PhD studentship interview

Hi.
I have a PhD studentship interview in one of the highly ranked universities in the uk. The admission office informed me that the interview will last around 20 min!! My question is: 20 min is not long time for a phd studentship interview (i had interviews before, all of it were more than 45 min) Please could you advise me what kind of questions they will ask in 20 min only? is it general or deep in the project topic, is it normal to have interview for 20 min only?

Thanks in advance :-)

Is it plausible to suggest that if it's going badly they'll finish it after 20 minutes allowing everyone to save face? If it's going well perhaps they extend it. Or maybe they just consider 20 minutes enough time.

I'm about to complete my PhD, and 4 years ago I had 3 interviews for this position, and I stressed about it all immensely.

I can tell you that I wholeheartedly believe that your supervisor will be as interested in what you are like on an interpersonal level as they are about your academic strengths. Although to have gotten to interview stage at all, you must have proven yourself academically worthy already. You will be placed into a research group and will have a close working relationship with your supervisor, they will need to see that the person they've chosen will "fit in". That's much more important than you might imagine now, but you'll appreciate it later on. The person they choose will eventually represent the group, the supervisor and the university at conferences et cetera, and they need to see that you can engage with your academic superiors. Networking is really important, they don't want somebody who shies away from technical conversation with strangers.

Be enthusiastic and confident, but without coming across as cocky. Smile, be friendly, and show them that you're somebody they'd be happy to have in their group. Often you are taken to meet the other people in the research group (here, we're asked to take the interviewees for "coffee", and afterwards the supervisor will ask us what we think of them), so if this happens, be friendly, be interested and make a good impression. Don't exaggerate your experience (we were all really inexperienced at the start!) and just keep an air of positivity about you.