Hi, I am currently considering various Phd options, have found one uni that has funding in my area and another uni that I like the look of but doesn't offer institutional funding. Can I apply to the first university purely for the sake of potential funding (the ad doesn't specify that you need to apply for Rearch Council funding at the same time) and then apply to the second one for Research Council purposes? Is this possible? Are there any unwritten laws on the subject that I should know about?!
Hope this makes sense, thanks :0)

Could you clarify. What subject area are you looking at, what funding is being offered?

Its modern languages, and the funding offered at one university is a full scholarship (fees and maintenance), and the other university offers no funding in my department at all, so I'd have to get research council funding. Basically I want to know if I can go through the whole AHRB process with the uni that doesn't offer funding, and just apply for the scholarship (and place at the other uni) as a kind of sideline. Would this be looked upon badly - do I need to just choose one university and stick to it? Thanks

Sounds complicated. I presume that there is no guarentee that you will end up being offered either place. If so then there is no problem with you appling for both positions. Once you have an offer from one of them you will either have to ask them to wait until you've heard from the other department or accept their offer.