Ok it all sounds cryptical to me. I am a french student in landscape architecture, but in a Ecole d'ingénieur, which of course has no equivalent in the UK. I found a tutor and a topic in Sheffield, in landscape architecture. And he told me that I might have troubles with my diploma (although it is a Master degree, a sort of Msc in Engineering) and that I should have to do an extra year MRes and do my PhD in a 1+3 kind of way. Now, I would really appreciate a second opinion. Is it possible to make a PhD in a social science with a Msc? I also want to add that I have professional (well, training) experience in research. Doesn't it count at all?