Hi, I'm new to all this so please forgive the 2 ridiculous questions..! Having worked for the NHS for the last 5 years to a set working time, (question 1) what hours do PhD students typically work and (question 2) anyone know any good ideas for a little extra money earning in an exclusively postgrad college? My PhD doesn't start 'til Nov hence I'm making early plans to minimise the shock to my wallet!

I worked during my first year as a personal assistant to students with disabilities - maybe there is such a scheme in your place, teh work was not demanding, most of the time I just took notes,and the hours were flexible.tutoring seems to be quite a popular option, but I never looked into it.Good luck!

i think there are no typical working hours for PhD students in general, though there might be at your department.
as you won't have the chance to teach undergraduate classes, it being postgraduate only, you might want to look into tutoring for the open university.
you could also do admin work for any of your colleges' departments.
from this term onwards, i'm going to be doing 2h/week of "CV checking" for our careers service.
do you know any foreign languages? you could apply to your language centre.
build on your strenghts: do you always proof-read all your friends work because you are so good at it? offer this as a service to international students.
let everyone know that you are looking for sources of income. there might be many odd little jobs cropping up, like, typing data, looking after experiments, collect photocopies of articles, administrate the online learning environment... but only if people know you're looking for that kind of stuff!

Hi, not sure whether this applies, but I know that the NHS are always looking for locum staff - in many cases on an hourly basis. I worked as a tr. biomedical scientist in histology during my undergrad and they were keen to keep me on even for a few hours a week. P.S like the name - shocked that no-one has had that by now!

I work 3x 2.5 hr shift in the biomedical library at my uni, it's easy money, close to my office and it get's me out of bed in the morning!!!
If I'm just going into my office I find it tough to make it in on time, but if I HAVE to turn up for work/meeting etc it's so much easier, so it really suits me to work in the morning.

At my Uni there are a number of positions which are mainly or exclusively for postgraduates: note-taking for students with disabilities (I'm starting with this tomorrow, and among the student positions within my university this is the one with the best rates of pay, except for tutoring/marking), library assistants, exam invigilators (limited to May-June though), various clerical positions (administrative assistant and so on), etc. Just look out for job ads when you're on campus, or in your Uni's webpage as these positions tend to be filled at the beginning of the academic year.

As for the working hours: I'm in the Humanities and I don't have to be at my department for a fixed number of hours every day, so I can just choose to work at any time and then work on my PhD in the evenings or weekends or whenever I'm not busy. Then it depends on the position: the note-taking or clerical duties tend to be more during the day, while the library positions can require you to work in the evenings or weekends, etc.

Thanks everyone, you all helped tremendously