Hi all,

A little bit about me. Recent grad about to undertake an MSc at Leiden in Public Administration. Ideal career would be that of a researcher or academic mind!

Anyway, on to the important stuff. Next year I play to complete my maser's at Leiden. the strength of the institution, the course, the value for money and Leiden's international reputation made it a no brainier as I could afford to fully finance my studies. I have aspirations in returning to the UK to complete a PhD however. Regarding funding routes, I am ware of both +3 and 1 + 3 funding. What is the best means to secure such funding. Also regarding my MSc, will this put me at an advantage, disadvantage or neither? Initially my undergraduate institution advised me to do a research master's. As I missed the deadlines and costs are high in the UK, I decided instead to do a taught master's, both for wider employability and value for money. I have since been informed that I would be legible for +3 funding so long as my master's had a research design element, which it does. They may have changed their line on this since I did particularly well at undergraduate level. I am also from the qualitative side of the research spectrum it should be noted.

Secondly, institution. I really liked my undergraduate institution and got on well with people in the department. My previous tutor is even assisting me in drafting a proposal which has proved invaluable. In terms of a PhD, is the supervisor or institution more important? I could quite happily work under this tutor to complete my PhD but some institutions may have better resources/ links for the type of research I wish to undertake. as my proposal is largely governance/ public administration focused- places like LSE with dedicated government departments are among the other places I am considering.

Any advice in helping answer my questions are greatly appreciated!

Does your u/g institution have ESRC funding for studentships in your area? This is the crucial thing to ask about to start with. In fact, I'd start by looking for all the places that do have ESRC funding in that area, look at the potential supervisors and try to put together a short list of possibilities, as you are in a field which is very competitive, and so you are probably going to be best served by making a few applications. If you want to do qualitative research, this will possibly knock out a couple of the London-based places as they seem very quant-focussed nowadays. Ideally, you want a supervisor who publishes in the field you want to: personally I'd say supervisor over institution, so long as the institution is somewhere ESRC recognised.
One hint regarding Leiden - very early on ask to see examples of essays / papers that got very good marks.

There will almost certainly be differences in expectations regarding style etc between the UK and the Netherlands and you can't afford to get low marks on a one year postgrad programme, and remain an attractive candidate for funding.

Hi bewilldered. My UG institution has funding in my area, along with two other institutions as part of a research consortium. I will draw up potential supervisors and also short-list a variety of institutions. Also thanks for that hint, its something I wouldn't have thought about yet it seems critical. I have a feeling that the Euro social sciences demand a somewhat more direct and specified approach than the UK institutions.

Regarding not applying with a research but a taught master's, will this make any discernible difference? It seems that a lot of places whilst encouraging individuals to undertake a research MA actually give out a lot of their funding to people coming from the taught Ma/ MSc route. I was told by my current u/g ESRC admissions tutor that so long as the taught master's covers some form of methods it usually makes little difference as the majority of research MA individuals undertake such a cause as they are funded via 1 + 3 schemes, basically bagging a free MA. for the record, of the 60 ECTS credits, 10 concern methods and the remaining 20 the MSc thesis. That equates to 50% of the course having some sort of research/ methods basis which I'm assuming meets the threshold for most UK institutions.

I think it might vary between institutions. Some will want you to apply for 1+3 some +3 with that MA. It will depend I think on what you want to do as a PhD (how methodologically complex) and how convincing the methods training you have looks in that context. They have to be able to make a convincing case to the committee deciding who gets funding, so it might depend on who is on the committee! Where I work, there is a methods fanatic who is highly influential - we never risk +3 applications unless the candidate has done a lot of methods courses as a result... But whether it will make a difference in funding decisions - I doubt it. It will be more about your marks on the course. You do need though to work on a narrative that shows how the Leiden experience has been beneficial in academic terms.

Thanks again bewildered. I can relate to the methods fanatics. At my u/g institution we had one tutor who had far too much of an interest in methods. I remember him finding out I actually used mixed-method software to construct the research design for my u/g dissertation and from that point on, sent me weekly emails linking me to methods articles. Needless to say he very much misjudged my interest area! I have actually had a largely informal offer from a member of staff at my u/g institution who has said, providing my proposal is sound, he would really like to supervise me. Would this give me any sort of sway when competing for funding?

Regarding the Leiden experience, I think I should be ok selling it academically. Simply put I believe out of the master's courses I looked at, minus MUNDUSMAAP (which at 2 years was far too long and expensive), it suits my future aspirations best. My draft proposal is largely European administrative practice in focus, a research area Leiden currently invest heavily in. Furthermore, it offers one of the few academically grounded MPA programmes and hopefully will allow me to study at an associated institution in the EMPA network, allowing me to pick up extra academic qualifications along the way too!

One final point actually. Is there potential for a scenario to develop where I apply to an institution, they accept my proposal and offer funding but, due to the nature of the institution, they wish me to do a research MA first in a 1 + 3 format? I imagine this can be the case in some cases if a funding committee concludes one needs further academic training.

On supervisor and whether that gives an advantage - only a very small one, in that you can work with this person from early to develop a really strong proposal. It's normal that funding decisions are made between the institutions in the consortium and across disciplines, so you just don't know what the competition is in any given year.
On the last question - yes that scenario can develop, although hopefully before it goes to the decision-makers. If it does, don't worry - in some ways it's just an extra funded year, when you can make a start on your PhD too. Given a) that if they spot weaknesses they'll make you take classes in the first year of the +3 anyway and b) most soc sci PhDs take more than 3 years, this can actually be a blessing in disguise.

Once more, brilliant feedback. I think I'm going to, on the basis of your advise, research a few institution and submit more than one application. I feel it would perhaps be rash to put all my eggs in one basket/ institution, even if I do have a preference for certain institutions.

Regards,

Jonathan

I forgot something! Regarding the all confusing 'Bologna process', it seems to be accepted that 1 ECTS = 2 UK credits. However, most UK masters are composed of 180 UK credits. Our European partners however feel that in a yearlong master's, the most credits one can achieve is 60 ECTS, this would only equate to 120 UK credits. This seems to be the accepted opinion across Europe, minus the UK. Surely this wouldn't affect my application as it’s a difference people are aware of? I say this because I know many funded post-grads at my u/g institution which came from Europe to the UK and received funding with no issue.

I've had to take extra courses on my Phd because I've a taught MA that didn't (as it turns out) have enough credits in research within it and I nearly didn't get a 3 year phD because of it (long story). So def check the institution you want to apply to first to see what they are asking for. I think the usual PhDs want from a taught MA is that you've covered a min of 60 credits in a specific module on research.