I'm pretty sure everyone beginning a PhD feels this way so don't worry! Yes I think doing a literature review in these areas will help you, and presumably you will have to it for your thesis at some point anyway.

I think it's taken me about 2 years to be comfortable with my area, and obviously there are still many, many things I need to learn!

A PhD is a learning experience. You are a trainee: you are not supposed to be comfortable in the the area you are working in in the beginning. If you were, then you wouldn't need to be doing a PhD. Give a few more months and you will probably feel better. You may also be able to steer your topic into an area you are more interested in later down the line.

If you need to write a literature review I would say stop reading and start writing. Start from anywhere you like and then read the journals as you go along. For example, say you have to write something on how to build a house, you know you need to write about foundations and labour and building materials etc, so pick a topic and write like this: xxx used bricks, xxx used sand, xxx used straw. You don't need to read all these papers in detail because at this stage HOW they did it is irrelevant, you are just looking for the building materials. You then reread the papers later when you want to know how they built it.

You need to read some literature and find the methods other people are using and suggest how these can be applied to the research area when you approach potential supervisors. You also need to make sure the areas and methods you are interested overlap with those the supervisors are interested in.

It's really a lot easier to just apply to a project that is already funded. You will be lucky to get funding for an independent project unless you come across a very interested supervisor with a lot a money (I think this may be an extinct species though so good luck...).

You can approach people at conferences. Just talk to people who are doing similar work to what you are interested in. The same things mentioned above still apply though.

I've never heard of or seen anything like that but I'm sure they exist. Maybe check with your binding department or go into a stationary shop?

You need to look on findaphd.com for advertised PhDs in Ireland with funding for European students. If you're a good candidate you have a decent chance of getting funding if you are in the sciences. Most science students do not fund themselves, but this it more common in the arts and humanities where funding is more difficult to find.

"A full scholarship" means your fees and living expenses will be paid. The stipend in the UK is about 14000 pounds (I don't know what it is in Ireland). 'Funding' is usually used interchangeably with scholarship. 'Grant' is a word used less often and probably means the money is to be used for equipment or travel rather than living expenses.

I agree - surely if the reason you are leaving is because your supervisor is moving the new university/your supervisor should be obligated to fund you?

Hmm, sounds a bit political to me...

I always think it's a bit of a cop out when supervisors suddenly tell people that they haven't done enough work to pass - where were they when the work was being done? Didn't they think months ago that you hadn't done enough work and why didn't they mention this before?

In a PhD viva they can outright fail you and you can walk away with nothing, rather than getting an MPhil, but this is a very rare scenario.

My supervisor recently told someone in my lab that they are unlikely to pass their upgrade from MPhil to PhD. The student did pass but was told by his assessor that he had a lot of work to do over the next few months in order to achieve his PhD.

Do you have an option to continue unfunded when your funding finishes? Maybe that will give you enough time to collect more data.

The thing to mention is your supervisors may be incorrect anyway, as your mentor and HoD said - so much rides on the external examiner so it's really not their decision whether you pass or fail therefore what they think about you passing or failing may be irrelevant.

I take offense to this! I think good writing is just as important in the sciences as it is in any other subject. If I am ever supervising someone and they come to me with a piece of work full with typos and grammatical errors I shall be telling them to correct the errors before I even look at the work.

In a thesis however, 30+ errors are acceptable in my opinion. It's a massive piece of work and that's why people are passed with minor corrections - it's probably impossible to write a thesis with no errors.

I'm sure you'll be fine!

I've not used it. I was thinking of joining a similar site, www.researchgate.net, but thought I should probably wait until I had a publication to put on there.

I think this is really going to depend on the PI. I know one person who got a postdoc where she has to use completely different techniques to those she used in her PhD but she was already known to the PI so I guess he knew she will be able to learn the new techniques and make fast progress.

Well it definitely sounds like they are interested! Good luck :)

I don't believe you will be able to get a transfer if you fail. People have told me transfers are increasingly difficult to get anyway so you probably have to be doing pretty well to be eligible.

Technically the starting date is whenever, but most academics prefer their students to start at the beginning at the academic year because it's easier for administration, funding, welcoming new students, seminars, progress assessments etc.

I thought you were already doing your masters? If you mean can you take your current project to a new supervisor and finish the last few months and then do the PhD with them, probably not, no. The supervisor providing the funding is going to want you to work on their project. They probably won't take you on if you haven't finished the masters.

Sometimes you can start earlier/later than the advertised date but it depends on the professor and institution. Often international, self-funded students start at random times but really universities prefer you to start at the beginning of the academic year.

Your best bet is to apply for Oct 2014 entry and then ask at the interview whether you can start in Jan 2015. I guess it will depend how much they want you as to whether they will let you do this or not. If they have other good candidates that can start on time they may select them over you.

If you start one without funding you are very unlikely to get funding later on.

Bear in mind PhDs are advertised throughout the year but most of those with funding will want you to start in October. Maybe you could delay starting one for a year and get a random job in the meantime?