Hi guys,

Couple of questions in regard to a PhD proposal:

1) So I have a topic that I believe merits research - the tutors at my current University are eager for me to make a formal application. However, I need some advice from somebody who is regarded as an expert in the field as to whether it really is a viable research topic. How do I find out who to approach? My idea is in relation to Quantum Computing.

2) It seems to me a significant amount of research is required as part of the proposal - but I would argue that this research should conducted when actually doing the PhD. I am not sure how to approach the write up of the proposal.

Any advice gratefully appreciated

Thanks in advance

(1) You need to have the balls to approach other prominent figures in your field if you want to know whether it's viable.
(2) If everyone argued that they were going to 'save' the proposal research until the actual project then how would anyone (ever) be able to judge whether it was viable or not? There's always a certain amount of foundational research that you have to do to get a proposal in. If you're not prepared to do this, then you should probably think about a different career path. Your proposal should position your research within the existing corpus; what new contributions does it make to your field? Methodology? Etc...