health sciences PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

4-year PhD Studentship: Cats’ perspective and welfare associated with outdoor access

Supervisor: Dr E Blackwell

Although freedom of movement is a key pillar of animal welfare, and outdoor access is considered the best way to allow cats to exercise and express natural behaviours1, restrictions often apply to owned cats. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Harnessing the genetics of DNA methylation to understand context-specific gene regulation in disease

Supervisors: Dr J Min, Dr E Hannon, Prof J MIll, Dr GL Leyden

Project Background. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have discovered many genetic associations with health outcomes. However, most GWAS signals reside in non-coding regions and it is likely that GWAS variants confer their effects through a regulatory mechanism. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

The use of life course epidemiology to support the experimental characterisation of genetic variation

Supervisors: Prof N Timpson, Dr L Corbin, Dr BL Lam

Project Background. There has been a rapid expansion in the generation of genetic sequence data over the last decade. Understanding the potential relevance of genetic mutations to human health remains challenging. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Metabolomic characterisation of adiposity across the life course

Supervisors: Dr L Corbin, Prof N Timpson, Dr RT Tsang

Project Background. There is evidence that adiposity, measured by body mass index (BMI), causally influences a range of health outcomes, but little understanding of the mechanisms driving BMI effects. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Sheffield Hallam University Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

Transforming Lives PhD Studentships - Sheffield Hallam University: Understanding the role of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations (VCSE) addressing health inequalities and other health system priorities

· Are you passionate about the role local voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises can play promoting positive health and wellbeing?. Read more

Supervisor: Prof CD Dayson

26 April 2024 PhD Research Project Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

4-year PhD Studentship: Unlocking the Potential of Sodium Butyrate in Enhancing Chicken Innate Immunity and Poultry Vaccines against Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli

Supervisor: Prof S Behboudi

Developing antibiotic alternatives is crucial for managing animal infections and reducing the pressure on antibiotics vital for human medicine. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

4-year PhD Studentship: Multiscale comparative analysis of habitat selection by large carnivores in northern Botswana

Supervisor: Prof M Eisler

About 38% of Botswana’s land area is reserved for wildlife conservation (Winterbach et al., 2014), providing important habitat for large carnivores and allowing for the study of intact large carnivore guilds. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

4-year PhD Studentship: Measurement of reward sensitivity as an indicator of welfare in chickens

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Humans show a reduction in sensitivity to reward when suffering from clinical depression and similar changes have been demonstrated in laboratory rodents used as models for depression. Read more

Supervisor: Dr E Paul

4-year PhD Studentship: Assessing long-lasting pain following hot-iron disbudding in dairy calves

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Although freedom from pain is a key pillar of animal welfare, painful procedures are still common on most dairy farms. For instance, despite being painful1, hot-iron disbudding is still performed on the vast majority of calves. Read more

Supervisor: Prof M Mendl

University of Bristol Bristol Dental School

4-year PhD Studentship: Osseointegrative and antimicrobial surfaces for dental implant with designed micro/nano-topographies

The use of dental implants has become a common treatment for the replacement of missing or damaged teeth. It is estimated that 10% of the world’s population will need a dental implant in their lifetime. Read more

Supervisors: Prof B Su, Dr J Armstrong, Dr A Nobbs

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

University of Bristol Bristol Dental School

4-year PhD Studentship: A novel, bacterial quorum sensor-infused nanocarrier drug delivery system to tackle antimicrobial resistant fungi

Healthcare associated infections (HAI) remain an unresolved clinical issue that significantly impacts patients’ lives and global economies. Read more

Supervisors: Dr N Bandara, Dr A Nobbs

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Identifying causal risk factors and outcomes of atopic dermatitis

Supervisors: Dr A Budu-Aggrey, Dr L Paternoster

Rationale. Several traits such as cardiovascular disease[1] and mental health disorders[2] have been reported to be observationally associated with atopic dermatitis (AD). Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Prenatal and pre-conception effects on neurodevelopmental disorders.

Supervisors: Dr L Zuccolo, Dr G Sharp, Dr D Caramaschi, Prof A Thapar

Rationale. There is growing concern that paternal exposures before conception have been greatly neglected. Studying how these impact on future generations’ health could open new avenues for prevention-prospective fathers are not generally advised to change their behaviour. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Integration of transactional and Ecological Momentary Assessment data for cancer risk factor prediction

Supervisors: Dr AS Skatova, Dr A Skinner, Prof T Gaunt, Prof R Martin

Rationale. Shopping history records, collected via purchases tracked on loyalty cards, can provide a new perspective on lifestyle choices and behaviours and how these relate to health outcomes such as cancer. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)