looking for scholarships desperately!!

L

Last september a UK university offered me a Ph.D. position......but I have to wait until I will find funding for my scholarship!!!!!
The problem is that months are passing fast and I am starting to be afraid I will not find nothing in the next months!!!
The offer is open until next september.
Any advice?
P.S. I am from Italy and the field is biology/environment

M

Seeing as you're an EU student, your best bet would probably be the research councils. NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) or BBSCR (BIology and Biotechnology Research Council) would probably be your best bet, depending on the specifics of the project. Failing that, are there any companiies or charitable organisations who do work in the area of your PhD, and who might fund a PhD student?

T

For environmental stuff yep NERC is a good bet, but very competitive. I would also try the British Council and the Royal Geographical Society. Helps to know what your project is going to be about though because there could be some organisations specific to that field.

L

Hi guys,
thank you for your replies. The specific field is marine pollution; at the moment nor BBRSC and NERC have any funding opportunity. May be NERC studentship are limited to British citizens?

M

I am 80% certain that the funding councils are not allowed to restrict to UK students, but have to allow for all EU students. However, it's different for other funding bodies.

O

Unfortunatelly NERC etc are limited to UK citizens. They do offer fees-only bursaries for EU students but this is unlikely to help you as a lot of universities do not allow you to work next to a full-time PhD (but perhaps I just applied to the wrong Universities). I would have a look on the web page of the Uni offering you teh PhD there sometimes some scholarships open to all disciplines. The otehr chance is EU-funding they have a good web page with the offers e.g. Marie Curie
AND I woudl just ask your potential supervisor whether he knows of anything e.g. joined PhD with an external body - I am not in your subject but I am sure there is some industrial intrest in it.
Good luck

T

We have a few fees-only EU students funded by NERC in our department, but yes you're right it's not ideal.

I wonder if organisations such as the International Maritime Organisation would contribute to some funding? They're responsible for marine pollution monitoring.

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