======= Date Modified 24 06 2010 16:06:52 =======
My potential PhD supervisors said that they've not yet specific project for me. I will spend my 1st year doing research works for the team, followed the senior PhD & postdoc's works closely, and "hopefully" by the end of my 1st year we can all come up with a PhD project for me in that field. Does that sound like a normal finded studentship? Thanks in advance for your responds

Usually the topic will be predefined; however, I don't think this sounds like a bad idea as most people don't really have a specific direction until at least end of first year, and a lot of people (myself included) change direction at that point.

As long as you're happy with the field and happy to work in the area that they're working in in some way, I think it sounds reasonable.

This was not my path, but one of my good mates has done exactly this. The trouble he ran into was that he got too into the project as a consultant (which he did before starting the PhD) and not enough on the research side. As a result, they had to retro-actively stop the clock because it didn't yield any PhD worthy material (or something to that effect, this is me translating as I remember our conversations). So the warning is to keep your eye on the prize and try to keep notes on how it might work with your PhD. Review how this could start to work into a PhD with your supervisors regularly, even if it annoys them, you are paying them (via the uni) to supervise you towards a PhD - you are not a cheap lab tech, consultant or whatever is appropriate for your field.