bacterial PhD Projects, Programs & Scholarships

Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project has funding attached, subject to eligibility criteria. Applications for the project are welcome from all suitably qualified candidates, but its funding may be restricted to a limited set of nationalities. You should check the project and department details for more information.

We recently discovered that bacteria can resist antibiotics by mechanisms operating extracellularly in response to near-lethal antibiotic concentrations.

Bioinspired filomicelles for the effective delivery of antibiotics

University of Leicester
Department of Chemistry

Dr K Suntharalingam, Dr R Britton

Application Deadline: 7 June 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

Background. Antibiotics are drugs that are used to prevent and treat bacterial infections. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria modify their response to antibiotics, making them less effective or even redundant.

Phage therapy as a treatment of Equine Strangles, and causative bacterial pathogen Streptococcus equi (ref: SF20/APP/SMITH4)

Northumbria University
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

Dr D Smith

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Streptococcus equi is an important equine bacterial pathogen causing the disease ‘strangles’, which affects both Thoroughbred and non-Thoroughbred horses around the world.

Surface-modified silicone elastomer for medical and drug delivery devices with reduced bacterial adherence and biofilm formation

Queen’s University Belfast
School of Pharmacy

Dr L Carson, Prof K Malcolm

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

All implanted medical devices, including those fabricated from silicone elastomers, are susceptible colonisation with communities of microorganisms that colonise the surface of the device and rapidly establish biofilm populations.

Characterizing the immunogenic properties of bacterial extracellular vesicles (EVs) of the Cystic Fibrosis airway

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
RCSI StAR International PhD Programme Research Projects

Dr J Coppinger

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities. Applications for the project are welcome from all suitably qualified candidates, but potential funding may be restricted to a limited set of nationalities. You should check the project and department details for more information.

Recurrent Pseudomonas (P) aeruginosa infection is common in chronic pulmonary diseases including cystic fibrosis (CF), chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and a leading cause of hospital acquired pneumonia.

Probing the organization and function of bacterial toxin-antitoxin complexes

The University of Manchester
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

Dr F Hayes, Prof J P Derrick

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Bacterial toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules typically consist of a pair of genes that encode for a stable toxin protein and an unstable cognate antitoxin molecule.

Nanotopographical modulation of bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation

University of Bristol
Faculty of Health Sciences

Prof B Su

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Surface topography has been known to alter bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation. It has become evident that surface hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity and effective contact area are the two main factors that are responsible for the different bacterial adhesive behaviour on surfaces.

The bacterial protein translocation machinery: a target for new strategies against antimicrobial resistance

University of Bristol
School of Biochemistry

Prof I Collinson

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a major problem affecting millions of people across the world. This severely affects treatment of bacterial infections as strains are emerging that are totally resistant to all clinically used antibiotics.

Bioinspired nanotopographies to control bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation

University of Liverpool
School of Engineering

Dr R D'Sa

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

By 2050, it is predicted that the rise of resistant strains of bacteria and the ever-growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will be the cause of 10 million deaths annually, and will burden the global economy by £64 trillion.

Additive Manufacture of Bacterial Biofilm Resistant Surfaces using Novel High Performing Polymer “Inks”

University of Nottingham
Faculty of Engineering

Prof D Irvine

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

Title. Additive Manufacture of Bacterial Biofilm Resistant Surfaces using Novel High Performing Polymer “Inks”. Topic. The production of Novel Devices Incorporating Bacterial Biofilm Resistant Surfaces via Additive Manufacturing Techniques.

Bacterial iron uptake pathways as targets for the development of novel antimicrobials

University of Sheffield
Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease

Dr M Thomas

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Antimicrobial resistance is an ever increasing problem. Presently it is estimated to be responsible for 700,000 deaths p.a. and it is predicted that this figure will rise to 10 million by 2050.

Understanding the Maturation and Localisation Pathways within the Bacterial Cell Envelope

University of Warwick
School of Life Sciences

Dr P Stansfeld, Prof D Roper

Application Deadline: 7 June 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

One of the fundamental challenges in biological sciences is to visualise the dynamics of biomolecular machines in high-resolution detail.

Chronic Wounds and Infection - impact on diabetic patients

University of Bradford
Faculty of Life Sciences

Research Group: Centre for Skin Sciences

Dr M J Thornton, Dr J N Fletcher

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Non-healing chronic wounds present a significant clinical challenge. In Europe, the cost of wound management accounts for 2%–4% of the health care budget and the complications associated with impaired wound healing can have a significant, long-term effect on the morbidity, mortality, and quality of life for patients.

University of Leicester
Department of Genetics and Genome Biology

Bacteriophages

Dr A Millard, Prof M Clokie

Application Deadline: 7 June 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

Bacteriophages are the most abundant entity on the planet and are known to drive the evolution of their bacterial hosts. Bacteriophages are known to convert harmless bacteria into pathogens by a process known as phage conversion.

The role of pore-forming bacterial proteins in pneumonia and meningitis

University of Birmingham
Institute of Microbiology and Infection

Prof T J Mitchell, Dr M Tomlinson

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) is carried in the nasopharynx of most children and some adults without causing disease.