Hey Tree of life thanks for the support and advice! It looks like it's going to be sorted and I will be paid while I'm waiting on my appointment for the number. Basically I'm part funded by a large American biotech who went nuts when they found out I wasn't being paid.

I got a bank account with no problems to be honest. The national security number isn't difficult to obtain either, just not a fast process. I want to do this project but I cannot do this project with zero cash.

Gah really annoyed. The uni don't want to pay out stipends until myself and other EU students are waiting to receive our national insurance number. This is really annoying as the national insurance office told me I should get paid as it's a stipend and tax free. The uni's finance dept are being really difficult about it and I'm actually thinking of taking up another PhD offer back home. I told my supervisor and he's trying to sort it.

Thanks guys hopefully they will be or else one or two of us won't be able to continue. I don't see how they'd expect people to go on for up to four months without pay. I was told it could take 5 weeks to 2 months.

Hey guys I'm about to start a PhD in the UK. I have to set up a bank account and the bursary form also asks for my national insurance number. I know this can take up to a few months post interview to receive so I'm wondering what to do in the meantime. The actual agency says I can still get paid as long as the uni take my date of birth, gender ect but Im not sure how the uni feel about this. Anyone any experience?

Hey, thanks for the reply. I want to know because I am applying for another position that I really want. My referee was my research supervisor and he's an enzymologist and a highly regarded one.

I want to apply to another enzymologist but I suspect my 2.1 will hold me back. I'm just wondering is a reference good enough to get you through sometimes?

Hey guys I have a high 2.1 with no master but I have been offered 2 PhDs so far. I love both projects but I haven't decided which one to go for. I have a summer studentship and 3 month research project under my belt but I'm not sure how I got offered two PhDs. My project supervisor is quite well regarded and he gave me a fantastic reference. I'm just wondering is this what got me in? My degree is quite average but he says I'm above average. Just how important are referees?

I wish. I know it will hurt the science but I really think the same standard should be applied across the EU. A lot of the supervisors I've been in contact with have no clue about the restrictions

Hey guys just getting some opinions and funding advice. I'm a child of an English family living in Ireland. I currently have Irish citizenship. I was offered two positions at English universities only to have the offer retracted two days later. In both cases they were unaware the BBSRC only funds students who have been in the UK for three years prior to the offer. They do fund the fees portion of the PhD but not the stipend.

To be honest I find this a little odd that plenty of British students come to Ireland, Germany and France to do a PhD and get the full funding and the same standard isn't applied in the UK. What are people's opinions off this?

One of my lecturers here is a researcher in Imperial College London and left because of the restrictions on hiring PhDs.