![]() ![]() PGR offices that I spoke to were usually very helpful, encouraging and lots more useful than the university website. This kind of practical information is not always available on university websites as the length of the application process can vary between faculties. It can be useful to phone postgraduate research admissions (PGR) offices of your target universities too, in order to find out information about how many times a year they enrol PhD students and how long, on average, their application process takes from start to finish. I had a level 7 qualification, but it was not a Masters degree, so checking entry requirements helped me identify those universities which had more inclusive entry requirements and saved me wasting valuable time. Not all universities require you to have a Masters degree to enrol for a PhD – sometimes a 2.1 or a first-class honours degree will suffice, especially if, like many mature students, you have years of professional experience as well as a degree. Investigate PhD entry requirements carefully. Following academics on Twitter and LinkedIn is also a useful way of gaining insight into the kind of academic debates which potential supervisors are engaged with and thus can help you connect with them. If they are interested in your idea and would like to hear more about your research ideas, they will ask you for further detail. Do not forget to keep any initial email enquiry brief, as academics are very busy. Research interests can be investigated further by reading some papers written by the staff that you are interested in working with and on the basis of their academic work, you can email them to make enquiries about whether they are taking on any PhD supervision at present. I can recall not being very sure how to find supervisors, but good starting points are the university website for the faculty you are interested in joining, then within that read about staff research interests. Living in the Midlands, I felt very lucky as within a 60-mile radius we are well served by numerous universities. On a practical note, whilst finding a supervisor who shares your research interests is highly important, consider practical issues for example, if you need to attend campus from time to time, you may not want to endure the time and expense of travelling long distances. Having formed an idea of your research focus area, you will begin to search for potential supervisors and universities with whom you will study. If you send them a polite email, either via ResearchGate or to their university email addresses, many academics will also help you access a copy of a few of their papers if you explain your circumstances, and some even offer words of encouragement too! ![]() I made lots of use of Google Scholar I also recommend using Google to find links to university ‘Open Access Repositories’ as well as signing up for free to join ResearchGate as another way to access academic articles. That being said, there are reliable free online sources that you can use to begin to search for academic articles to read. I imagine that this has become even more difficult in a COVID-ridden world, as many HE campus libraries have temporarily suspended loans to members of the public. If you are outside of the HE system at the time you are undertaking such reading like I was, getting access to academic articles and books can be challenging. Once you feel more confident about being able to fund your own area of research, the process of reading around your area(s) of interest and looking for potential gaps in knowledge that your research will address begins. Excellent sources of information about it are available here on FindAPhD and the GOV.UK website. I planned to work part time as I study, and thus the doctoral loan from Student Finance England has proved a useful mechanism for me. If you plan to self-fund your study, it is important to be practical and consider how you will pay tuition fees. ![]()
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