How many?

Are you been serious or sarcastic?

As a masters student I'm just interested would you say it woul dbe silly just to apply for one?

I only applied for one, the PhD I'm doing now.

i applied for 2. I was short listed for 1, had the interview, then got offered it.

I am indeed a lucky git! So my advice is to apply for as many as possible

Also somewhat unrelated but how easy is it to get funding with a 2(i) and a masters. I want to apply for ESRC funding and departmental?

true

Depends if it is sicence or hummanities. If hummanties then obviously you need to have a good propsoal as MistaG says, and so number is prob less important than quality of proposal.

If science you will probably only be responding to projects thought up by others, so in this case you can apply to as many that interest you. Sciences tend to have a lot of PhD places, so you could conceivible apply to lots before finding one you like/getting accepted. Of course you still need to demostrate that you are motivated and interested in the subject.

kabhihaan_kabhinaa I take it you are a non UK/EU national, and needing funding? Root of your problem I would imagine.

2. Got interviewed for one, got the other. (they were in the same research group, but in different areas if that makes sense)

So basically the more the better as long as it is in your research area and not just random applications?

Which sites advertise specific phd's that already come with funding?

Well to be honest I have been applying mostly for topics related to cancer, you can add a line that is specyfic but most of it is similar. At first I honestly wrote an individual cover letter for everything, later, when I was desperate I started copying and pasting and guess what? I started getting replies.
I applied for 26 (including some I would never be considered for because I am not qualified for them), got 3 interviews which I attended and three which I rejected once offered a place. One interview invitation was in January and all the five remaining from end June to mid August. I was surprised coz on this site it states that the later the more competitive, but quite a lot of institutes urgently searches for students at the beginning of summer.

What did you do for funding?

Could you work as a research assistant while doing a phd to fund it or isn't that allowed?