Hi, after I graduated in the summer, I went for an interview for a Ph.d at a university. It went well, but unfortunatley they did not get the funding they were hoping for to fund me, so offered me a research project. I have been doing this for some months now and we are hoping to secure some funding asap (if only it were so easy!!). Can I use the work I have already done during these months in my thesis, or do I have to start a new?

Officially the answer would probably be no. In practice, if your PhD is related to the work you are doing now, the chances are some of it will feature in your thesis. If you're thinking that you can cut some time off your official PhD studies this way, then you'll probably be disappointed. However, a 4 or 5 month head start may mean that you are able to finish working in the lab with enough time to write up before your grant runs out (unlike most people who need to take advantage of the one year time limit for thesis submission that applies to many grants).