My university has suggested that they may be able to provide me with funding for a PhD if I can come up with good proposals including research questions. Any advice on how this should be structured? How can I judge whether a topic would be worthwhile for research? Any advice would be appreciated.

Use an electronic journal database such as MCB Emerald. Either type in keywords of topics that interest you or read the latest volumes to find out what are the latest in-things as a topic. Then find a match with a potential supervisor in the department

Once you have identified a topic that interests you, try to identify 'gaps' in the literature i.e. what isn't currently known about the topic? What can be gained from finding out this information? What methods could you use to undertake this research?

Thanks to you both for your help.

You're welcome, good luck with your proposal :o)

When I submitted a proposal for research - it was fairly broad. the focus has shifted many times during the course of study - dont get bogged down in detailed hypotheses to start with - sometimes a broad but exciting area you can really sell does the trick... Another idea is to find a PhD or post-doc doing a similar topic to your interest and ask what they would like to have done if they had had the time..