Hey everyone!
I am thinking about doing a PhD in the life sciences somewhere in the UK. Taking all admissions and funding criteria aside I have a couple of general questions about the organization of PhD's in the UK:

1. I checked a couple of websites such as findaphd and to me it seems like there are either organized graduate programs, similar to the US, for which people apply about a year before they start in the fall of the following year. Also, it seems that many groups have openings for individual projects throughout the year for which one can apply. Is that correct? Since I graduate in the spring I would not want to wait until the fall to begin my PhD..

2. How are PhD students treated at the university? Are they seen as normal employees? I.e. do they get a certain amount of days off a year? Is teaching a requirement?

I've been a PhD student twice (and completed successfully the second time), full-time science the first time, and part-time humanities the second.

It's very rare in my experience for UK PhD-ers, unless self-funding, and possibly part-time, to start at anything other than September/October. Universities are all geared up around this timetable.

I'm afraid students aren't treated that well in my experience. Better than undergraduates, but not vieweed as employees. They tend to get a certain amount of time off, especially if there is a funding agreement, but this usually has to be fought for. It is normal for full-timers in particular to do teaching, but this is not always a requirement, more usually an advisable thing, for financial reasons, and to get valuable experience which could help you get a job post-PHD.

1. Yeah that sounds right. Most PhDs are geared around an Autumn start though can be started earlier or later. When I was interviewed for mine they asked when I could start, but as I was in a current job I couldn't til Oct (interview April). I have friends who started at mid points and it seems to work fine.

2. Some PhDs are hired as Graduate Teaching Assistants and will have to do a certain amount of teaching. Some are hired with project funding and no teaching requirment. I'm in the second category, but I have been able to do some teaching as and when I wanted to during my PhD. It gave me some money and experience to put on my CV. GTAs get good teaching experience but it can take a fair bit of time away from your studies.

I don't think I'm seen as an employee - more as a student. I get no officail time off, but equally have no set hours or days. Again this can depend on subject and on your supervisor. Mine rarely see me and during my first year certainly I could ahve disappeared for the whole summer and they wouldn't have known!

Life scientist here :-)

1. PhD students can start at any time really - in my group some of us have started in October or September, but some in January, April... It depends on the project and the supervisor.

2. A bit of both - in my group everyone is expected to work 9-5 (roughly), and it's university regulations that you get 25 days holiday a year. How much of you take is up to you, I think I took about 3-4 weeks in 3 years. But there are other people that seem to take several weeks a year. I do know someone who was advised when she started to not take any time off. I don't think you have to "fight" for it here, providing that you're getting your work done :-)
Teaching is not a requirement in my department, or the funding I had. I don't think I know anyone in my group who has done any teaching during their PhD. However, this may simply be because we're in the medical faculty and are not actually medics... I think you're expected to do at least some demonstrating if you're in biological science, for example.

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Thanks everyone for their answers so far!

Thanks Claudia! That sounds like good news. I will graduate in April or May and would prefer to not have a huge gap until I start with a PhD. 2-3 months, fine. But not more. This is actually one of the reasons why I decided against applying in the States because I would have to wait until the fall semester to get started.
How did people enter your lab? Through an organized PhD program? Or did your supervisor post opening for projects he/she had available?

At my uni there are 3 dates when you can start a PhD - 1 October, 1 January and 1 April. Most do start in October, but probably about a quarter start at other times.

In my department most people are project funded or funded on departmental bursaries and very few people do any teaching (just the specialist nature of the department - there aren't any undergraduate courses I could teach, for example).

And time off works just fine - in fact, my supervisors keep reminding me to take a break, so I had 2 weeks off at Christmas/New Year, and a week at Easter, and am going to have two weeks off next month, plus whatever days here and there that I want to take. Obviously I work whatever hours are needed to get things into a position where I can take the time off, but it seems to work pretty well here.

Seems to vary quite a lot between universities, departments and even supervisors!

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Thanks for your response. :-) How far in advance should I look for possible supervisors and projects? Is there any "deadline", besides those for some of the big PhD programs, or can I find openings throughout the year?