Thanks for your replies although it just illustrates perfectly my state of mind : on the one hand, why not? and on the other hand, it seems just completely unlikely! Although, Pamplemousse, Sheffield University offers about 60 studentships (for either Masters or PhD), so I guess I'm 64th and then maybe it doesn't sound so absurd to hope that 4 of the first 60s will drop out. Satchi did you eventually got one of those scholarship?
Thanks to you both!

Dear all,

I applied for a AHRC studentship through the University where I want to do my PhD. I have a very eager supervisor, a great topic, and overall this application was probably the best I could ever do. Now I learned that I'm the 4th on the reserve list and I have to wait again 4 weeks to know if I can have this funding or not. It seems a bit hopeless to me: who's gonna refuse a PhD studentship? So I'm asking you guys, have you ever heard of people being on the reserve and managing to climb up? Have you ever heard of people having so many studentships offered to them that they had to turned down one?
Please tell me if it is completely absurd to still wait for this studentship.

alright, so it's not so much for the university than for the council that gives the funding? My tutor says he wants to ask the AHRC. I guess that works the same. thank you for your reply :)

Ok it all sounds cryptical to me. I am a french student in landscape architecture, but in a Ecole d'ingénieur, which of course has no equivalent in the UK. I found a tutor and a topic in Sheffield, in landscape architecture. And he told me that I might have troubles with my diploma (although it is a Master degree, a sort of Msc in Engineering) and that I should have to do an extra year MRes and do my PhD in a 1+3 kind of way. Now, I would really appreciate a second opinion. Is it possible to make a PhD in a social science with a Msc? I also want to add that I have professional (well, training) experience in research. Doesn't it count at all?