I live in the U.S. and this is my second post to this group. I have pretty much decided to move to UK to study MSc./MA and Ph.D. in development studies/international development. I am considering three schools – LSE, SOAS, and Sussex. One of my current intense research areas is funding. I can fund the MSc./MA program easily.

So, I am trying to find out how challenging it might be to get funding for a Ph.D. program at any of these universities.

1. Would it be a good strategy to stay in the same school and look for the Ph.D. funding after MSc./MA?

2. Would it be difficult to get a Ph.D. funding beforehand at a new university after having completed MSc./MA at another university?

Just trying to get a sense of what I should and/or should not be expecting and doing. I’d be grateful for your feedback and advice. Thanks.

Hi Mr2013uk,

generally you can get PhD funding if:
1. you are a very good student who manages to publish your master's dissertation
2. there is lots of funding for research projects coming in the department

Most PhD funding require that you have "a settled status in the UK" which is going to be an obstacle for you.
Keep in mind that because of the lack of industry jobs at the moment, there is an increasing number of students applying for PhDs. It can be very competitive even to get short-listed for an interview. I think that your chances improve if they already know you in the department.

Hope this helps.

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Hello there

I'm afraid I can't comment about your specific subject, or the specific universities you mention, because I don't know them at all. However, I would say that you don't need to base your MSc/MA choice of university on where you'd like to do your PhD, certainly in most subjects anyway. While it is very common for people to stay in the same university where they did their MSc/MA to do their PhD, it's also very common for people to move between universities at this stage as well, so it's unlikely to disadvantage you either way (unless there's something about those specific universities/subjects that I don't know).

There are advantages to both - staying at the same place can mean you have a better idea of which academics would be a good fit for your interests and your personality to act as PhD supervisors, while moving to somewhere new can open you up to new ways of thinking and new perspectives on your topic which could really strengthen your work.

If I were you, I think I'd look at which MA/MSc courses seem to suit you best and put more weight on that rather than trying to second-guess which would be better for a PhD further down the line.

Hope that helps!

On edit: the point below about funding for overseas students may be an important one to think of, not something I have experience with though.

Hello -- thanks very much to both of you for your extremely helpful feedback. My MA/MSc. focus is definitely going to be on development studies/international development. I will extend my research and and interest into the Ph.D. program. It makes sense on many levels to do the MA/MSc. and Ph.D at the same university because I may get to know the program, faculty to find out the funding sources. I am leaning more to this approach and am planning to choose one school where I can be able to continue both degrees.

I am curious about one thing -- the requirement of settled status to be eligible for funding for Ph.D. I have yet to come across this requirement on the university guidelines. Is this an unwritten rule? What does settled status mean? If time permits, I'd love to get your input.

Once again, thank you both for your time and generosity!

Hi, I would like to sincerely thank to those who provided generous and informative feedback on my inquiries. This is a great platform to share information and to use the information constructively towards one's goals and objectives.

Once again, thank you very much for your feedback.