Hi yirara,

In response to your first question - I don't think it's viewed as at all odd for there to be a signifcant gap between your last tertiary qualification and a PhD. In fact, I think most supervisors and institutions positively welcome mature applicants. I started my PhD when I was 41 after 15 years in the IT industry, and no-one has ever batted an eyelid. My funding is through the Centre for Global Eco-innovation at Lancaster, which in effect is European money. You state that you are not eligible for NERC funding - why is that? Sure they don't have an upper age limit, in fact that would be illegal under age-discrimination.

Peter