I'm having trouble finding a project i want to do this year, and its getting a bit late in the day. Does anyone have any advice about what I should do work-wise for the next year if i cant find one for this october? I dont want to do anything to ruin my chances for next year

Waiting till you find the ideal project is very wise..it's a very important decision. A year out did me the world of good..I worked as a technician for 4 months (you can pick these jobs up easy at your local hospital, research park etc) then i went travelling..travelling always impresses the PhD interview panels.

There are usually a lot of lab technician jobs available in research parks and such, but the pay is not so good (If you're going to live back at home though, this poses less of a problem). Remaining in some sort of academic pursuit looks more impressive than working in a bar for a year. Travelling looks good but that's obviously a bit expensiive. You could always go to Thailand/Indonesia to help with the rebuilding work or do some sort of conservation (Operation wallacea is a big one) which looks more impressive.

I was in the same position last year and I ended up working in a warehouse for 11 months, it didn't seem to do me any harm, it wasn't mentioned at my interview. I think that doing any kind of job will always look better than signing on. (Remember not all PhD's start in October)

Stay in the subject area you want to do your PhD in. If can't get paid work try volunteering as this make you look very keen and committed! Keep applying as you do get some late projects but most will have been allocated by now especially funded projects!

It's not really too late. Why don't you write your own project proposal and approach to universities that advertise with studentships but no specific project? http://www.jobs.ac.uk is a good place to look. Good luck.

Whilst there are other web sites, FindAPhD (this site) is the best place to look. Just click on the search link and get applying.

Good save findaphd team, this is a good site, but the only problem I have is that there are so many outdated projects. I recently applied for one at Canterbury with a deadline of 21st May 2001 without realising. Ahw ell, I guess there's always a bug to splat

Wow 2001 - FindAPhD wasn't even out of nappies in 2001 and this forum was just a twinkle in our overambitious eyes. Could you let us know which project it was so we can ask the University to update it.

We do try our best to make sure the information on FindAPhD is up to date. The universities that advertise with us are responsible for keeping the information accurate. As they pay us every year for the privilege of appearing on FindAPhD it is surprising that they would keep paying to promote a project that has been unavailable for 4 years.

I actually think that www.jobs.ac.uk is a better site than this one for scientific PhD's. At least they don't have out-dated adverts and sarcastic comments from the people that run the site

Well you obviously don't have a sense of humour Stu... lighten up!

Stu, the reply was given in the same spirit as Lewis made his comments. FindAPhD operates by allowing and encouraging universities not only to promote specific funded projects, but also projects which are in competition for funding (usually those who find the best student will get the money) and even those that are still looking for funding (those marked with two crosses). The reason we do it this way is because it is the way the universities themselves choose to promote their PhD opportunities on their own web sites - all we try to do is put all that information in one place. By using FindAPhD you get to see research opportunities that would never normally be advertised outside of the departments' own web site.

Inherent in the system we use is the possibility that some advertisers will not always keep their entries up to date. However, we don't think there's anything sarcastic in our saying we find it surprising that a university would continue to pay to promote a project that has been unavailable for 4 years. We do not automatically bill our customers, each year we ask them to review their entries on FindAPhD and select which should stay and which should go. All our advertisers have 24 hour access to be able to amend the details shown on FindAPhD.

Hmm I didn't mean anything by suggesting the jobs.ac.uk site. But it's nice to read the debate :-). I think FindAPhd is a great site, however in my experience, I got access to different (not better) and sometimes more information on that site than FindAPhd. Please keep up the good work, we all are enjoying the site, otherwise we wouldn't be here.

http://www.findaphd.com/search/showproject.asp?projectid=2246 there was no code so I thought I'd post the URL. 4 years is a long time to keep the ad up and I was surprised to read that.

Shouldn't complain too much really, I contacted the supervisor and he's considering me on a similar PhD, so it's not all that bad!

Other univerities I've contacted about projects have since changed the status on the ads to state there is no funding available.
I do like findaphd, it's one of the more comprehensive sites I've used and if you just check back on the "New projects page" you don't have to filter through lots of non-existat projects. the forums are very helpful too.