Anyone else been put forward for AHRC?
What do you rate your chances as, and how do you think this years system is working?

As far as I remember from when I applied a few years ago the number of applicants was generally about 4 times the number of awards granted. So a 1 in 4 chance, i.e. it's a bit of a long shot. I was lucky to win an award. Good luck with your application.

Hi,

Yes, I've been put forward. The situation has been controversial this year. The dept. could only nominate four people. I was fortunate. Statistically, I am on a par with the others.

What worries me is that I found out, entirely by accident, how I had been ranked. Went into the dept. office for something unrelated, and there were the forms lying on the desk. Let's just say it was very unfair given there were three MA distinctions in our year, and I was one of them.

Also, I had to do my MA knowing my younger sib. was terminally ill, and then finding out I was genetically predisposed to the same thing. Oh, two other sibs have the same cancer. So yeah, when all this kicked off, I go and do better than most, and find that the person doing the ranking has effectively lied, I'm a bit p*****d off.

But of course, I can't say anything, as we're not even supposed to SEE the forms, and it would just create unecessary politics. Been a bitter pill to swallow though, and is making me think that the sooner I am away from this dept., the better. Also a feeling of disloyalty as I was here through undergrad and MA - silly as it sounds.

That's very unfortunate, though where there are a small number of people applying I expect they will take less account of the rankings that where there are large numbers....33/33 looks alot worse than 4/4....
I've been put forward also, though I have no clue about my ranking and my dept has put forward about 30 people because they've got very good standing with the research council....
My husband has also been put forward, in his case there are four people.
I think i'll be pretty annoyed if I'm not highly ranking because i've an average of c.84 for my MA.... but you just never know.
What subject is yours in?
Sarah

Yeah. I think you have a point, that realistically, the differences between small numbers of people might, well, be small. What I also noticed was that I was also not considered as being a strong phd candidate.

I should point out that my supervisor has a different opinion, and this info. comes from the graduate tutor who has never supervised me for anything. Even worse, is that one of the AHRC panel-assessors is a lec. in our dept (seriously) - it does make me wonder if there will be some internal comments going on regarding funding in this dept.

Mine is philosophy. How about you?

I have been rejected twice before, both times, with grade 3 (where 1's and some 2's receive funding). My sup. thought the biggest prob. was with the proposal, so tried to word it better etc this year. Another rejection doesn't make the phd unfeasible. It's just a demoralizing process as we all know.

Who has applied and previously been rejected, and how did the ahrc grade you?

Hmm that's ridiculous given you're there doing a PhD, which is presumably more than the other candidate.... it all seems like a bit of a joke. 3s are so harsh, but it does sound a bit like yours was to do with non-supervisory comments.
I do wonder, if the fact they know you can pay your own way, is affecting your ranking???
I'm an archaeologist/anthropologist. My topic is so random I'm a bit concerned! Put it this way, my co-supervisor looks like being a child psychologist.....

I think we have to be prepared for some arbitrariness, but to see it so blatantly, understandably dents your confidence. I'm learning that academia is not, just as it is in other jobs, always based on merit.

You might have a point, i.e., paying my way. I realize I'm in a very fortunate position, and I don't need the AHRC. The person making those remarks knows this.

I thought archaeology/anthropology was ESRC.

I guess so, but not to that extent.
It does make financial (if morally dubious) sense for your dept to get funding for other people ahead of you then.....
Archaeology is AHRC, Anthropology is ESRC, I'm in an archaeology department applying anthropological models to archaeology though.......

is ahrc so different to esrc then? it doesn't sound like what i had to do for an esrc quota position - don't you have quota positions with ahrc, only open competition places?

No quotas for AHRC this year, no. We're in the middle of a transition year so Universities counld put forward 50% more applicants than last year they received funding for. However funding has also been cut from 1500 to 1000 places so you're not at an enormous advantage having been put forward this year to having passed freely through last year....

Yeah I can see why others are considered to have greater need. But with the AHRC, financial need is irrelevant. If it was an award based on that, I could understand it, and that's why I resent the staff-member telling blatant lies in terms of my position in the cohort. When that happens, it makes you wonder why bother, you know.

Indeed, I've had a day a bit like that today too!!!
I think it's just the academic world, everything is opaque.
The problem is, all the AHRC reports on the competition make clear that the markers that are supposed to be objective are far from that.
I.e. some places give all their applicants 'excellent potential for PhD' ticks, despite some of them having middling marks, others deploy them strategically.