Hey everyone,

Last year, I made it to first reserve for the NERC funded DTP at Oxford, but did not get invited for interview when I reapplied this year. I used basically the same personal statement again, only updating a few new achievements and making a few minor edits, which I think might have been a mistake (not much had changed since I last applied). I also applied via the official DPhil route this year and was offered an unconditional offer. Unfortunately, I didn't realise that the deadlines for a lot of the scholarships I could have got were last year, before I even had an interview or place at Oxford. I didn't really expect to even get that far. I have searched everywhere for external funding to no avail, since I don't qualify for most. I was also not offered an internal scholarship, which I have read is a soft rejection. My problem is that the project at Oxford is my dream, I believe in it so much, and I'm having trouble letting it go. I have spent the last year and a half researching it, reading about it, and writing up an extended proposal so that I fully understood everything. I can get a government student loan, and probably small grants. I also had a plan for cheap accommodation and living costs. But, self-funding is less than ideal. The supervisor is also lovely, but not very responsive - although I believe there are personal reasons for this. I have been fortunate enough to get onto a fully funded DTP at UCL which also includes interdisciplinary training and loads of added DTP benefits, with the flexibility to design my own research project and choose my supervisor. So, my question is, should I risk it and try the self-funded route to follow my dream at Oxford, or should I stick to the safe choice of a fully funded 4 year DTP where I could in theory still design a project that I love? It feels painful to have been so close (first reserve last year and a DPhil place this year) and to have my hopes so high, only to have to let it all go due to funding. Any advice would be much appreciated!

I read that teachers in HE should teach 24 hours weekly out of 35. Don't tell me thats equivalent to 24 hours lecturing? After 1 hr yiu are already exhausted

Does anybody know if universities would facilitate voluntary, unpaid postdoc or research associate positions? And, if they do, would it be a stupid move to do one? I'll briefly explain why it's an option I've been considering, below

After finishing my PhD I got a research role in the public sector, for an organisation which works with data I have a strong research interest in. My initial idea was to see if I could get a job working with that data, and/or explore the idea of a co-hosted postdoc between my employer and an academic partner. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make that happen, as my employer scaled back their primary research activities and instead focused on just supplying - rather than analysing - the data.

My role is quite operational, and doesn't give me the sort of fulfilment I had when I was actually doing research, so I've been exploring the idea of a postdoc again. There's a particular university I'd like to do it at, because it has a research team devoted to the fairly niche area I'd like to study (whereas most other universities don't), and because for personal reasons that's the part of the country that I'd like to live in. I applied for two funded posts in that team for projects which were pretty closely related to the research I'd like to do, but was unsuccessful (once after interview, once before). However, the professor in that team I reached out to with a research proposal expressed interest in the idea, and encouraged me to submit a fellowship application.

So, as things stand, I'm working towards submitting that fellowship application later this year. However, I'm also aware that all fellowships/postdocs tend to be highly competitive, and that six months down the line I may very well be no closer to securing the postdoc. I feel like my career's stagnating a bit while I've been trying to get the postdoc (the process as a whole has actually lasted a few years), so I'd like to have resolution after the fellowship application, so that I'm not just in that cycle of submitting new applications, waiting several months, and getting told that I came close but not close enough.

An alternative idea struck me recently. Possibly, if the fellowship application were unsuccessful, I could compress my ordinary working hours in my current job between Monday and Thursday (fortunately my employer allows me to do this) and then "volunteer" my time on Friday to do at least some of the work I had hoped to do as a postdoc, and work towards a few publications. Maybe while submitting new applications for full-time funding, or maybe just being content that I've found a way to do the meaningful work that I've hoped for alongside my stable job. That job isn't too stressful, so I don't think I'd be overwhelmed by doing 48 hours per week across the two positions. And the data I want to use are already collected and just waiting for somebody to analyse them, so I wouldn't be putting in lots of effort trying to set up research studies and collect data either. I'd basically just want to have the time set aside to do the research and write up the results, with the appropriate level of support and oversight from a mentor at the university.

What do you think? In your experience, would it be possible to set up that sort of arrangement? And are there any pitfalls of doing so? I'm a little uncomfortable about being happy to work for free in what should in the vast majority of cases be a paid position, but seeing as my idea is a bit of a passion project that likely wouldn't be done at all otherwise, I think I'd be content with it as a backup option, if it's possible.

I passed my PhD viva with minor corrections recently - how should this be addressed in my CV/cover letter/etc in the time between now and final resubmission? Writing out “passed with minor corrections” sounds distracting or almost a little negative, but I don’t want to be disingenuous either.

Same thing with online forms where you’re forced to select a title - is it poor form to use “Dr.” at this stage or keep with the “Ms/Mr/Miss” option?

I fairly often feel I miss some of the point of something by taking notes as the speaker elaborates on a point, and would love a device or app with a very easy way of leaving markers to return to when listening to the recording later.

I have a few offers in the US, which I got by simply getting in touch with the PI (no public call). I also got in touch with someone from the UK (London), and I was told a call will be published soon but we scheduled a call now, before its publication. I was wondering whether it is also common practice in the UK to offer a position even if the call has to be public.

Hoping some people here might be able to give me some sage advice.

I'm a lecturer at a post-92 and slowly going insane because of the complete lack of management in my department. I'm on a part time contract in an applied field. When I signed up I thought I would have time to do some freelance work, consultancy, or at least get a few papers out on the side. That simply hasn't been possible. I'm working full time+ hours for part time pay. When I started, I had another job but I couldn't keep that up without risking having to be off sick with stress. I haven't published anything in 2 years.

I've tried to communicate this to my manager but I don't ever get anything more than a shrug. He is completely hopeless (he manages 30+ people, does absolutely nothing as far as I can discern, and seems only interested in making his way up the greasy pole). What tends to happen is I get requests from all corners and while I do say yes to as much as I can, when it gets to the point that I have to say no, people get pissy. Of course, they don't see the other things I've already committed to and think that their pet idea should be my top priority.

I really love teaching, and research (when I can scrape together a couple of hours to do any). I also really care about doing a good job. The only way I can see as a way forward is to just completely half-ass my teaching (45 min prep allocated for an hour class outside my specialism lol) so I can free up some time, but I know this would make me miserable. I feel like I'm on a fast track to burnout, if I'm not there already.

Does anyone have any advice on how to manage up, set boundaries with colleagues, or how to generally manage time and workload so it fits into something reasonable? What works for you? I'm not against working hard or putting in extra hours when it's necessary, but I feel like this is a dead end job that could kill my career. Any advice on how to diplomatically say no to senior colleagues would also be appreciated.

Hello everyone,

I have recently been awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from an overseas non-EU foundation which will pay me a research grant for a year, while I am based at a UK institution. I will not be employed by the institution or the foundation, I will be registered as a visiting fellow and will also need to pay the host institution for using their facilities while doing my research. I will not be performing any services for the foundation as this is purely to support my research. I am trying to find out if this research grant is taxable or not?

I have looked up the official guidance from the government website and several sources, but it's still ambiguous to me. It is not a high amount and given that it's not a salary, I am not sure what rule applies. Thank you so much, I hope someone will be able to help!

I'm looking at doing a PhD this year as I'd like to teach at a university. Friends who have done PhDs in the past are telling me that shadowing is included during the PhD, but from what I've read, that's not necessarily the case. I know some unis offer GTA placements but from what I can gather, they're hugely competitive. Are there other options for shadowing I haven't heard about? Otherwise, how are people in similar circumstances getting experience?

Thanks

Hello

I graduated from Imperial College with a PhD just under a year ago. My PhD was in computational physics and for the past year I’ve been working in a finance role. But I want to do a postdoc, I love research and it literally gives me purpose and excitement.

Is the 1 year gap a problem?

Thanks

I'm applying for a studentship PhD and I don't understand how to write a research proposal for it. The project is decided and I would just be joining an existing group. What should I do?

Hi all,

I am a current MSc student studying Behavioural Economics and am currently undertaking my dissertation project which involves an online experiment on real-effort tasks. It's open to all students (undergrad and post) enrolled at a university. I require around 400 respondents, and there's also a small remuneration for your time.

The link to the initial sign-up form is here: https://wbs.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_54nONoRBnvBHlUG

The main survey will be sent directly to you after sign up. Please use your university email addresses. All your data will be confidential. Super grateful to any of you who decide to help me out.

Thank you!!

I have the offer for foundation year in both of these universities what should I choose?

Hi,

I am looking for participants for my postgraduate online survey study exploring how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives by UK supermarkets influence consumer buying decisions, and I would really appreciate it if you could take some time to fill this out. It will only take 2 to 5 minutes and is completely anonymous.

https://bbk.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0fyNqzLGjbSJvzo

Thank you so much for your time.

Random question - what are people's views of the Global Banking School?

I have obtained a weirdly polarising 2:1. At my university only the last 2 years counted for grades, so second and third year. I had a really bad start to second year, but my grades have done nothing but gone up. Here is the average grades I obtained in all the semesters that counted

Second year S1: 48%, second year S2: 58%, third year S1: 71%, third year S2: 78%, including 80% on my dissertation.

As a result, I obtained a 2:1 but it's not a great 2:1. How would the bad second year grades effect any PhD opportunities? Would advisors balk at it? I obtained a half decent grade for my dissertation at 80% though, so maybe that would counteract it?

I'm asking this because I am going on to do a MSc, but I understand you need to get applying for any PhDs at the start of the academic year. While i'm fairly confident I could end up with a top result for my masters, by the time I finish it and could use that grade to apply for any PhDs the application season is already over.

Thank you for all the advice!

I am an international researcher seeking to apply for a PhD focusing on sociology and health in the UK. While I lack direct experience in health-related topics, I spent the past year conducting a literature review and identified a gap that I believe can be addressed using a theory that has been recognized as having potential, though it has not been extensively applied. To structure my thoughts, I developed a proposal, and based in it I identified potential supervisors whose work aligns with related topics, albeit without incorporating the theory I am interested in.

How do you recommend I contact these potencial supervisors? I am concerned that if I send my proposal they may perceive it as a closed / not open to suggestions project. However, I would also like to convey my knowledge of the topic, despite not having direct experience in the field of health.

Please do share your experience .

Looking for some info about universities in the UK and how they deal with plagiarism. I'm preparing international students to study in the UK but none of them seem to have the basic skills of note taking, summarising, writing essays etc. Most of them seem to think they'll be able to get a 3 year degree in the UK without reading or writing anything. My question is how are UK uni professors dealing with this kind of thing from foreign students and do they really think anti plagiarism software etc is effective? Some people I speak to are very negative saying it's easy for students to get degrees in the UK now without doing any of the traditional study. Is this really true?

I’m finishing my masters in the US next summer so I’m going to start applying to UK PhD programs this fall. I keep running across postgraduate taught vs research on all the uni sites. Is there a difference I need to know about?

I initially assumed postgrad taught was masters and postgrad research was PhD?

I don’t know if it makes a difference but the subject is political science.

Any clarification is appreciated, as well as any advice I should know going in!

Hey all,

I'm super torn. I love academia (especially teaching at tertiary level) with a very minor interest in research and publishing. Because of this, traditional lectureship positions are not possible for me (my post-PhD articles simply don't exist).

Since finishing my PhD, I've been tutoring modern languages online and I'm doing pretty well (£45k+ work at home, I am my own boss, full schedule, etc). I mostly teach children, which I'm very good at, but it doesn't fulfil me the same way as uni does. I've been offered a 10 month TA job in my area (modern languages) in Ireland.

I need to make a decision by Friday and I'm torn.

Cons:

• I will need to give up all my business with extremely little chance that they'll come back to me after 10 months. It's taken me three years to get to my current stability and partnerships. I'm also working 6 days a week which is getting to me.

• It's technically a downgrade. I've taught at Associate Lectureship level and Associate level. This is the lowest teaching rank, three years post-PhD. I worry how this will look on my CV even if it does give me critical experience.

• I'll need to come back to the UK every Friday and head back to Ireland on the Sunday evening. This is fine, but the wage isn't great so I'll probably end up eating at my savings.

• It's a paycut and will be expensive to temporarily move there for only 10 months, while also paying most of my share in my actual home where my partner will be living.

Pros:

• I want to have a career in (teaching) academia. I need more teaching experience in languages directly since those are the most likely to survive further funding cuts. I have plenty of experience teaching, designing, and coordinating content modules.

• Most of my teaching experience in the past 5 years is online. This is a two-semester long teaching gig where I will coordinate most of my modules and also deliver it face-to-face - critical experience.

• I will have the opportunity to engage in research projects and possibly collect excellent data on language learning with A.I (hot topic in field)

• They may renew my contract for a further 10 month (exclusive). I'm waiting on confirmation.

I know this is my decision to make, but I'm truly torn. I come from a very working class background and I'm currently quite comfortable and have extreme anxiety over money. £45k a year is insane in my family context/history and I'm giving it away for a 35k euro job and a career path that will take a while to get back to that number, but is an actual career. I can't teach kids online until retirement either.

Ah!

...Nipping in the bud the obvious answers of "no", "why would you do this to yourself?", and "we can't say if it's right for you!" which I typically see on Reddit, of course.

I did well in my undergraduate degree in Philosophy (albeit not the most well-respected institution, but I loved studying at a post-92, with incredible and attentive lecturers who—even at the time—were dissuading me from pursuing a PhD in Philosophy due to the market (or lack thereof) for academic jobs, despite them believing that I'd do well from an aptitude perspective), earning a 1st class degree with awards for highest marks (overall) and highest marks in my dissertation amongst my cohort.

I also did well in my MA in Literature (at an RG, and managed to swing a scholarship which meant my fees were lower due to the aforementioned 1st in UG). Earned a Distinction, which I wasn't expecting due to the jump between disciplines (although, admittedly, my dissertation was very theory-heavy).

I was accepted onto the PhD programme for English and American Studies at Manchester, but unfortunately was unsuccessful in securing funding, and decided against trying to self-fund. This was 2019—COVID and life happened a little bit later, and I counted my blessings that I hadn't begun, since it would've been the wrong choice of topic/area, the wrong department, amidst a serious burnout, and mid-pandemic, probably destroying my project before it had even got off the ground.

Now, after a handful of jobs in Digital Marketing/"Copywriting" (publishing SEO garbage, essentially), and a current stint with the NHS as an Administrator (admittedly, a job I'm really enjoying with a supportive team and a great deal of flexibility/WFH), I feel the call again.

I've begun working on a research problem in an area of the Philosophy of Art/Aesthetics/Ontology that straddles my research interests in both Continental and Analytic thought (alongside a healthy dose of recent cognitive science, which I'm trying to wrap my head around but very much from a layman's perspective), which is in the very early stages at this point—given full-time work and other commitments—but is closely related to my undergraduate dissertation, and tangentially related to my MA thesis, and I'm loving it. I can't believe how much I've missed reading, writing, and challenging my arguments. I'm lying in bed at night reading my completely legitimately acquired journal article PDFs on my phone and making notes (much to the chagrin of my partner), I'm thinking constantly about the potential refutations that are arising from the articles and monographs I'm looking at, and I'm finally feeling passionate and excited about intense study again after the bout of burnout following the MA.

I've always been a decently productive writer (current haphazard post you're reading notwithstanding, all very stream-of-consciousness, for which I apologise) and don't have a difficult time sticking to writing and research schedules, and can easily crank out a good 2,000 words on a free day if my notes are solid. Admittedly, I wrote more when I was working as a "Copywriter", mostly because agencies will grind you into dust if you're not smashing out several 1,500-word articles a day, but I also wasn't editing my own work and had very minor amends. It was also, as previously mentioned, SEO garbage (the kind which means that you now have to append all of your Google searches with site:reddit.com—sorry!).

It probably helps that I have a few years' worth of additional wisdom too, because I was definitely too immature and naïve to succeed as a PhD candidate.

Here's the problem though: five years feels like a long time to have been out of the academy. I haven't identified a potential supervisor or institution (although having gone through the process once before, I'm not afraid to reach out to the professionals that are currently working on similar problems, so something of a non-issue?). I'm feeling quite comfortably rooted, with an incredibly supportive partner, a job which pays the bills even if it isn't intellectually stimulating in the way I'd hope, a mortgage (perhaps the most pressing stumbling block, although we've just locked in for 5 years at an affordable rate for us), and no real desire to move to a different town/city/country in the immediate future. No children on the horizon, and partner and myself are on the same page that we'd like to be more financially comfortable before we entertain the prospect, because childcare costs in the UK are no joke, even up North.

From everything I see, I keep thinking I'm the wrong sort of candidate for a PhD. Too old at 31, too settled, financial commitments (mortgage). Alongside this, there's the perennial problem of no jobs. I know some folks will get lucky and land a lectureship in the institution they're completing their PhD studies at, but that seems a bit like quitting your job in the hopes you make it in your music career—still, I can't shake the feeling that it's something I should be doing.

I'm under no illusions that, even if I was successful in getting onto a local-ish programme in the North, everything I see online basically states "Top 10 or don't bother", although this might be being skewed by the American & STEM emphasis of most academic discussions on Reddit. I'd have to study part-time, and work alongside, because even if I was successful in securing a stipend (which, again, doesn't look like a possibility for part-time PhDs?), it wouldn't cover my mortgage and bills, and it would be unfair if my partner was to shoulder more of that burden for my intellectual pursuits.

Admittedly, many folks also seem to state "Don't start a PhD to get an academic job", by which I assume they're saying "do it for its own rewards", but I'm not even sure if I could do that, since it seems many institutions don't want you working alongside your studies, even if part-time? Funding is another matter entirely—I understand that funded PhD studentships within the Humanities are a rarity these days, and the self-funding bridge is one I'll have to cross when I come to it.

TL:DR Version
31, Mortgage, likely need to part-time study and self-fund/utilise SFE Loan. Did well in UG and MA but unsure about the impact of funding opportunities and part-time study if I was to search for jobs at the end of the process, don't want to impact my relationship by chasing post-doc opportunities/lectureships across the globe, but passionate, committed, and with an identified research problem/gap in the literature that I'm keen to explore further.

I guess I'm just looking for a little guidance, especially before I begin reaching out to professionals in the field to try and discuss my research problem and the literature I've reviewed so far. Any advice would be taken with humility and genuine appreciation!

Cheers in advance Reddit UK Academia crowd :)

Hi everyone, I am set to graduate with an upper second class honours in Biology at an average university. I am set to study my masters at KCL next year.

Although I have achieved a 2:1, I got a 56% in my dissertation which is significantly less than what I was expecting. I also got a really poor mark in two of my modules 46% and 56% , due to extenuating circumstances. I just wanted to know how likely it is for my to progress onto a PhD with a studentship at a good/great university?

I submitted a paper to a Q1 computer science journal, and they asked for major revisions. While I can address the feedback from two reviewers, one reviewer’s suggestions would completely change the paper’s main idea as he is asking me to delete some sections and add more references. Now I’m unsure whether I should follow the recommendations of the two reviewers and ignore the third, or if I should abandon the paper altogether because it seems likely that the third reviewer will reject it.

Also, How common is it to receive major revisions in computer science? I typically submit to conferences and receive minor revisions, so I’m uncertain whether a ‘major revision’ is a positive or negative sign.

Hi all,

I have my PhD viva coming up in a couple weeks and I'm freaking out.

I've become painfully aware of how poor my background knowledge is on my work beyond the most superficial level. I know it's fairly standard to take an annotated thesis with you to the viva but how far do these annotations go? Can I essentially take in pre-written answers to questions I might be asked?

Thank you

Hi everyone,

I have a 1st class BA French and German, a PGCE in teaching secondary school modern languages (French, German, and Spanish), and I'm currently part-way through an MA in Japanese.

Ideally I'd like to do a PhD related to second language acquisition, or some aspect of sociolinguistics, as my interests lie mostly in multilingualism and language learning, but equally I'm considering pursuing a PhD related to Japanese literature.

My concern primarily is funding. How likely would I be to secure PhD funding in a humanities subject like languages or area studies?

Has anyone here done a PhD in a humanities subject and regretted it? Additionally, has anyone here self-funded, and if so, how did you find the process? Finally, if you have pursued a humanities PhD, what enabled you to decide the area you wanted to research?

When I was writing my thesis I wrote each chapter in a separate word file. Before submission (for viva) I converted each chapter to pdf and merged all the chapters and it became a thesis.

(Each chapter has its own references starting from 1 and onwards)

Now I have passed my viva with minor corrections.My examiner wants the thesis in one word file to track changes. I have tried to merge all chapters in word and the reference of each chapter is starting from 1 like it was before. BUT!!!!! the nightmare is that in theory the references starts from the number where the last chapters references end. (For example chapter one has 160 references, so in chapter two references starts from 161 but in the end of chapter two in list of references it again starts from one).

Is it fixable ? I want to keep editing my corrections, but I am not sure if I should continue working on this merged file because I am not sure if the references numbering can be fixed later/in the end ??? PS I have two weeks for the corrections. HELP PLEASE

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