Professor Narender Ramnani Steps into Presidency at the British Neuroscience Association
29th April 2025
The UCL-Birkbeck MRC Doctoral Training Programme provides state-of-the-art PhD training across four strategic themes.
Fundamental mechanisms of disease
Understanding the fundamental mechanisms of disease can have a huge translational impact and we are internationally recognised in this area. This theme spans a broad range of research areas, including molecular biology, developmental biology, stem cells and regenerative medicine, immunology, genetics, pharmacology, structural biology and biophysics
Experimental and personalised medicine
Experimental and personalised medicine drives the translation of discoveries from basic science and clinical medicine into benefits for human health, using an individual's genetic profile to guide decisions made in regard to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of a disease. Research in this theme encompass research into the understanding the mechanisms of pathophysiology or cause of disease, identification of new drug targets, development of new models of disease, and developing new biomarkers of disease progression and treatment.
Neuroscience and mental health
UCL is one of the world-leading institutions for neuroscience research, and together with Birkbeck this theme provides research training in a range of neurosciences areas, including developmental, molecular, cellular & systems neuroscience, sensory systems, neurodegeneration, mental health, and neuroimaging.
Populations, people and data across the life course
Research in this theme spans a broad range of topics, including understanding the factors that determine health and disease in populations; measuring the burden of disease in populations; developing testing and measuring the impact of interventions and service improvement; and approaches to reducing inequalities in health status.
20 4-year studentships will be available across these themes to start September 2020. Studentships include tuition fees and an annual maintenance stipend of no less than £16,777.
The programme comprises 1 year of rotations (3 in total), followed by a 3 year PhD project.
In addition to undertaking their research students will engage in a range of additional training activities including:
Applicants must hold undergraduate or Masters degree (at least 2:1 or equivalent) and meet the residence eligibility requirement as detailed on the MRC website.
Application form and instructions can be found at www.ucl.ac.uk/mrc-dtp
To be eligible for full studentship funding applicants must either be UK nationals, or EU nationals who have been living in the UK for 3-years. EU nationals that do not meet this criteria are eligible for 'Fees-only' funding but will not receive a stipend and must be able to cover their living costs for the duration of the course.
International students are not eligible for funding. However, we welcome applications from overseas candidates who are either self-funding or in receipt of an alternative funding source.
All applicants must complete the two part application form and organise references to be submitted from 2 referees.
Due to the cohort structure of our programme we only accept students to start in September each year, please do not choose other start dates on your application, otherwise it may not be reviewed by the programme.
The DTP will also be offering 4 CASE studentships to start in September 2020. The projects to be offered for these studentships will be released on the DTP website (link above) on 20th December 2019.
Closing date: 5 pm, Wednesday 8th January 2020