I have an informal offer for PhD but they have no funding this year. The supervisor seems on my wavelength and has lots of publication and conference experience. Do I leave it and look for studentship or is there a way to get other funding/ how hard/realistic is it to get alternative funding?

Thanks in advance

:-)

My experience is that, you should never ever trust any verbal agreement, unless they have written this down in a formal format. It is strange to see they do not have fund this year (I mean a real one year long, 365/366 days, around that), but suddenly have something to offer next year. This is not the way of how the gov/org allocates the research fund to Uni/institute. Promising is nothing.

In your cases, I would keep looking for other PhD positions. Normally, they shall support you for 3 years.

hi wowzers
For a start, I really like your username. Please keep looking for other PhD studentships. I think you can really only relax after you have an offer on paper (letter saying they are going to give it to you).

Best of luck! keep looking
love satchi