Hello Nitin

Yes, many people with diverse backgrounds get into management degrees. Having said this, I would prefer to do masters in the same area in which I did my undergrad degree. If you are concerned about your future job prospects with your masters degree being in different stream, again it would depend upon the country and category of public sector organizations you are applying for job.

If you do not feel comfortable in MIS, then other possibility would be to do a masters in civil engineering as well. But you must also complete MIS if you have invested sufficient time in it. An extra knowledge and degree would always be helpful.

Hope this helps.

What kind of changes your supervisor is suggesting? Rephrasing the same theme or addition of new themes and topics. If it is the later case, I would tell the supervisor politely that it is the best I could do. But for that you must be sure that your piece of writing is good enough for qualifying into your thesis section.

Reading this entire conversation, I feel a bit scared. I see a lot of PhD students in my university and at other universities in the UK who do not come to university for weeks. Taking an entirely positive note, may be it all depends upon the supervisor: the amount of freedom you have in choosing to work in office or at home. Perhaps all it boils down to is to take the words of your supervisor very seriously.

Thumbs up and congratulations for passing the milestone.

Just curious, when did you start your phd and how much time did it take to reach the upgrade process? I would be interested to know what is the usual time frame?

I think you need to discuss with someone with knowledge of this particular area of media design.

Apart from this, I would suggest not to stretch yourself too much. Any of the universities might be good for you. Sometime, you need only a little push and then you can work on your own to move further. Your home university, despite having a shorter program, might give you enough needed push and then you can move further from there. So, if you are financially comfortable in your country, that might be better option for you. Apart from this, you can make up for any shortcomings through short courses as well after you are back on job again.

Hope this helps.

Use scholar.google.com to search for a few of the topics you are interested in, find a few research articles to study. This way, you may narrow down to a topic of your liking.

On a lighter note, get into a PhD. It is a sort of lottery.

If you have been a good student as it seems to be from your first class degree, a PhD might be the best option for you. Specially so, if you want to avoid monotony of your job and would like to keep in touch with what you have studied. A job in academics is perhaps is one of the very few places where you do not report to a boss on daily basis, do not have to pay client visits, etc. You can also enjoy a lot of freedom in what projects you take up as an academic. If you are brilliant enough you can get to have set up your own technology start-up.

Apart from UK, you may also look for opportunities in USA and Canada. Both countries offer scholarships for good students. I think, if you are able to get admission to any of top 10 universities there, under most of the circumstances you need not worry about finances including your tuition fee and living expenses. Many universities grant admissions for MS leading to PhD as well.

Hope this helps.

Depends upon your university and supervisor. You can check for any precedents in your particular university, discuss with your colleagues and may be come up with some solution.

A PhD is about perseverance. You are already one year into it. If you stick to it, two years will be over in no time. You will feel better after having accomplished your goal. If you leave it now, you might have regrets all your later life.

Just a thought.

Hello Ishtiaq

You can probably search for some journals in this area and then narrow down on a few articles to base your presentation on. For example, you can start from here:

http://goo.gl/22ilyS

Or here

http://goo.gl/S5twjc

Hope this helps.

Hello palpalpal

I should not be replying to your post as I am not qualified for it. Someone experienced here might give a better advice.

Meanwhile, I would suggest you may include whatever costs you can think of and the funding agency would itself do better to include or exclude it rather than leaving it out yourself. Specially so, if your travel and accommodation is not being funded by the host institute. Just a thought.

Dear lude

You seem to be a phd and a professor already. So why would a professor hire another professor? :)

Please don't mind my above comment. Apart from the advice in other posts, I would suggest that don't devise different methods to applying for funding. Just be yourself. You are perhaps doing an overkill job. It may not be a good approach to suggest ideas to professors on their papers which. Don't try to be smarter than your would-be boss.

However, when you write your research proposal, it is good to cite the research of professor you are contacting. It would also perhaps do better that you should seek help from your previous professors to review your research proposal.

Keep your cover page application short and simple.

Hello Saajeda

Professors like all professionals are busy person and normally may not reply emails from complete strangers. I would suggest to find literature on the topic you want to do research on. Read the literature and follow the methodology used in these papers. Contact the author of any paper you like to ask questions you may have. You might get some answers and build some network this way.

Also search if any professors has funding in this area which may be limited as compared to other areas such as earthquake research. Try to follow the research of professors having fund and eventually you may get what you want.