>> 05.03.04

Funding focus (v): other income and expenses
The final entry in the Funding Focus looks at other sources of money and where that money can be put to good use Having dealt with the "boring" parts of budgeting and finances if the fourth part of the Funding Focus, the time has come to look at other areas of expense and income. As with undergraduate study, there are items that you simply cannot do without: pens, paper, folders and stationary in general. Far from this being an exercise in telling prospective postgraduate students to remember to pack their... {>>}

>> 04.03.04

Funding focus (iv): typical budget
What the incomes and outgoings amount to from day to day forms the fourth part of the Funding Focus. Now that you know how much money you have for your respective years of study, it seems a reasonable proposition to determine what this lump sum translates into in terms of living from day to day. How much money can you spend in your weekly shop? Can you go to the cinema more than once a week? Is there any room for savings? What if you fancy more than just the... {>>}

>> 23.02.04

Funding focus (iii): how will the funding money be paid to me and how much is it?
The third part of the Funding Focus looks in brief at how much money a postgraduate student can expect Having guaranteed funding to carry out studies, the natural question is: how much funding will I get? Information within the various research council websites concerning this question is actually pretty difficult to find. Almost every one of the seven councils has a section marked "funding" and yet has that section filled with so much information it can be hard to determine what you want to know. An exception to this rule... {>>}

>> 13.02.04

Funding focus (ii): how do I go about getting some of the funding available?
The second part of the Funding Focus concentrates on securing some of the funding available for postgraduate study Having discussed the various institutions and areas that fund postgraduate study, we now look at how to access the funding available. Once again, we will concentrate on each of the different funding bodies to see the best ways of approaching this problem. Before considering this, however, it is worth nothing that being organised can often set you off on good footing: once you are sure of the postgraduate course you wish to... {>>}

>> 11.02.04

Funding focus (i): where does the money come from?
In the first part of the Funding Focus, we look at where the funding comes from in general for postgraduate research Funding for postgraduate research can come from a large range of organisations. The most familiar of these organisations are the funding councils — such as EPSRC [1] etc. — though these form only a part of the possible sources of money for research. Other funding options are available through institutions themselves, employers, charities and trusts, as well as from the individual wishing to enrole on the course through part-... {>>}

Funding focus
One of the most important factors associated with a postgraduate course — both in terms of deciding to do it, where to do it and how to do it — is money. Since a lot of the information already provided within the Phd diary concerning funding is not obviously accessible (located mainly — though not exclusively — in the money & funding category), the next few entries will form a Funding Focus that will provide a step-by-step guide to postgraduate funding. It will be (roughly) split into the following sections:... {>>}

>> 15.01.04

Applying for teaching duties
Conscious that I haven't written about funding for some time now, I shall quickly revisit the possibility of providing teaching support during semester-time. (Other information concerning marking and the such-like is here). In the maths department of the University of Surrey, one of the members of staff is charged with finding postgraduate students to offer teaching assistance. An e-mail came around at the end of December in which students were asked whether they would be able to help with marking and/or labs. Upon our return from the Christmas break, a... {>>}

>> 09.12.03

Exam invigilation
The end of semester is upon undergraduates and as a result, exams are the order of the day for the department. As a research postgraduate, there are no exams at all for me, which is quite an interesting feeling, in that a wole semster of work can go untested: it's either in my head or it's not. Aside from the academic perspective of exams, the end of term (or in some cases end of holidays/start of term) presents postgraduates with another opportunity to earn some precious pennies, in the form... {>>}

>> 02.12.03

Mad thoughts
The last day or two have seen me languishing in bed for the majority of the time with a sort of flu-type bug. Unlike great minds of yesteryear, my fever has resulted in exactly no breakthroughs, mainly because I haven't been able to turn my mind to such matters. Concentrating on getting back to sleep has, for the main part, been my greatest achievement. I did manage to get my marking for the week out of the way. The novelty has worn off now, but fortunately my speed and fluency... {>>}

>> 21.11.03

Asleep in the back
The research skillls lectures once again prove to be the most numbingly predictable highlight of the day, with the University Research, PhDs, Organisation & Funding lecture taking it's turn to wither everyone present into a state of despair, or — in my case — slumber. I shall not discuss the merits of holding a lecture at 9am on a Friday morning, but instead consider the one issue of the hour the lecturer seemed most concerned to impress on the gathered unfortunate: money, and lots of it. The speaker was Professor... {>>}

>> 19.11.03

UCAS days
As part of my money-earning, I have started helping once again with the department's UCAS days. As an undergraduate, I used to do talks to prospective students about the MMath course which I quite enjoyed, though of course reaction was at best muted and at worse total silence. The open days have changed a little bit since then and there is a much more interactive approach to the day now. Though the basic structure remains the same, students are now required to attend a short interview with a member of... {>>}

>> 15.11.03

Tutorial sessions
As mentioned previously, I've been doing my bit in the department to help supplement my income. Having already done some marking, today saw my first tutorial session for a group of students on the MSc in Astrodynamics, which proved to be quite an interesting experience. The first point to raise is whether or not I have the experience necessary to be able to help these students, given that the only real difference between myself and them is a couple of weeks of study. This was something I brought up with... {>>}

>> 12.11.03

Council tax
The title of this post might not be enthralling, but never-the-less it is an important issue when considering setting budgets as a postgraduate student. Before commencing my studies, I assumed that as a full-time postgraduate student I would be exempt from paying any council tax, no matter where I lived — similar to the case as an undergraduate student; I have since learnt that this assumption was wrong. Council tax is calculated on a property according to the individuals that live in that house. If every resident is a full-time... {>>}

>> 11.11.03

Earning a few extra pennies
Having calculated my budgets for the year, the conclusion was that any extra money that comes my way will certainly be appreciated — if not only to accommodate my occasional wish for take-out pizza. There are many ways in which it is possible to generate a little bit of cash, but a new avenue that opens up because of being a postgraduate student is helping within the department. This help takes on several different forms, but the two main ones are marking courseworks and holding tutorial sessions for individuals/groups, both... {>>}

>> 29.10.03

Funding
One of the biggest determining factors governing the likelihood of undertaking postgraduate study is funding. Unlike undergraduate funding, which does not take into account academic ability in any way and deals out money (in the form of loans) left, right and centre, postgraduate funding is based much more on ability and aptitude. When I say that undergraduate funding is not based on academic ability in any way, I ignore scholarships and bursaries, which are of course based solely on ability. In such a way is undergraduate funding therefore very similar... {>>}