Hi
I need your advice regarding my issue. I am doing PhD from Australia. I am about to complete my first year in June (my confirmation is scheduled in June) and I am self funded student. I had applied after the closure of the scholarship round so could not I could not receive any funding. Now I have exhausted all my funds and cannot manage next years fees. I am not taking up any work now since my confirmation is due in two months time. My university has no scholarship round this year, so my supervisor is kind enough to allow me to apply elsewhere.

But I am not sure whether my application will be considered by other universities or not, since I am not a new candidate. Plus, can you advise what are the chances of getting a scholarship? I have one publication in a C rated journal (as per ABDC journal ranking list 2013) and one paper which I have co-authored has been selected for a conference. I do not have any other research experience.

What are my chances and can you suggest how I can improve my application and increase my likelihood of admission and scholarship in another university.

Thanks in advance.

It's very difficult to get a scholarship as a self-funded student. In the UK, there are lots of charities and grant funding bodies that you can apply to for smaller sums, and I imagine that Australia has a similar system. Search on funding sections of different university websites.

Alternatively, you may need to start a new PhD and apply for a funded one.

Thanks for your reply TreeofLife!

In Australia, it not very easy to find a PhD project. There are very few listings. The standard process it to find your research interest, prepare a research proposal, approach supervisors to find if they are interested and willing to supervise you and then apply for admission n scholarship. Scholarship and admission are independent of each other.

In UK, I believe it is common to find a project and apply for that project, and most of the projects are fully funded ones.

Yes the system here is similar in terms of charitable and grant funding bodies, but there are very few in finance field, more focus is towards agriculture and small business.

I am taking my chances at applying as a new student. This is the only option that I can think of.

Ah I see, that does make it more difficult then, what a strange situation!

Oh yes it is strange!

Do you think there is anything I can do to improve my chances. I have one publication (1st author) and one conference acceptance (2nd author).

Also do you think if I mention that I am already pursing PhD at another institution, they will weigh the amount of work I have done within one year of my study.

I am not sure where I stand coz if I am a complete new student the scholarship panel will compare my grades and research novelty and my strengths to see if I should be awarded a scholarship or not. What do you think they will see for a candidate who has already completed one year?

Any suggestions are welcome.

I don't really have any guidance I can offer on this, because it's such a different situation to anything I have heard of.

Does anyone else on here have any advice? What happens when people have changed supervisors, since that seems to be the most similar scenario?