later, too. that is seriously panicking me out - i feel i'm simply not up to it. sorry about being so negative - i guess what i'm saying is yes, i'm feeling overwhelmed by the workload, too.

i've been feeling overwhelmed by the workload for the past 6 months. deadlines, conferences, papers, essay marking, teaching (and moving house in the middle). kept telling myself: this is a very busy phase- i just need to keep going- it will eventually get better. it kept not getting better. stuck it out until the end of term (teaching finished). now the worst is over and i feel so relieved.

of course you do still need an employer who will accomodate your needs. but what i'm saying is that before you consider a career change, you should look at the exact requirements of your career and figure out why exactly you are assuming that you can't take a family break. there might be good reasons. but there might simply be noboby out there who has done it before, but no real reason why it shouldn't work.

if there are few women doing a job, we assume that it doesn't allow combining family time and careers.
sometimes this is quite true - sometimes not at all. some jobs would be highly compatible with family life, but we just assume they aren't, because there are few women in those jobs.
so, it is important to look beyond the surface. some science careers would indeed make it hard to take a few years off for a family break, as things move so fast that you would invariably lose track. other science jobs might in fact be ideal for combining with family phases. for example if you can work from home, or if there are on and off times for example seasonally, or if the job involves long-term experiments (say, 3 years) that need a little constant overlooking but only really come to a closure and analysis after those years, or simply if you are in an area that doesn't move as fast as some of the life sciences are doing now - why should it be a problem to take 2 years out?

during my sociology degree i once looked at possible explanations for why there are gendered jobs - jobs that are done predominantly by men or predominantly by women. i came across one interesting observation which was that women tend consider the possibilities of combining family and career when choosing jobs/careers. that would point many women to jobs such as teachers, which would explain why there are many women teachers. however, importantly, when we chose our careers, we usually do not really know what it will actually be like - and we do not really know which jobs will permit us to combine family and career. thus, we need to base our decisions on assumptions. there are clues which help us in this. one clue is found in "role models", or simply, if we observe that there are many women doing a certain job, we get the impression (sometimes subconsciously) that this job is suitable for women - if there are many women doing a job, we assume that this job allows family/career balances.

awww, nadia, that's sweet.

my partner is the same age as me and just turned lecturer, but: he wants to have kids (i do too); and he does not want my career to suffer from it; so, he is the one worrying about how to cope with the "double burden" etc.

anyway i think it's important to keep in mind that not every science job is the same. there are huge differences as to how well careers can cope with a family break.

odd that you ask, the last few days i've been simply exhausted. i sleep late but can hardly manage to get up, then i'm drowsy all day and just wait for the time when i can go to bed.

spring tiredness?

the rest of the day i just eat whatever it takes to keep me going. i usually only realize that i should eat when i'm really very hungry, so i don't have the patience to go shopping, plan, or cook something proper. so in stressful times, apart from juices and breakfast, i stuff my fridge/cupboard with things that are ready to eat in minutes, cooked or uncooked (such as: pasta and stir-through sauce; packs of couscous which i eat with "cup-soups"; pre-cut stir-fry veggies; packs of dried fruit, fruit/cereal bars, chocolate & cookies, crisps, etc.)
the whole point being that i don't need to go shopping more than once a week max, and always have enough to keep going.
i also tend to spend more money on food when i'm under time-pressure. i grab something somewhere and eat it on the bus/train to save time. but that's not very healthy i suppose.