Hi all,

I am in the process of applying for EPSRC funded PhD's. I recently emailed a department asking for help with filling in the application form and whether or not funding was attached to the project.
The responce I got was quite shocking. Basically I was told that home students apply for DTA awards provided by EPSRC, however, as I only have a 2.1 I would have very little chance of getting one.

Is this true? Is it now the case that funding is only available to the top students? If so then how does anybody with a 2.1 and not a first, seek funding?

Thanks

Hi all, this is my first post and I’m in need of some advice.
I am in the first year of my PhD and I have been doing it about 2 months now. In the summer after my third year at uni I managed to get some work experience in a research group at a university working with the head of the department and I really liked the group and the research. At the end of the summer they said that they would be pleased to offer me a PhD, so in my fourth year I never really looked about for any PhD's. Around February I met the department head again and he told me all about the project and I thought that it was definitely for me. Around March time I met the potential supervisor and realised that I didn't like him and that we really wouldn't get on. That and a few other things led to me turning down the PhD. So there I was with no PhD and with it being March, most places were already filled up. I later found out that a group in my own department still had a vacancy so I took it. The group and the project were no way as appealing to me as the other PhD I nearly had but I really wanted to do research instead of getting a job so I took it.
Now that I am doing this PhD however, I realise that I do not want to do research in this particular field forever. It's fine for a PhD but I really want to spend my life researching the types of things that I would have been doing if I had taken the first PhD. I have looked at post doc positions in it and every one of them says that they take the people with the most experience - which wouldn't be me. I really wish that I never took this PhD and that I had got a temporary job until this round of PhD positions came out, so that I could apply for one in the field I want to research in.
So being in this situation I have a few questions.
1) Should I finish this PhD or should I just quit it and apply for one in the field I really want to research in?
2) What are the steps involved in withdrawing from a PhD?
3) How long does the withdrawn process take?
4) Can I apply for another PhD while I am still registered on this one or do I have to completely withdraw first?
5) Do I have to repay any of the stipend that I have received up till now from the funding council?
6) If I do withdraw and apply for another PhD, can it be funded with the funding council that funds me now or will the funding council reject me?
Obviously if I withdraw from this PhD there are no guarantees that I will be offered another one and so it would be a big gamble. On the other hand, while I do enjoy this field of research I do not want to do it forever, and would love more than anything to spend my life researching in the other field. So either way it’s a big decision that requires a lot of thought.
What would you do in this situation/can you offer any advice?
Thanks,
Daniel