Hi all

I've been offered a GTA scholarship at the University of Salford. The project is relates to workplace health and designing an intervention to improve it. The project itself excites me, I see real social value in the ramifications of this project (which is why I applied in the first place), however, I'm concerned the area is too specific, or specialised, and by the time I've finished there might not be demand for experience in such a specific area.

Ideally I would be interested in a project more related to my Master's dissertation, which looked at income inequality and public health in Britain. However, I think I'd be silly to turn down this opportunity, given that my qualifications aren't great: BA History and Politics from Keele (2:1) and MA Political Economy from Manchester (Merit).

Basically, I'm weighing up whether this opportunity is too good to miss, given that I am interested in it and it broadly aligns with my research interests, against the possibility that I might get a PhD in something I'm slightly more interested in (which I think is unlikely given my qualifications).

I realise I've rambled a bit but I need to make a decision ASAP and I'm nervous about deciding the next 3 years of my future! If anyone can provide any advice at all that would be great :)

I wouldn't worry too much about it not being a big enough area. THere is A LOT of research on wellbeing in organisations and its ever increasing. I know a lot of academics who are researching in the area, designing interventions like you're looking at doing and I know people who make a lot of money off consulting organisations about how to improve the health and wellbeing of their employees. So fear not!

Thanks for the kind words, sneaks. That makes me feel a lot better about it.

Another concern of mine relates to the prestiege of the institution. I mean, generally speaking, how important is the standing of the institution you do your PhD at? From what I've read, reputation matters less (and shouldn't matter at all, technically) at this level of study in comparison to undergraduate, and to a lesser degree, masters level. The department I will be in did quite well in the RAE 2008, with 50 per cent of staff 3*+, so I suppose that's a good sign!

Also, given that I'm currently in a job that I don't particularly enjoy and isn't at all well paid, AND that the economic climate is dire and shows no immediate sign of abating, this is probably a good opportunity for me.

Another concern of mine relates to the prestiege of the institution. I mean, generally speaking, how important is the standing of the institution you do your PhD at?

While university prestige is important, ultimately academic advancement depends more on the ongoing support and guidance from your supervisor, team and your ability to publish as well as network.

However, if you are to leave academia (as I did) suddenly where you did your PhD becomes more important. Generic employers, HR people and clients don't really care that Prof So and So is a world expert in one tiny area. What they are more likely to be aware of is that Imperial College is highly regarded, whereas Thames Valley isn't. I didn't realise this at the time, but have often been taken aback by the importance that non academic people place on this.

Sounds to me like you have an offer to be paid to do something you really want to do, with a high level qualification at the end of it and you are considering not taking it because you *might* get a better offer.  If you think of it like that then it should be a no brainer really.  PhDs are not easy to come by at the moment and "proper jobs" are also pretty scarce.  I realise that this is probably an over simplification but I think it's a good way to look at it. Well done on getting the offer, now accept it and over the next three years I guarantee that you will have plenty of opportunity to guide the direction your research and life takes :-)