Thank you all for the reply! It was fine in the end - he did not feel he could supervise me and said he is more than happy to write the reference. Fingers crossed for the applications !!

Hi all,

Last year I applied for two PhD scholarships with defined projects, somewhat last minute, made it to interviews for both and ended the process with one rejection and one place with no funding. This year I'm deciding to throw my hat into the ring again, but with my own project as a development of my Masters research project - applying to more unis, more scholarships etc. in order to increase my chances.

After doing well on my MA, I really want to ask my MA supervisor if he would be willing to supervise my PhD, funding permitting of course, but do not want to put all my eggs in one basket again and would also like to ask my MA supervisor for a reference for other applications, as he worked closely with me on my diss project. The problem is that I don't know if it would come across as impolite to ask for potential supervision but also a reference for somewhere else. I think he'd be understanding that I want to maximize my chances, and he may not even feel he could/wants to supervise my PhD, but I'm still cautious.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I'd be grateful for other opinions on this!

Thanks in advance ☺

Hi all,

Thank you for your replies and for sharing your thoughts/experiences, it has made me feel a much better about things.

I did think with Easter and the strikes things might be delayed, hopefully might hear back either way at the start of next week. Tricky to know whether/when to email as not wanting to appear too pushy or impatient, although waiting is torture!

Rewt - yes that is correct, it’s the same project and same uni, just two different sources of funding. I hadn’t really considered the idea of two people working within the same area of study/same programme. My concern really here is that if successful, I would potentially have to change a lot of my project (which I might sure would happen over time anyway) in order to ensure that it’s original. Will have to cross that bridge if it comes to it. Got everything crossed!

Hi all, new to this forum but wondering if anyone could share an opinion on my PhD application dilemma.

A few months back I was contacted by a lecturer from my undergrad uni encouraging me to apply for one of their funded PhD projects. The project is great, perfect for my research interests and academic background, plus it is with a dept im both familiar with and great supervisors. I applied, was shortlisted for interview and had the interview a couple of weeks back. The website said yesterday would be the latest to hear back (on a bank holiday and during Easter hols?) and I have not heard anything. I was very nervous at the interview and gave a few rubbish answers and I'm convinced I haven't got it, despite being suitable on paper.

The supervisor also encouraged me to apply with the same project to a Consortium funding body associated with the uni to maximise my chances and I am due to interview for it next week. As I wrote a research proposal that was built around the advertised project at the uni, but made it my own, is it ethical to pursue the same project at the second interview? If I haven't been successful, surely the candidate they have taken on will be doing something very similar, which would make my project lack originality, and I sense that it could be problematic to try and pursue a PhD project that I didn't come up with personally, but rather adapted to my interests. Although I was encouraged to apply to both with the same project. Apart from that, of all the Consortium member unis, the one I interviewed for first has the most apt supervision... if I'm successful in the next interview I don't know if I could face working with supervisors who didn't want me first time round. Do I pull out of the second interview, should I send a follow up email to the first one? I'm really in a muddle!

Would appreciate any thoughts!! Thank you!