Hi all!

I applied for a PhD in Swansea and was accepted to my great amazement. This is a "full-time" position. In addition, I have a "distance learning" position at LSBU. I really want to do my PhD in Swansea. Now it seems that the assumption is made that I (despite the fact that my supervisor doesn't care from where I'm doing my PhD geographically) I need a place of residence there. I.e. I will probably have to move.

Now I can pay the fees myself. But I will find it difficult to afford a living. I'm giving up my job for the PhD and I honestly don't know how I can cover my living costs there without a job ... Unfortunately, Austria also doesn't offer any funding opportunities.

What can I do now? Is there any way to finance my studies?

Thanks & best regards

Hi sedah,

Congratulations on getting accepted for a PhD!

I am sorry to say that self-funding isn't that easy. You might be able get funding from the relevant research council (either AHRC, BBRSC, ESRC, EPRSC) but full funding is unlikely. Depending on your field, you might be able to apply for individual grants from the research council or associated funding body. You can ask your supervisor for some ideas and you can usually find a decent sized list of possible grants with a long google search. However most of the grants are one-offs and probably won't cover all your needs.

Your department might over teaching assistance contracts or marking, which usually pay very well, £15-20 per hour, but they are highly unstable. Again you can ask your supervisor if they can help getting a decent teaching contract. You will probably be eligible for a PhD loan of £26,000 but I know nothing about that. I also know a lot of self funded PhD students that do tutoring, which can be £10-30 per hour.

If I can think of anything else, I will post it here but self-funding can be difficult.

Thank you very much!

I will choose the distance learning position as I am not able to cover the costs.+

Kind regards,
sedah