I found some suitable supervisors for doing a PhD. But the problem is that they have no funding for this year. Can I start now and pay for the first year while applying for some financial support for the remaining two years of study?

If you qualify for UK research council funding, then you would be better off waiting for your supervisors to apply for funding and starting next year. In many subjects it would be nearly impossible to get funding in the way you suggest.


If the supervisors concerned have offered you a place on the condition that you find your own funding then ask them for advice. If they have simply replied to your application by saying they have no funding available this year then this doesn't mean that they would accept you if they had. What it probably means is they haven't read your application, because even if they wanted to offer you a place, they couldn't.

A small number of PhD projects come available throughout the year and if you send in a successful application you may not have to wait until October 2004 to start.

from kyl (Other) on 25 September, 2003 at 18:12
I am french female resident under 25 but studied previously in the Uk, now willing to do a phd there in biology/psychology but cannot get any funding, who should i contact?