Hi, I have accepted a 4 year PhD..I thought it was fully funded for all 4 years but someone said to me I had better check that!! I am so worried..I cant check just now because I am not in the UK and wont be home for ages.

Why don't you send an email to the PhD Office of your department and ask them? I think they can help you.

Don't PaniC!It probably is funded for 4 years- or they would have mentioned this during your interview. Most PhDs are funded for 3 years, but several organisations are starting to offer 4 year funding because 3 years can be awfully short and most people tend to overrun and be without income fore some months.

4 year PhD programmes in the UK are relatively new and usually involve a lecture course in the first year combined with short stints in a number of research labs before the student is asked to select a research topic. Although it is possible that some of these programmes would accept self funded students, we are not aware of any offering a mix of 3 years funded one year self financed. Don't worry too much, it's quite unlikely. As you have access to your computer send an email asking the university to clarify the funding arrangements for your PhD - they will not think any worse of you for doing so.

Thank you for the advice..I thought I would ask advice here before asking the university in case they thought I was stupid!! I checked and it is funded for the four years..plus its a CASE studentship so I have been lucky. Thanks again.

well done - congratulations!!

Congrats! CASE are very hard to get especially for 4 yrs as well! You've got a good project there - what's it on?

I think I'm very lucky to get that 4 year CASE studentship - I didn't realise how hard it was to get one of those!! My project is looking at population decline in bird species..I can't wait to start because I have always wanted to get into conservation work with animals and I think this is the best way!! Hope you all get the projects you want too..goodluck!!