I'm no expert on this, but the new system next year should make it easier to get an award if you have a good relationship with your university and you have somebody there who will fight your corner. The only slight snag is that universities will, I think, have to bid to the AHRC for blocks of awards or will get assigned them based upon previous AHRC performances. So, there's a good chance that less prestigious research universities like the old polytechnics may well find themselves without many (or indeed any) awards to give, even if they have excellent projects to fund. So, it depends very much on what uni you'll be going to. There will still be a reduced open competition though I think.

Arrrggghhh Misshopefull, I'm really sorry to hear about that. :(

This may well be the last thing you want to hear, but I've just got a phone call from my parents telling me that the letter has arrived and that I've got funding. I'm really happy that I've got it, but I must admit it was easier to celebrate last year when I didn't see these forums and didn't find out about all the brilliant people and projects that don't get it. Arrrgggghhhhhhh, survival guilt...

For the record - its a PhD, panel 4, dated 22nd of August.

Good luck to everybody else still waiting - hope you all hear some good news soon.

Whoa - congratulations! Brilliant, brilliant news!

Hopefully this means that there's some good news coming out of panel four for me soon too! Don't think the post has arrived at my parent's house yet, so maybe there's a chance I could still be hearing something today. Fingers crossed. Am I the only panel 4 PhD waiting here now? :(

Congrats to Soarus and Lucia - great news!

nothing for me today, ho hum :(

I'm only just about the start my PhD this september, but throughout my undergrad and my MA I worked from home as much as possible and I'm sure it will be like that for my PhD. I'll go into uni to pick up from the library, supervisor meetings, teaching commitments and then the various postgrad events (seminars, special lectures, social events etc) but I doubt I'll ever go there to work. I find it much more comfortable to work at home; I can watch tv, listen to radio, make unlimited cups of tea, use a nice computer, etc. The only problem is that I can go days without ever leaving the house, which isn't good for me. I've bought a laptop to use on research trips in the hope it will get me out more, but I just prefer being at home. I live with my fiancee though, so its not as if I'm completely starved of human contact. If I lived alone I think I'd need to work a few days at uni just to remind myself I'm still human.

Heh - no prizes for guessing who I am on the Facebook group...

Nothing for me today!

I'm still waiting for panel 4 (doctoral) as well. :-(

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Ahhhh thats good news. I'm fortunate in having a good backup if I don't get funding, but I'd still really really like to know how my application has gone. Hopefully I'll be hearing from them sometime this week! I must say, its rather tempting to phone. Did you just ring and ask them if it had been generated yet, or do I need a good reason to prise the information out of them?

Huraaaaaaaayy! Congratulations - really really glad you got it, enjoy your weekend!

Not sure how to check, but you'll almost certainly be a p4. Its generally decided by the content of your proposal rather than by your department. I'm waiting for p4, so its nice to know that some goods news is probably coming out from them now.

Arrrggggghh Stressed, I'm really sorry to hear about that - was really rooting for you. Don't give up though, you're thesis sounded really interesting and if you can just make it through one year then I'd have thought there will be a good chance that your university will choose to fund you under the new system.

Congratulations to those who've got some good news though!

Yeah - don't worry. If there's anything to learn from these forums its that its not worth second guessing how the AHRC go about organising anything. For all we know, its just one person trying to throw randomly selected letters into envelopes from across a room.

Congrats Mr-Hyde! Nice to hear some more good news. I'm so used to feeling anxious about all of this that my thoughts are already drifting towards the possibility that my parents might have misread the letter offering me internal funding and given me some wrong information...

Its amazing how much the wait gets to you. On the 31st of July I was waltzing around without a care in the world, but by the 2rd of August I'd degenerated into a shivering shipwreck of a man afraid of his own letterbox.

I love the waiting room pic!

Good news, well, for me at least. No word from the AHRC yet but I've just got a letter from my Uni offering my one of their grants if I don't get external funding! I thought that they would just give me enough to pay the fees but there's a maintenance grant of £10,500 to go with it! I had absolutely no idea that this was available - whoaaaaaaaa!

It's slightly less than the AHRC grant and I have to do over 100 hours of teaching to pay my way, but I'm feeling so relieved that I'm going to be able to carry on for at least another year. Sorry, this probably isn't the place to celebrate but I can't get through to my parents or my fiancé and so if I wasn't posting here I'd probably be dancing in the street! I hope you all hear some good news as soon as possible, I'm starting to feel guilty already...

I haven't heard anything yet, but the post could arrive at my parents house any time until about 3. Everything seems to have gone a bit quiet now doesn't it? I suppose this could be the calm before the storm...