Hello everyone!

I am an Italian student searching for a PhD abroad (Europe) in Psychology.

I am pretty new in this "PhD world" and I am actually confused about the PhD program existing in different universities.
My understood is (please, correct me if I am wrong) that it is possible to find in every university a 1+3 PhD program fully funded and some PhD positions that can be opened in every time of the year, usually founded.

My question is: is the 1+3 program always present in every university?
In more that one case (eg: Birmingham University) I found just PhD position without a 1+3 system, but with applications opened dependently by the research projects existing.

Thanks for your help, guys :)

Not all universities have these 1+3 PhDs. It depends on the supervisor, funding and the project. Mine was only funded for three years but other people in my lab had a 1+3 PhD and other had a 4 year funded PhD.

PhD positions do open at all times in the year, but there are peaks and troughs. As the academic year has just started, fewer positions will be advertised for the next month or so compared to other times of the year.

Thanks for your reply.

There's another thing I am not sure about: sometimes I see that PhD programs start in different periods around the year. At NTU, for example, 4 periods are available http://www4.ntu.ac.uk/research/ntu_doctoral_school/applying_fees_funding/index.html.

But, if positions do open at all times in the year, what these deadlines mean?

Thanks again!

Different universities have different rules. Some let you start whenever, others only let you start when they tell you. In reality, most are probably flexible on start times. I expect those dates are saying that in order to start by the 1st of October, you must apply by the 1st of August. However, you could still start later than the 1st of October if you wanted to.

It's better to start at the start of the academic year though, because that's when most people start and it's when all the inductions and training are.

The 1+3 PhDs are often linked to research council funding doctoral training centres, and do tend to start in September. Only the universities the research councils think are strong enough in their research training for a particular subject have DTCs. The DTCs tend to have one deadline a year usually early Spring. Other fund PhDs are tied to specific research projects and can be advertised and start at any time.

Great. Thanks!