Funding PhD

[Slippersmum]

Just wondered how people funded their PhDs?

Most are funded by an external body, like a research body. There are also fellowships that enable a PhD. Very few English PhDs are self-funded.

Different story in other countries!

Research council, teaching and an extra scholarship !

Research Councils (usually apply through the uni), charitable students hips and stipends, commercial sponsorship by industry (particularly in science and engineering), government sponsorship (usually overseas students).

Research/teaching assistanship funded by the university.

May i ask that is the area of study? Some areas have sustantialy more funding.

Don't do it unless you get research council (or industry) funding. Unless you're doing it for fun, and not to become an academic. There is a terrible glut of PhDs on the job market at the moment; it's just awful.

I had a teaching tutorial fellowship to fund mine. It took me longer than usual 4 & a half years, because I was teaching full-time (although no admin, those were the days) but I received a full-time salary. Albeit a pittance -- around £8k

I did mine part-time and self-funded. Fees are not too bad when doing it part-time in my subject, much lower than undergrad/MA fees. It was made up from savings, a contribution from DH and a small bursary. I did mine for fun though, I wouldn't really want to have to rely on getting employed in academia at the moment.

What were your fees, whole nut? I know someone whose parents paid for him to do self-funded PhD at Cambridge 20 yrs ago, but he was an only child. He started out working PT for first 15 months.

It was about £1700 a year, with a small annual increase. I've just checked now and it's currently just over £2k a year (part-time) so not too bad compared to some MA fees (often around £8-9k in my subject). It's the living costs which are expensive, but you can work if doing it part-time, or be supported as a sahm by your partner.

I worked ft - bloody hard and not reccomended!

DD is being funded for a four year degree by one of the research councils and wouldn't have done it otherwise, because she said future prospects were negligible if you couldn't attract funding so she'd have done something else. She's doing a humanities PhD though, and produced some unnerving figures for how funding compares even to a few years ago. She's 23, and says most people being funded on the same programme are older, that a lot have gone and done something else then gone back to academic work and secured funding. What is your area OP? My best uni friend self-funded a science PhD at Cambridge some years ago and has worked as an academic since. so perhaps DD is being too purist, or perhaps the situation depends on subject area too?

I also worked full-time throughout and studied part-time so funded it myself.

Different universities have really different rules about where you live. I did my degree living 200 miles away and I know someone who did theirs while living in a different country, but my friend had to live within (IIRC) a five mile radius of the university or something absurd like that.

When did management become a humanities subject?

Yes, makes sense.

I did an arts subject (so similar in that it's non-lab), and I had meetings every couple of months, but I did have access to a good library closer to home. I knew people who met with supervisors more often, but I think it was unusual.

I like to see PhD supervisees every 3 to 4 weeks. Then there is access to a decent research library, getting some p-t teaching experience, and participating in the collaborative life of the scholar. Even in the social sciences, collaboration through participation in seminars and other informal research discussions, is essential to get the best kind of research done.

Research council, and supplemented it with teaching, tutorials and lab classes. Had about 6k of tax free funding, plus what I could earn teaching. Worked out fine, I actually felt quite flush after living off 3.5k a year as an undergrad.

Can I ask what your area of study is?

Also, and I'm not bring a downer, just sharing my experience...DO NOT do a phd without a solid source of funding unless you know you're going to find it easy to find work. Especially if you are in debt from your first degree. There are a LOT of unemployed PhDs out there. I ended up leaving academia, and even with an absolutely stellar academic record, a serious work ethic and good people skills, it took me almost five years to get back to my postdoc salary.

I'm a scientist by training, and now that I work in the corporate world (my soul is preserved in a jar, I can have it back when I leave) I see there is a presumption against hiring PhDs. They are seen as unworldly, too independent and un mouldable to the corporate hive brain. I had to combat that stereotype when I moved careers.

Also, if you do end up doing a phd, the most valuable bit of advice I can give you is this : network. From week one,you need to be cultivating contacts. Do not blithely sail through with your head in your research and expect the perfect job to pop up once your viva is done. It doesn't work like that.

Also be strict with yourself. Thesis gets written up as you go, keep references in order, do not stay an extra year on zero pay to 'just do a few more experiments.' Pick your supervisor/ lab very carefully. Speak to others in the lab and vet your supervisor for any hidden signs of insanity.

haha, I once suggested once a month was good interval to meet PhD supervisors & got shouted down that once every 12 weeks was plenty. Oh well. MN at its inconsistent best.

Scuttlebutt says PhD numbers are sharply down in recent yrs, that could be linked to high debt from tuition fees, maybe people feel like they need to get paying it off.

It's not necessarily MN, is it? It could be subject-specific. I know maths PhDs who seem to see their supervisors pretty often, for example. Plus, different people must have different supervising styles - someone who'll email back and forth might not need to see you as often as someone who does it all face to face.

I was research council funded.

I agree with all those above to only self-fund if you can afford it. And Skipto gives good advice on treating it professionally, aiming to finish on time.

Try www.findaphd.com/ for funded opportunities.