Thank you for the encouragement and the practical tips. I shall be sure to follow them up.

Thank you. I just hope I can hold the mature and hold off the mouldy/overripe!

After all these years of working mostly at things I was able to do rather than wanted to do (ability, not interest) I decided it's time to work on something I can do and want to do (ability plus interest). Earning a decent living and raising a family doesn't feel like much of an achievement and now with my wife newly qualified as a doctor at 47, I'm both encouraged and spurred to have a shot at doing something substantial myself - something that's meaningful to me.

If anyone here uses Twitter, I can also be found with @stuarte and website www.richerbusiness.com. But this forum seems pretty responsive in its own right.

You've put a smile on my face! Thank you. I tend to be a bit hard on myself and those few words have given me a different angle.

Thank you Satchi - I find it hard to believe I know what I'm doing already, less than a couple of months after taking the decision. Still, I'm aiming to start around Easter 2011 so I guess I've got time to find out.

Thank you.

I've worked at home most of the past 10 years but a year ago I got space in a small hub office two minutes from here. So that's set fair.

One thing that concerns me is "study skills". I've been gobsmacked at how systematic my wife is. Me, I've worked paperless for 10 years and the projects are usually fast turnaround - a week or two maximum - with the emphasis on speed rather than robustness. Anyway, I guess I can tap my wife for the study skills part - mastering them would be a bonus in itself.

Wow, what a fast response! Thank you.

I work almost entirely on my own at present - just the computer for company - so I'm used to solitude. And being a research-based project focused on interactions, I'm likely to be less isolated than in my "day job". It also helps that the campus is about five miles away, so it's very accessible. A neighbour has done an MPhil in a very different subject and is now into her PhD project.

Regarding hours, I am pretty much master of my time, so I should be able to devote at least 10-15 hours a week to it. Famous last words.... It would be great to bring it in for my 60th, but we'll see.

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I'm 55, self-employed as a writer/researcher/analyst, with a good regular income, and my wife has just graduated from med school, so she'll be earning from August. Earlier this year I interviewed a research fellow at a local uni for a book I was commissioned to write. One thing led to another and I recently pitched a PhD research idea to him. It spans applied neurology and social psychology, two areas of long-standing fascination for me. He thought my set-up was elegant and the overall project had potential applications. He even said he would be willing to supervise me.

I would be self-funding for a part-time research-based PhD (£2,200 a year at current rates), I have no particular time horizon and I don't need a job in academia at the end of it. I anticipate that the actual research and learning will feed into my work as I go and beyond.

I've been out of academic learning since I graduated in Italian and French in 1978, but have been busy learning things and researching on my own account ever since. At this point, I would really like to bring some academic rigour to my research and thinking, bone up in depth on my subjects and conduct some original research.

There must be a load of things that I just have thought of or just down know about as I shape up to make my application. Any tips, suggestions, observations and caveats will be most appreciated.