Hello Robin,

It is achievable and plenty of people do combine full-time work and doctoral research, but my own experience suggests to me it depends on various factors including the form your research will take.

My husband and I are both about 18 months into part-time PhDs, and we've had very different experiences in relation to work. Although we both had 'proper jobs' as the start, I have found it impossible to combine my study with a full-time job and now teach part-time (with a fair drop in income), whilst he is just about able to keep the plates spinning! The difference is that whilst my husband is doing a maths study, which mostly involves desk work that can fit around his full-time (non-academic) job, I am doing a social science project with a lot of interviewing out in the field. The need to schedule interviews well in advance and travel across the country to do them just didn't fit in with my job.

Now, if it sounds as if I am suggesting my husband has it easy, I'm not! It has wiped out his evenings and weekends, and a lot of his annual leave. This works if you really, really want to do it, but he is having to very disciplined to keep going. I noticed you used the phrase 'love to do a PhD', which is fantastic, because you'll need that motivation. You don't say what your personal situation is, but it needs to be considered - I think the fact that we are both studying together helps (we both value what the other is doing, we're busy at the same time, mutual understanding of the highs and lows, a reasonable amount of sympathy if the other is up against a deadline, and a little bit of healthy competition)

One very big plus for someone who has an established career is that you will bring a set of transferable skills that will come in very handy. Any of the following will help: time- and self-management, negotiation skills, networking, planning and goal-setting, problem-solving, report writing, juggling competing demands, and I think treating your research like a job helps.

Finally, earlier someone mentioned local universities or the OU. This doesn't have to be the case, I am at a university 200 miles away, my husband's is about 100 miles away from our home. We each go there about every 12 weeks (was 4 weekly for me in the early stages), keep in contact with supervisors by email, phone and webcam and have Sconul cards to use in our local university libraries. It isn't a problem.