Hi all,

I am thinking of to starting my PhD (I have a scholarship and have deferred enrollment), but my faculty does not allow a PhD by Publication. Also, the PhD research needs to be completed during the time of candidature (not previous published research).

I already have three peer-reviewed journal articles, a couple of commercial book chapters (which will be published), and a further journal article under revision. I am now thinking a better option would be to find a university that awards PhDs based on previous publications, and applying to do a PhD by this route once I have reached the minimum threshold for "how many" publications and quality, etc.

Therefore, I'd like to know if anyone knows of universities which:

1. Allow a PhD by Publication
2. Allow one to submit already published work as part of the PhD
3. Award the PhD relatively quickly once one has met the minimum requirements (e.g. they organise a PhD examination within 12 months of enrollment)
4. Do not charge a huge tuition fee for examining the PhD

I know this sort of program is offered at RMIT University here in Australia, but I am not a staff member or alumni there. My preference would be to do it in Australia, but I'd be prepared to enroll in a UK university if it was a relatively simple process.

If anyone has any advice, I would appreciate it.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Hopefully the university will clear this one up for me, but I thought I'd post it here as a question. I received an offer to study my PhD in the social sciences from an Australian university, but it did not mention anything about scholarships. It described the "Type of place: RTS/CTS", but I don't know what this means. Does it mean that I have been offered a scholarship or is the scholarship application done separately?

Hi,

I am interested in pursuing an academic career in the social sciences in Australia because I believe it is something I am good at and would enjoy. I enjoyed the research I completed for my masters degree in Europe, I co-authored an article in a high impact journal and have resubmitted a solo authored article in another journal (both are ARC A grade journals) after receiving mostly positive reviews. I am returning to Australia for a one-year Level A research assistant position at a social science research institute. My intention is to gain admission into a PhD position in 2012 and I hope it will lead to a secure academic career in Australia.

However, after reading some of the threads on this site, I have heard of people with strong publishing records failing to convert PhDs/post-docs into secure positions. Therefore, I am interested in advice on how to gain a secure position in academia and whether publishing journal articles is the best method. I often hear about "publish or perish" and the importance of peer-reviewed journals as key, but when I look at the research on publishing patterns, the majority of articles are published by a small minority of academics. Further, when I look at the publication lists of academics who taught my undergrad degree, I do not see very many peer reviewed articles in high impact journals. Perhaps I am missing something and I have some questions:

How important are peer-reviewed journal articles for getting Level A & B positions?
How many articles are typically expected from successful applicants for these positions?
Is it better to churn out a lot of articles in a short period of time or spread it out over years?
Is it worth publishing other types which do not typically undergo blinded peer review, such as conference papers, book chapters? (One of my articles was rejected from a journal I sent it to, but I was offered to have it published in a book from the conference. I chose to resubmit it to another journal and hope for the best.)
How important is teaching experience during the PhD? (all my prior experience has been in research and working in state government)

I hope that by the end of 2011, I will have something like 3-6 journal articles before hopefully starting the PhD. My emphasis (or perhaps overemphasis) on publishing is so that I can have a secure academic career in the future. However, even though I am confident of my research abilities, I am very afraid of being unemployed at the end of it. I would like to think that the public sector is always an option, but maybe having a PhD would put e in a worse position than before due to overqualification. If anyone has any advice on what they would have done differently or how they successfully navigated themselves into a secure academic position, please post away!

Thanks niekyvanveggel,

I ended up accepting the offer in Melbourne rather than Aarhus. While Aarhus would have been a far safer option in terms of getting a PhD and is a lovely place to live, I think that the prospects afterwards would have been far more limited because of my language and the relativel lack of teaching/contract research options in English. Even though one has mobility to move between universities and countries after getting a PhD, from my experience in Europe the tendency is for preference to be given to internal candidates. I expect this si also the case in Australia, where PhDs from within end up with the Level A & B positions in their own institution (though I was offered the Level A position even though I have my masters from EU, so I am not so sure).

In the end, I was just not ready to commit to specialising in an academic career in Denmark and run the risk of getting a PhD but no ongoing job afterwards, as the labour market is so much poorer in Europe compared to Australia, particularly for mono-linguists and those of foreign backgrounds.

The European Commission lists PhDs in Europe on their website:

http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/index.cfm/jobs/index

Not all positions in Scandinavia are advertised on this site, your best bet is to look at individual university websites. You can find out what universities are in each country and various information by going to www.studyinsweden.se www.studyindenmark.dk www.studyinnorway.no www.studyinfinland.fi

Finland is different from other Scandianvian countries as they typically do not advertise positions or require funding, funding is provided with separate applications to research councils.

From my experience in the social sciences, your best bet is to contact the academic contact for each advertised position before applying. Foreigners and outsiders in general have pretty poor chances of getting admitted as they are competitive and often go to internal candidates.

Good luck.

Dear all,

I have been offered a PhD position in Aarhus, Denmark in a good social science research institute, but I am torn between accepting their offer or accepting an offer for a one-year Level A research position at the University of Melbourne. Melbourne have not offered a PhD position, but the expectation is that I will apply and hopefully get admitted for 2012 (I missed the 2011 deadline). Basically I don't know whether to take the offer in Denmark or Melbourne because eventually I would like to move to Australia and work in academia.

By way of background, I am an Australian with two masters degrees in the social sciences from European universities and I am looking to do my PhD in sociology, education or public administration. I have a strong academic record and one peer-reviewed publication in a high ranking journal, plus I expect more to come due to some research work I have completed for an institute.

From my experience in northern Europe, the chances of getting PhD funding are very poor, corrupted towards insiders and locals, and very random. I don't know what the system is in Australia, but if it is equally difficult, I would probably not want to take the risk of moving to Melbourne (with a partner and a young child) in hope of getting a PhD position in 2012. I would be an "insider" in Melbourne because the people who offered me the Level A position know me quite well, but it worries me greatly that I would end up without a PhD position in 2012, at the end of a one year Level A contract and a family to provide for.

I suppose the purpose of my post is to gauge how random and competitive PhD funding is in Australia. I did not even see a research proposal requirement on the University of Melbourne's website for applications, so I wonder how applications are ranked based on merit.

To add further financial detail to my situation, Aarhus offer a 3 year employment contract worth around 34,000 AUD per year after tax, but this contract include roughly 6 months of service to the institute (eg. contract research, research presentations, English language proofing of institute publications). If admitted into Melbourne, I am told I could expect around 55,000 AUD before tax for the Level A position and around 29,000 AUD in a tax-free scholarship to do a PhD (the institute at Uni Melbourne will offer a top-up). I doubt 29,000 AUD would be enough to survive on with a partner and child in Melbourne, but the family benefits are somewhat higher for people with children in Australia. I would also hope to be able to supplement my PhD stipend with other teaching or contract research work in Australia.

Sorry for the length of the post. I would appreciate any advice people may have regarding the PhD funding process and cost of living in Melbourne.

Thanks!