Hmm these sound like issues that should have been raised with you before you got to the write up stage. Did they not mention them before now?

I'm in psychology/cognitive neuroscience.

Hey guys, I just started using Mendeley - so far seems to work pretty well :-) I don't really have time to read all the documentation that comes with it though, so does anyone have any top tips for getting the best out of it?

Hey, thanks for the suggestion. The specific advantage of Leechblock though is that once you switch it on, you can't go in and change the settings during the blocked time period, you just have to wait it out (unless you reinstall firefox, so i had to block out that website too, plus google...)

@Danashcoft - yeah it's to stop procrastinating, in the sense that you might say 'oh i'm only going to check facebook for a minute' but then before you know it 20mins have passed. You can set it so that it only allows you a certain amount of time on a site before it locks you out.

well i guess i'm just gonna uninstall IE cos no-one else I asked knew of an equivalent either.

Hey, does anyone know of something like Leechblock that works on IE? I don't want to delete it cos Firefox doesn't work for some sites, but when I've got Leechblock activated in Firefox, I just end up switching to IE. :$

Hiya,

Typically in psychology, you would work on some ideas for the PhD, then contact supervisor(s) who are interested in that area. Together you can negotiate a more specific topic and look at funding options. You can't apply for funding directly from the ESRC on your own, it needs to be done via an institution. If the uni has Quota funding, then they can decide to award you that; they can also submit a limited number of candiates into the ESRC Open competition. There are potentially other sources of funding as well, like charities, internal funds in the department, grant funding for your supervisor etc. That's why it's a good idea to get in touch fairly early with a supervisor to discuss what the situation is in their department. It wouldn't be too early to do it now for a PhD starting in October 2011.

The criteria for acceptance vary from place to place. For instance, my department don't accept self-funding students. In general, funding is the main barrier and it's incredibly competitive in Psychology. Given that your first degree isn't in Psychology, you would likely have to do an MSc in research methods, either as part of a 1+3 award if you get funded - or you would have to self-fund the masters then try again for a +3 award. I would recommend applying to several places, it really is that competitive - in my department this year, the top ten applicants all had a First, a Distinction, strong references and research experience. Only three managed to get funding.

Strong academic references are really important as well. The best way to do it is to ask whoever is in charge of PG admissions what things your referee should write about, and help your referee out by giving specific examples for them to write about. An important part would be to show that the skills you obtained in your first two degrees are relevant for a psychology PhD e.g. experience in data analysis.

I don't know anything about new route PhDs, sorry. Best of luck. :-)

Insulting someone's culture is probably not the best strategy to get them to give you good advice...

Lol I can just imagine reaching the end of a talk, then the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme tune playing. :p

Same. I mean I could technically do it, but either I wouldn't fully understand them, be able to remember them, or have made decent notes on them... so I'd just have to read it again properly. :$

I don't think you can... especially with a Quota award, the funding is allocated to the university, who then decide on a student to fund.

I wouldn't do it. I know that where I study at least, the external is approached informally only by the supervisor, then a formal invitation is sent by the uni.

a significant minority?

Well... I bet on Germany to win this match so I'm happy. Didn't expect England to make it quite so easy for them though. (down)

How well do you know this person? Because I have to say, if a good friend made the joke you did, I'd dismiss it as banter. But otherwise, I'd be thinking 'that guy is an asshole'.

I bet we didn't like your accent either, Goodboy...