What effect does an MA have on whether you get funding or not for a PhD?
I am interested in doing an MA however it is not ESRC recongised. Will this pose problems when I apply for PHD funding? Does the MA have to be ESRC recognised to get PhD funding? Or is there no problem and this only means I won't be eligible for financial support for the MA but still be eligible for financial support for a PhD? (The MA is in the social sciences).

hi
as far as i know, it means you won't be eligible, unless you have something else that shows you are qualified (relevant work experience for example). the whole point of ESRC recognition of MSc/MA courses is that they then don't have to check every course individually to see if it is up to the standard they have. this is different if your MA is abroad.
you could still apply for a 1+3 award, that would mean you would do another MA or MSc before doing a 3-year PhD.

Thanks. It just seems odd that if I go and do an MA at Durham i'll have problems with PhD funding. Makes me wonder why they bother.

Like Shani says, you can still apply for the 1+3 after doing an MA, and I know people who have been successful doing this. Or, you can make an argument why you dont need to do another, RT recognised, masters - or at least you could as this is what I did but I am third year now so it might have changed. My circumstances were a) relevant work experience b) the masters I did got recognition the year after I did it, based on the units I took c) I signed up to do the core units from an RT recognised masters in the first year of my PhD. so it's not impossible, but not sure what a difference it makes to the way your application is viewed.

Alternatively, are there other sources of PhD funding in your field, other than ESRC?

Oh and the reason they bother (with running non-ESRC recognised masters) is because there are naive fools like me who didnt know anything about this whole ESRC recognition thing till after they start. So at least you are aware of the issues before embarking on a course!

well, and some people want a MA, not because they want to go on and do a PhD afterwards.
- maybe they want to pursue some interests, before they start a job
- maybe they have been working for several years and want to take some time off work for some further education
- maybe they applied for a ESRC-recognised MA/MSc but didn't get in due to their not-so-good BA/BSc results. by getting a MA they improve their chances of getting on a recognised MA/MSc course the following year - and if they apply for 1+3 funding that "extra" year would even be funded.

so there are good reasons!

its not strictly true that no esrc accreditation for a masters equals no phd funding. i spoke to the esrc re my course and they said that if the course one takes can demonstrate the equivalent desired aspects of an accredited course than no prob. of course the reason it may not be accredited is because it may not be applicable in the first place. in my case the course is a new one, currently unaccredited but worthy enough to be so. that is what you might want to check on before you commit your money and time.