Morning all - I'm in the MRes stage of my 1 + 3 ESRC quota funding and very confused... Does anyone have an idea of the distinction between the '1' stage of funding... Specifically for my MRes... I'm obviously trying to tie in any literature review and subsequent research with my PhD (which I officially start next year!) but I'm almost viewing it as a four year PhD (with a 25,000 word MRes paper to submit at the end of this year in tandem with it...). Just wondering how anyone generally balances the two...

Cheers.

Some people do the masters part and then years later do the PhD (with ESRC funding) in a different discipline and on a different topic so there is no official need to have any link significant links between the two.

It is advantageous to have parts of your masters dissertation that can be expanded in your PhD thesis. But I have also heard people say that the main focus in the first year should be competing the masters part and it can be a big mistake to worry to much about the PhD and instead just concentrate on getting the masters completed with a good grade, then turning your full attention to the PhD.

Yup, I've treated mine as a four year PhD really, with the MSc work being pilot stuff. This is was under the instructions of my sups. who never regarded it as being any other way. Might be different in different areas though?

B.xx