The Nottingham BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership

Four-year funded PhDs available in Agriculture and Food Security, Bioscience for Health and Biotechnology for October 2024.

Thanks to £15m of funding awarded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent in partnership with the National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC) are offering a fully funded innovative four-year doctoral training programme that will provide you with world-class training in biotechnology and biosciences.  This funding covers tuition fees, a stipend, and RTSG (research training and support grant).

The DTP offers projects in three overarching research themes: Agriculture and Food Security; Bioscience for Health; and Biotechnology. These themes encompass a wide range of blue skies to applied research, that span multiple scales of study. Areas include crop and animal sciences from the field to cell level, precision imaging and mathematical modelling, to molecular areas of microbiology and biotechnology, and human health-related areas of neuroscience, immunology, and drug discovery. There are a wide range of projects to choose from spanning these areas .

We offer a wide range of skills development opportunities to prepare you for your career, whether in academia, industry, science policy and communication, education or beyond. You will also become part of a community that exchanges ideas and learns from shared experiences.

DTP Standard Programme

You will apply to a research area, and work alongside your peers for the first six months of your studies, splitting your time between high-level training and laboratory rotations. You will also take part in a three-month placement during your third year. 

DTP CASE Programme

You will apply to a specific project working in partnership with an industry partner.  You will spend 3-12 months of your PhD working on a placement with your industry partner.  The available projects are:

• Does fertilizer placement play a key role in crop establishment? 
• Native mass spectrometry for the discovery of new anticancer agents 

Requirements  

Applications are invited from students with backgrounds in Bioscience, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Chemical/Biochemical/Process Engineering, Environmental Science, Pharmacy, Computer Science, Maths or related disciplines who have/expect to graduate with a first/upper-second UK honours degree, or equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK.  

Funding details 

Funding is available for four years from October 2024. The award covers tuition fee at the home rate plus an annual stipend. This is set by UKRI and will be £19,237 for 2024. Please note that only Home students are eligible to apply in this round.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 

The Nottingham BBSRC DTP is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in its recruitment practices and throughout the delivery of our PhD programme. For 2024 recruitment, we are operating a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for applicants from Black and Black mixed backgrounds. 

How to apply 

Applicants should apply by clicking the 'Apply' button above.

Enquiries should be sent to:  [email protected]   

Please quote ref: BBSRC DTP APPLICATION  

Closing date: Friday 3rd May 2024, 12:00 noon.