PhD studentships: The Crick Institute

Closing Date
13 Nov 2019
Salary
£22,000 tax-free student stipend (living allowance) per year for four years
Address
1 Midland Road London NW1 1AT
Duration
4 years full-time

Our PhD programme is designed to attract the brightest scientific minds and is a fabulous opportunity for highly motivated and exceptionally talented people to embark on their career in biomedical research.

We have 200 PhD students at various stages of their four?year PhDs at the Crick at any one time. The students contribute to the international community of the Crick; 60% are from elsewhere in the EU or from further afield.

The energy and enthusiasm of the student population are a vital part of Crick's research community, and the comprehensive Crick PhD programme ensures that our students have strong career prospects in science.
 

The programme

Students accepted onto the Crick PhD programme register with one of our partner universities. You will attend an induction week and follow a structured four-year programme, agreed with our partner universities.

Your progress will be monitored through a series of annual progression points, and you will be required to present your research each year.

Year 1

  • Month 3-4: project proposal and first-year symposium 

  • Month 9: early-stage assessment

Year 2

  • Month 18: mid-term review and second-year talk series

  • Month 24: progress review

Year 3

  • Year 3 research seminar

  • Month 30: chalk talk and progress review

Year 4

  • Month 40 – 42: thesis writing training and thesis planning

  • Month 48: thesis submission and exit seminar

Training

Throughout the PhD programme, you will receive tailored training on presenting and writing about your research, including specialised IT software training and workshops on talking about science to both scientific and non-specialist audiences.

We will also encourage you to make the most of the wide range of training courses available at the Crick, and to access the skills training programme within your university.

Attending scientific conferences provides valuable exposure to the wider scientific community, and is an exciting and important learning experience. You will have access to funding to allow you to present your work at national and international conferences and we encourage you to do so, particularly in the second half of your PhD.

Support

Carrying out a PhD is challenging. To ensure you have all the support and guidance you need, our PhD students have access to a comprehensive support network involving your supervisor and research group, a dedicated thesis committee, our Academic Training team and the PhD student community itself, represented by the PhD Student Committee.

Career development

We are committed to supporting our students in their professional development, and will encourage you to plan ahead in thinking about your future career.

To help with this we offer the following career development activities:

  • from second year onwards, a work placement programme (1-4 weeks) in collaboration with a variety of organisations,
  • monthly careers talks and workshops delivered by speakers working inside and outside of academia,
  • an alumni network that connects current and former Crick staff and students,
  • a mentoring framework that allows participants to access advice and guidance from across the Crick community,
  • a CV review and advice service.

Students also have full access to the careers services within their registered partner university.
 

Alumni career paths

Our alumni are an important part of the Crick community, and we work hard to stay connected with our former students. Crick alumni have progressed on to a variety of roles inside and outside of academic research.

After completing their PhD, most of our students (56%) continue working in scientific research, in industry and academia, taking up postdoctoral research positions at institutions all over the world. A number of students eventually go on to lead their own research labs. Our clinical research fellows and MB-PhD students return to their clinical career track after their PhD, often carrying out research in parallel with their clinical commitments.

Not all of our students choose an academic career, and many of our alumni (24%) have gone on to work for prominent organisations in pharma, biotech or technology transfer, science communication, policy and administration.

The extensive skill-set gained during a PhD is not purely scientific and can be applied to many other career paths. 12% of our students have moved into careers in management, consultancy and finance.

For more information about the PhD programme at the Crick, click here.

For more information about applications and the recruitment process, click here.

To apply, click here. 

Further Information

Your application must be submitted by the deadline: 12 noon (GMT), Wednesday 13 November 2019.

Candidates of all nationalities can apply for the Crick PhD programme and studentship.

The standard Crick PhD programme and studentship academic eligibility criteria are:

A first/upper second-class honours degree (or equivalent from a non-UK university) in a relevant subject.
Appropriate research experience as part of, or outside of, a university degree course, or a master's degree in a relevant subject.
Appropriate English language skills.

A small number of individual PhD positions have additional eligibility criteria because of specific criteria associated with the funding for that position. If any additional eligibility criteria apply to a particular position, this is noted at the top of the individual PhD position page.

Contact Details

Get in touch by emailing student-recruitment@crick.ac.uk.