ESRC Funding - How long will I have to wait for a decision?

TickingTock

Hi all, I've applied for an ESRC funded PhD. I had an offer made a few weeks back but now I'm waiting for funding. The problem is, I have no idea when a decision will be made (was originally told mid-April) ! Has anyone got any experience of how long this can drag out for? Going slightly mad here.

Picnic_2

I'm doing an ESRC-funded PhD. Started in 2008, so things may have changed since then.

I first of all had to apply to my department because they were only allowed to put forward one nomination per year. I heard back that they were choosing to put me forward fairly quickly (few weeks or so?). Then I had to fill out all the online forms with my proposal, personal statement etc. They all got submitted in April. A quick look at my archived emails and I saw I was finally contacted by my university to be told I had been awarded funding on 12th August!

I can't remember all the details, but I seem to remember there were two "types" of application made; one where the university has a given quota of places automatically and they fill them at their leisure, and one where the university nominates you into a pool of applicants from all over the country, and the ESRC chooses who to fund. Mine was the latter type (was it called an "open competition award"? something like that anyway) It could be that the waiting time differs depending on the type of award.

Fingers crossed you are successful - best of luck