How to Self-Fund your PhD

This article was first delivered as a talk for October 25, 2022 at the University of Sydney in the School of Social and Political Sciences (SSPS), Higher Degree Research workshop.

The strategy for self-funding your PhD is divided into four categories:
(1) publication strategy, (2) engagement strategy, (3) media strategy, and (4) financial strategy.

This is a layered process because, as a PhD candidate and junior academic scholar, you must establish your expertise as a commodity that can be marketed and sold. We establish our expertise by publishing; then we share our expertise through engagement; we advertise our expertise through the media; and finally, we leverage our expertise to obtain financial support based on the strength of the intellectual infrastructure we have built.

So I want you to think of yourself as an entrepreneur here. While no one does their PhD alone, you are the CEO of your PhD. A PhD student-innovator. And the skills outlined below will serve you even if you choose a trajectory outside of academia as your profession.

Publication strategy (an exercise in establishing your expertise)