How did you get on? I hope that it went well!

Thank you Dunham, that sounds like a good plan.

I met up with my tutor last week to go over my proposal. He said it was perfect and that he would look into funding again for me. I also asked him if he would write a reference for me for my back up plan of applying elsewhere. I received an email from him yesterday with a great reference attached and a message saying that he was sorry that there was no funding and that he hoped that I got a PhD from another university. So basically after being told there would be funding available to me for the past seven months I hear in an email that there isn’t. So a little sad about that. I have applied for a studentship at Manchester Metropolitan University as my plan B. Has anyone attended there and what are your opinions on the place?

Thank you glowworm for your reply. I am pleased that things have worked out for you after swopping supervisors. I actually sent my proposal to another a university and heard back from them saying that they thought it was great and that I should put in a formal application to study there. This is for a proper advertised studentship so it sounds a lot more professional. I am seeing my old tutor tomorrow but am a bit more relaxed at having a plan B.

Thank you so much for your reply it’s great to get another person’s opinion. I am glad that I am not the only one that thinks it’s a bit weird. He has mentioned other funding opportunities for example in September he told me that the department account for how much money it has and if there is money for funding and that it takes place in December. I didn’t hear anything and he didn’t answer my questions on it he then said the same thing again in February would be happening in April. When I have tried being direct he just mumbles a bit and changes the subject. I am seeing him again on Thursday so I will try again.

Its good advice not to put all my eggs in one basket, he was hard work as a tutor when I was doing my MA (He didn’t really want me as a student as I was the only person doing MA Design) but I think that pushed me to do better and I got a distinction so I was really happy about it.

You raise a good point about the second supervisor, my project is concerning how design might influence sustainable behaviour so I wanted another supervisor who dealt in sustainability and waste management. My tutor said he had a friend in that department and that they might have funding available but that was months ago and I haven’t heard anything else. I don’t know whether to go behind my tutors back and email someone else from that department.
Thanks again for your help

Hi I just wanted to get some advice from people as I don’t know whether to believe what my tutor tells me. He was my MA tutor which I finished in October. We discussed in September going further to pursue a PhD. He told me that he had a student who had been ill and wanted to leave the program and that I could have her funding.

I then started working on a PhD proposal and visited my tutor every couple of weeks to discuss the PhD and how my proposal could be improved. Every time I see him he tells me that the student has said that they want to leave but that he has to have it in writing. This has gone on for six months now and I can’t afford for it to go on any longer as I am currently living of my savings. I have asked for more details about how much money there might be and other options but all he says is that he knows it’s frustrating for me and that we can meet up again to discuss the proposal (I am meeting him on Thursday).

I am grateful for all his help and do have a strong 38 page proposal document but I feel like this charade could on forever. The student who has said that they want to leave has been absent for over a year and every time I speak to my tutor he tells me that he has written to her. I don’t know whether to just give up on the whole idea as it’s not something that I can afford to do without funding.

I was wondering if i could gather peoples opinions and advice on the new knowledge section of a PhD proposal. My tutor said that this section on my original proposal that i didn't go into enough detail. My second proposal i went into a lot of detail and discussed all the data in terms of the types of materials people recycle on campus. I got told this should be in the methodology section. That my next attempt i should go into even more detail but he made the example of examinable data concerning the amount that people recycle and said that i can just give a list of examples. This is about my sixth attempt at rewriting it and i am starting to confuse myself now.
Thank you for reading.

Thank you for your reply and help TreeofLife. Its much appreciated.

Does anyone have any experience of doing a practical PhD?

HI, I am a newbie here but have been reading a lot of the post and have found them all extremely helpful and interesting. I did a BSc through the Open University when I was working full time in retail. I got to the point in my life when I realised that life was too short and I applied to do a masters at UClan in 2013. I absolutely loved it was great to meet real people and have interesting debates and the luxury of spending you days reading and designing. I graduated with a distinction in October and realised that I wanted to continue studying. I spoke to my tutor about PhD funding (I paid for the masters out of my savings so couldn’t afford to pay for the whole of my PhD). He said that he had a student who was sick and was going to leave the program but he had to get it in writing that she was leaving then I could have her funding. I meet up with my old tutor every few weeks and I have a proposal written and have started a website on my proposal topic. The proposal is practise based concerning the design of recycling containers influencing sustainable behaviours. My problems are can I create enough new knowledge without it just looking like a design project rather than PhD level and is my old tutor just going to fob me off for the next few months? I am not working at the moment b/c my tutor said that a PhD can start anytime and I would have to move to a different city to start it. Just find the situation a tad frustrating as I have spent 6 months on the proposal yet I don’t feel any further forward to getting a PhD place. Thank you for reading my ramblings.