hi everybody....this is samantha here. am currently doing my masters in molecular biology ( biological recognition) in germany and would like to go into phd in thh field of microbiology....anywr around the globe. As the deadlines for teh applications are closing in.....am really getting tensed and confused as to where to apply. Could u pls suggest me a few univs and available positions if u come to know of anythin!??!??!

I am doing my PhD in molecular microbiology and intestinal health.. What area of microbiology are you interested in? There are lots of unis in the uk that offer phd's in the field. My advice would be to sure findaphd.com or jobs.ac.uk as the phd studentships will be advertised on there.

hey...thanks a ton for the reply........in which univ r u workin in? i would be interested in creating mutants, overexpression of proteins or somethin like that.....

I know there are projects available in that area in Australia (they are advertised online) and seeing you are willing to go anywhere in the world, Australia shouldn't be a problem. In my department, there are as many international PhD students as Australians, so you can be assured of feeling welcome.

Also, universities here do not have set start dates for PhD projects - you can start when it is suitable for you, your supervisors and the funding.

Besides, we have better weather!

Piglet - are you Aussie, or English in Oz? I noticed that, over the past few years, academics from my dept and other associated depts at the old University (Sheffield) have been leaving for Australia en masse - seems to be the new US. I've heard it's somewhat more relaxed there, and there are far less of the problems that we have here. So where would I find Australian PhDs advertised?

Only problem is that I would rather be a bit nearer home...

I'm Australian in Australia. Not sure I like us being "the next US" - there are few similarities. Perhaps academics come because we are an English-speaking country with decent universities and more research funding than many other countries. In my lab we have people from Australia, NZ, China, Malaysia, Europe (including UK), US and South America - maybe the multiculturalism appeals to foreigners.

People say we are relaxed. I have never lived overseas, so can't judge. Whenever I travel in Europe, I find myself wishing the locals were a bit more patient, so maybe we are more relaxed here!

PhD scholarships are advertised on the uni websites (search through Braintrack), on the job ad sites (eg. seek.com.au) and scientific ones are also on the CSIRO website. There may be a central PhD project site that I am unaware of - I was very fortunate and did not have to search and apply for my project and scholarship. By the way, we don't have vivas!

I find Australia is further from Europe than Europe is from Australia - you won't come because it is "too far", but we accept we are isolated and just get on a plane. If we were anywhere else, we wouldn't have such beautiful beaches!

I want to go to Australia, its not the distance that puts me off, its simply the fact I havent had the time or opportunity to go.. But hopefully next year I will be going toa conference in Brisbane which will be cool

coolsam24:- I am based in norwich and the area i work in is gut bacteria, various people in the group do what you are interested in. But I think the best idea is to trawl the internet for a project that ticks all your interest boxes

...or BrisVegas as we call it!

Hehe piglet - I meant the next US as in "a popular place for academics to relocate to abroad", as opposed to any intrinsic similarities between the two countries. I know where I'd rather go