All I can tell you is that I am officially in Media Studies but my second supervisor is an engineer and most of my modules were taken with engineering and spatial planning students. My PhD is very far over into Sociology yet my Honours is in Creative Media. I think your idea to speak to the visual illusions expert sounds good. Best of luck.

Done, looks like an interesting study.

Personally I'd get going and see funding applications as part of the job. You *might* be more attractive for funding if you can show you had the commitment and dedication to get started on your own dime.

I would seriously question the claim that you can't use a paper in your thesis. While you can't just paste the paper in as part of your thesis as that would be self-plagiarism, you can explain the same work in different words and in fact mention it's been published, with the paper included as an appendix (I think).

No, I have no idea, I'm sorry! However, depending on the details of your course you may not have to start from scratch. There are two issues at stake: Intellectual Property, and recognition of prior learning. For the former your current uni must be ok for you to take what you've done so far and build on it somewhere else. For the latter the place you want to move to would have to give you credit for work already done.

I would say your first step is to decide where you'd want to go, then contact their research office to make an appointment to talk things through. Alternatively you can first go and talk to someone in the department you'd be looking to move to.

My apologies for the delay in replying, I've had a busy few weeks and checked in here today for the first time in a while.

Great to hear you're moving forward. Can I suggest in addition to the disability support, you also see if you can get an appointment with the university counselling service? They may have a more specialised understanding of mental disability than the disability service.

There are usually math help centres in universities - any chance you could get help there? Either way, you need to reach out and get help with this so people are at least aware you're struggling. Don't keep it to yourself.

I Googled the info you gave there and spent way too much time trying to figure out where you're at, but it's not clear yet. When I search "level 6 digital marketing idm dma" a page comes up for a six day diploma, but more detail on the course shows more content than seems reasonable for only six days. Perhaps it's only six days of actual classes and most of the content online? They also state the qualification is equivalent to a Level 6 qualification but doesn't say Level 6 of what.

So I have no idea where you're at, I'm not familiar with the organisation so no idea of their standing and recognition of their certifications. You will have to give everyone here more info, as levels mean very different things in different countries. For instance, our levels here in Ireland split progression more finely than the European Qualifications Framework, so an ordinary Bachelor's is Level 7, Honours is Level 8 (both are equal to Level 6 on the EQF). PhD is Level 10, but on the EQF it's 8.

Here in IE you cannot start a Master's degree unless you have an Honours degree, preferably a 1:1 but at least a 2:1. The one exception is PhD, you can have "direct entry" but only from Honours, and most universities then require a confirmation exam (mini viva).

I hope that helps you understand you question better, and even answers it somewhat.

You need professional help. Postgraduate study is extremely tough on mental health, and I'm sure many people struggle with unhealthy coping mechanisms. You may be able to get free counselling through your university.

I went to see our university counsellor in my final undergrad year, and it was the best thing I could have done for myself, for my loved ones. I really encourage you to not fight this battle alone.

Good luck!

Just an update as this question got no replies from anyone who has actually moved from one Irish university to another mid-project.

I've now been with my new university for just under a year, and it was the best thing possible that I could have done. I've completed a postgraduate module specific to my specialism and start the next one soon. It was heaven to gain more in-depth knowledge on the topic (this type of additional training was simply not available at my old university). My project is cross-discipline, the move was in many ways motivated by it involving more of the "second discipline" than anticipated. The move gained me one of the top specialists in the crossover field as co-supervisor, meaning I now have highly regarded specialists in each of the two disciplines the project straddles as my supervisors.

If you're sure you'd be better off elsewhere, go for it. However, you must be very, very sure the move is the right thing to do. As you can see, I had very solid reasons to move. It was unfortunately not accomplished without some animosity, though in fairness this was from only one person... unfortunately a person in a key position. You must be ready for a fight, but stay calm and professional: remember, how you conduct yourself will be the lasting impression left at your old university, and it's very seldom a good idea to burn bridges. For the most part the effort is in justifying the move to reasonable people keen on your best interests but also keen to keep you if they can (understandable!). Even that requires good preparation and thorough investigation of the options.

Brace yourself for a long process, though. In fairness the person I mentioned above, being in a key position, delayed things whenever they could. Even taking account of that, the administrative process requires tons of patience. Start to finish it took just over four months.

Hope this info helps someone in the future.

To be honest, if I were in your position funding would be my first priority, and I would take steps to counter any drawbacks associated with whatever is the best option from a funding perspective. This may not be the best advice if you think only of the academics, but postgraduate study is very hard, and you'd want to eliminate as many other burdens as possible.

With the bit of money inherent in the choice to stay where you are, you'd perhaps be able to afford conference attendances and more that will open your mind to thinking beyond your own institution. With no money and your Significant Other troubled with the move, the benefits of studying elsewhere may be diminished.

Hi, rewt, and thanks for the reply.

That's great to hear, very encouraging and reassuring.

I still hope to hear from someone who may have knowledge of the administrative side of an Irish university/college considering a request for admission from a student who is already some months into a project, in other words advanced entry but at postgraduate level and for a research, not a taught programme. My work to date has already been evaluated by staff in this institution considering whether to put themselves forward as supervisors, and it's been judged by them to be adequate to build on, I will not have to start over from scratch.

Failing that, has anyone else on this forum perhaps gone through the process of moving their project from one institution to another a year or more after starting, with significant work already done, in any other European country? My current university/college is in an EU country.

Does anyone on this forum have experience of moving their project from one university/college to another, especially in Ireland? I'd love to hear from you if you've done that, what it was like, and any advice on little things to pay attention to, in order to make the process as smooth as possible. I'm about 15 months into an envisioned PhD, though I have not yet transferred to PhD-track and am still on paper a Master's student.

This is an amicable move, unrelated to supervisor blues I posted about a few months ago (I'm starting to think there's hardly anyone who never faces difficulty with supervisors at some or another point!). The project has just grown to something that will be better served by resources that are not available where I am now.

People are already on board for a supervisory team at the place I want to move to. It's a solid commitment backed by previous good working relationships, so not strangers I don't know from Adam. Relevant role players at my current institution are aware, and while there is one key person who may well deliberately drag their feet, the wheels are turning to get the needed documentation.

Hi, Pursue, for some reason I missed your reply though I've lurked a few times since posting. My apologies!

This ended well and not well. No, I have no support group, but I found community through conference attendance in the past few months. I worked my tail off and indeed presented well, though looking back even from what I've learned over the past few months I made some stupid mistakes. It's all part of the learning process though, so one day at a time.

Thanks again for your reply.

Do we have any kind of upvote system in here? Kudos to the poster for this positive and encouraging post. :)