You can try to learn and get accustomed to any statistical software and basic or advanced statistics in case you will be doing a quantitative study. It will save a lot of your time once the course begins.

In Australia, it is very common to change universities. My supervisor did his PhD in 2009 and he has changed two universities due to supervisory problems and funding. Its good that you have already found another project that interests you. If you want to change it is advisable to do so in the beginning itself.

I am also doing PhD in Australia and have come along with my hubby. I began last year and for the first 3 months I hated my topic, but as I read more I started to enjoy it. The first few months was tough and sad but now its a lot better. After showing some progress I started getting good support from my supervisors.

On the personal front, once my hubby found a job, we have been living a normal life. Until then the atmosphere at home was usually negative due to my PhD problems.

So if you want to take up this new project, go ahead..but be sure you enjoy it. PhD life is tough, so its best to be positive about it and enjoy the experience.

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 recently bought a new laptop as my old one's motherboard got corrupted. I am using HP 2000 notebook (i3), it came with Windows 8 and no MS Office (as mentioned by chickpea). But I have had no problems with it. I bought MS Office and have installed statistical packages that I'm using for data analysis,Zotero for referencing, dropbox, googledrive. It seems to take all the load, but I don't leave it open for days. I shut it down once a day or in two days for updates.It has 15" screen, 750gb hd, but it is quite light, I can carry it around effortlessly. All this within AUD 600 (USD 560).

Good luck with the hunt!

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.

You may also look at future job (academic/non-academic) prospects in the U.S. and U.K.

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.

Hi
I found the first article for you at

Hey explorer1,

You can check out this link. It is a book preview available on google, the book cannot be downloaded, but you can get some ideas from it.

Hi guys

Could you please help me with the above article?

It will be a great help.

Cheers.

Hello

Could anyone please email me this article?

Hi,

I am a first year PhD student, 6 months completed.

I am seeking a writing buddy, where we can keep accountability of each others progress and help motivate each other. I usually work from home, so forming writing groups or pairs might be very helpful.

If anyone is interested, then please contact me.

Thanks.