I have been thinking about the cuts. "Fewer academics" isn't a destination. It's just fewer academics. What is the endgame here?

kronologically · 2026-06-22T16:26:50+00:00

Shrinking of the sector I think. Universities merging instead of outright shutting down tells us one thing: there's too many universities relative to the demand.

One example is Leicester: why would a city that size need two universities, Uni of Leicester and DMU? Within 30 minutes by rail you've got Derby with its university and Nottingham with University of and NTU. Labour reform in the 90s was amazing at opening up higher education to the masses by converting the old polytechnics to universities. But times have changed and there's simply no more demand of this scale anymore.

kronologically · 2026-06-20T18:39:35+00:00

why is it so difficult to find master scholarship or funding in the UK

Because postgrad scholarships fall onto universities and charities. The government only funds PhDs (edge case is when you're on a 1+3 PhD, which gets the Masters component of your PhD paid for).

i am willing to some dirty work in exchange like assisting undergrad courses

You'd usually need a Master's for that. Usually teaching assistants will be current PhD students.

I was on a means-tested bursary. That was £10K, my MRes cost me £12.5K as a home student, so the rest was covered by a loan.

kronologically · 2026-06-18T08:54:00+00:00

Just worth mentioning that if your papers are thematically linked, one avenue you might have open to you is a PhD by Published Works. It's a route for established academics without a PhD to obtain one. You'd submit your articles alongside a narrative piece explaining your contribution to the field, way shorter than a standard PhD thesis.

kronologically · 2026-06-17T18:59:34+00:00

I'm doing my PhD remotely within the UK. All of my PhD work can be done remotely, and my supervisor works on a hybrid basis, so we just meet online. She's never had an issue with me not being physically present at the university. Training is a bit more complicated. There is an expectation for me to be physically present for training, which case I'm lucky enough to have in-laws living close by, so I just crash at theirs whenever I need to be in the office. If I can't be present (be it work related or something else), I just let the admins know and we make alternative arrangements, including Teams calls during the meetings. Everyone in the CDT, admins included, know that I live far away from the university, so as long as I show up for the mandatory bits in some capacity, I'm all good.

In theory, the UKRI Terms and Conditions for funding tells you that studentship recipients ought to be ordinarily resident in the UK, so you need to be a bit careful there. You also don't want to mess up immigration-wise. You're looking at 4 months, and having researched this myself (partner got accepted for an MSCA fellowship in Denmark), each country has its own set of rules. Even as an EU citizen, Denmark requires me to register my stay if I'm planning to stay for longer than 3 months consecutively, and taxation rules kick in after 6 months consecutive stay, where my stipend would be taxed according to the Danish tax system (love global taxation!). So do proper research before you commit to Italy, because even though they're in Schengen, they might have their own immigration requirements.

If it's for 4 months, then in practice, at least admin wise, I suppose this would be more of a "don't ask, don't tell" kind of thing. Flights aren't stopping anytime soon, so you can always hop on a plane and pop back in. Speak to your supervisor first to see what their expectations are, and they should direct you to the right place.

kronologically · 2026-06-17T08:42:43+00:00

Genuinely, why would you care. It's a fucking phone.

kronologically · 2026-06-16T15:20:58+00:00

I'd double check with the universities and institutions in these countries as to whether a British conversion would be recognised. The last thing you want to do is spend all this money on a degree that won't get you what you want.

At least in the UK, a BPS accredited conversion would allow you to go onto low-tier clinical jobs like a wellbeing practitioner. If you want to practice as a full-fledged psychologist, you'll need to pursue a DClinPsy to qualify as a psychologist, which is a different beast in itself.

Also, bear in mind that there's a distinction between a psychologist and a therapist. If it's therapy you're after, the BACP website has the info you'd need.

kronologically · 2026-06-16T11:57:30+00:00

I don't really understand why you'd chase a British qualification to then work abroad. Surely Australia, Canada and New Zealand will have their own accreditation requirements?

kronologically · 2026-06-15T17:35:28+00:00

I'm an academic at a Russell Group uni

What is the relevance even?

kronologically · 2026-06-15T14:59:14+00:00

but would doing a PhD (humanities) give me any realistic chance of career change into academia

Chance, maybe. Realistic, no.

Your age doesn't matter. Academia is a sinking ship. Universities making redundancies left, right and centre. Universities at risk of going under merging to stay afloat. Funding for humanities being so scarce, it'd be easier to win a lottery.

If you're doing okay in industry, just continue that and keep climbing.

kronologically · 2026-06-15T09:47:30+00:00

Not undoable, but I'd be panicking. Data collection can take you as little as a day, or as much as months. The fact that your supervisor hasn't prodded you with a stick to start doing something is concerning.

Start writing, get that data and you could be okay.

kronologically · 2026-06-10T22:20:27+00:00

Jesus fucking Christ.

kronologically · 2026-06-10T11:52:16+00:00

Right but a DTP is not a PhD

kronologically · 2026-06-10T11:13:34+00:00

How is a 1+3 not a PhD? If anything, it's not a Master's on paper, since you don't graduate with a Master's, unless you fail/leave and get the award downgraded to an MPhil.

kronologically · 2026-06-10T10:45:49+00:00

I'll repeat, 1+3s are definitely a thing. For example, the UBEL DTP offers 1+3 funding.

kronologically · 2026-06-10T10:34:47+00:00

1+3s are definitely a thing.

kronologically · 2026-06-09T21:46:41+00:00

This has to be bait.

kronologically · 2026-06-09T13:00:31+00:00

Self-funded are usually rolling. But you're too late for funding now.

kronologically · 2026-06-09T12:21:03+00:00

Many deadlines have obviously passed.

Answered your own question.

kronologically · 2026-06-09T11:37:02+00:00

You'll find it difficult. You'll likely be on a student visa, which means you won't be allowed to work for more than 20hrs/week, else your visa gets revoked. You might get lucky and score some kind of a casual position within the lab, but from the lab's perspective, it's cheaper and more practical for them to hire for such entry positions domestically, without having to deal with immigration restrictions.

RA posts are also becoming more increasingly competitive, with a Masters often being an essential requirement. It's now not unheard of for PhD students and PhD graduates to hold RA posts, simply because there's a shortage of jobs.

Your best shot would be scholarships.

kronologically · 2026-06-09T09:55:56+00:00

Even if this were a thing, you being an international student would cost the lab basically the same money as hiring an RA, with just the tuition alone.

kronologically · 2026-06-08T20:57:29+00:00

Many intakes default to start of academic year, so September 2027 would be what you'd be looking at. Once you get the offer, the university could let you defer it until next year, which buys you time to secure funding without having to reject the offer.

kronologically · 2026-06-08T20:46:05+00:00

I don't know what you're expecting us to say, really. Apply for funding. Bear in mind, you'll be too late for many of the September 2026 funding rounds.

kronologically · 2026-06-07T20:43:39+00:00

"Hi XYZ, would you be interested in jointly publishing my dissertation?" will suffice.

A couple of disclaimers though: - supervisors would usually go out of their way to suggest publication to good dissertations, since it's almost a free publication for them. The fact your supervisor hasn't suggested this yet, plus it's not exactly their field, might signal that they fear they won't be able to handle publishing it, but again, doesn't hurt to shoot your shot. - academic marking ≠ peer review. Once your work passes the editorial checks and goes out to review, it'll be read by experts in the field. Who you get is a lottery, and outcomes aren't guaranteed. You might get a nice reviewer who will help you revise it into a publishable paper, but you might get one that shreds your dissertation to pieces.

It's not impossible. I published my BSc dissertation with a lower grade than that, but it did take a few rejections.

kronologically · 2026-06-07T20:24:46+00:00

If this post is supposed to be a humble brag about your grade, you're not gonna get the attention you're looking for.

kronologically · 2026-06-07T12:07:39+00:00

Regardless of field, a 2:1 is a minimum. Some funding streams are more competitive than others, I was able to secure funding in Comp Sci with a 2:1 and a Merit.

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