Hello,

Last year, I graduated my masters program with a distinction (both overall and dissertation) from UCL. My love for research and learning as well as my passion for assessing research projects dedicated towards wildlife conservation has led me to pursue my PhD.

This past year, I spent month after month searching for programs that I found to be both compatible to my research objectives yet also provide some sort of financial support. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the programs were either unable to take students due to financial reasons or were completely underfunded as a whole.

Despite all of this searching, I found one department that truly complimented my interests and research aims. Moreover, this department ran an ongoing conservation project that I had always wanted to be a part of (since being an undergrad). After months of discussion with two prospective supervisors (both incredibly supportive), I submitted a proposal for a project that involved this particular conservation project. Following this, I was offered a place into the programme (PhD).

Unfortunately, I was unable to receive a scholarship due to my start date (January 2015). I chose this date so that I can save money and provide support to my family in the meantime (my mother is disabled). I should note that I am American and come from a lower middle class background so my only options are either loans or scholarships.

I truly want to go for this PhD. I believe that my passion for the subject matter as well as research is one of many reasons for justifying this prospect. However, in so far, I have not been able to receive a fellowship. One perk about this program is that my supervisor is willing to provide some leftover grant money, yet we have yet to discuss how much.

As of right now, I am currently looking into private charities, conservation trusts, and scholarship programs. However, I am incredibly new to searching for funding and I am really not sure on how to approach the topic. I am searching early so that I may put myself into a better position before actually starting the program in January.

Does anyone have advice on how to go about looking for funding? Do you believe that charities are worth looking into? If so, do you know of any specific educational charities in UK or US? Additionally, does anyone have any information regarding grant funding? In so far, I found that I am only eligible to a few specific grants as many wildlife grants for a project in Africa are (understandably) aimed for people who are from the area of research. Should I be more proactive in terms of discussing my difficulty securing grants with my prospective supervisor? Although, I do not want to be perceived as incompetent so early into the game...

I hope to do this PhD. I know that there are plenty of outspoken opinions suggesting that you simply shouldn't do it unless you are either rich or obtained a scholarship. However, I do not believe that such an ambition should be decided by these things alone. I know that it will be difficult, however, I still have an amazing opportunity to pursue my goals and dreams involving a project that I have been passionate about for years and I hope that I can carry it out. Any information would be much obliged..as I feel saddened and lost after realizing that I am simply not "scholarship worthy"

I'm a bit confused as to why your start date affected your funding? Is this a UK university?

Yes definitely explain your funding situation to your supervisor, because they may be under the impression that you are mainly self-funded; you won't know how much support they can offer until you ask.

Could you delay your start date further to allow yourself the time to find extra money?

Regarding searching for funding, you are actually searching rather late when it comes to approaching charities... Most of them open a year in advance of the academic year. So if you see funding opportunities around now, they are likely to be for an Oct 2015 start, rather than Jan 2015.

I have applied to several charities that specifically fund PhD students and some that are just general hardship funds. I have applied to 8 in total to cover my fourth year (that's all I was eligible for out of hundreds) and so far I have had 2 rejections, 4 haven't bothered to reply and I'm still waiting to hear about the other 2, but to be honest I'm not very hopeful. You should apply to anything and everything that you may have a shot at, but bear in mind this is a very time consuming process as some of the application want you to write 3000 words about your proposed research.

Check some of these out for more places to apply: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/postgraduate/2014/funding-opportunities.html

I am sorry for the confusion. I am a bit out of it which may explain my poor articulation at the moment. Yes, I am going to a UK university.

I explained to my supervisor that I will have to take loans. He stated that he will supplement some of his own funds to help me get started, however, he also suggested that I should begin searching for funding on my own (which I have had little success). It might be worth telling him about the difficulties that I am having, however, he is also funding for me is pivotal. Perhaps I should contact him again..

I greatly appreciate the information. Thank you so much.

It's also very unusual here to take out loans for a graduate degree; it's not the same as the US. You generally need to have a job in order to take out a bank loan, or some other way of making the repayments. The payments usually need to be made whilst doing the degree, not afterwards.

I think you should clearly explain your situation to your supervisor and clarify how much he can provide, and try to get a rough idea of living expenses in the area you will be living in the UK, to make it easier to identify the amount required to self-fund.

Thanks again,

I truly appreciate it. Yeah, he did not really say how much funding he has or is willing to commit. Although, I have heard from his past students that he is rather good about such prospects. It might be worth delaying my admission from January 2015 for October 2015 if I qualify for the scholarship. I am going to call both research admissions as well as the supervisor tomorrow to discuss such issues. I already calculated how much money it will cost to live there (throughout UK before, so I am somewhat aware). I am hoping that my possible decision to attend in October 2015 will not diminish my prospects. I heard that universities generally do not work that way anyways.