PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

We have 3,651 PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

Uncovering shared genetic and molecular mechanisms in multiple long-term conditions through multi-trait and multiomics approaches

Research Group: Public Health & Epidemiology

This project is an example of the type of approaches that can be applied to a wide range of multiple long-term conditions. Thyroid disorders are common, affecting an estimated 1 in 20 people in the UK (British Thyroid Foundation, 2025). Read more

Supervisors: Dr JC Chen, Prof F Dudbridge

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

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Impacts of environmental exposures on critically ill children: a national cohort study

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Public Health & Epidemiology

Project background. Environmental exposures including air pollution, noise, greenspace and extreme temperature has each been investigated in relation to childhood health outcomes around the world[1]. Read more

Supervisors: Dr SC Cai, Dr S Seaton, Prof A Hansell

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

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Eliciting Patient, Carer and Clinician Preferences for Virtual Ward Models in acute Atrial Fibrillation Care

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Cardiovascular Sciences

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias and associated with increased risk of stroke, hospitalisation, and reduced quality of life [1], [2], [3]. Read more

Supervisor: Prof GY Yao

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

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Reactive Sulfur Species: Unlocking Nature’s Hidden Chemistry for Health and Sustainability

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Molecular & Cell Biology

Have you ever wondered what really drives life under stress? For decades, biology has focused on reactive oxygen species (ROS) as the main players in health and disease. Read more

Supervisor: Dr CS Switzer

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

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Epigenetics of early human embryonic development

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Molecular & Cell Biology

The 46th chromosome in XX female mammals, the second X, has to be switched off. That way females equalize gene dosage of X-linked genes with XY males. Read more

Supervisors: Dr Y Markaki, Dr MT Tellier

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

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Long non-coding RNAs and its biological functions

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Molecular & Cell Biology

In addition to ~20,000 protein coding genes, human genome contains ~30,000 genes that encode for functional RNAs. Apart from the rRNAs and tRNAs that are involved in translation, the famous example is the Xist RNA involved in silencing of one X chromosome in females. Read more

Supervisors: Dr O V Makarova, Dr Y Markaki, Dr MT Tellier

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

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Decoding CDR Dynamics to Engineer High Affinity Antibodies for Next Generation Therapeutics

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Molecular & Cell Biology

Project Summary. This project will investigate how complementarity‑determining region (CDR) structural dynamics guide affinity maturation in antibodies, with the goal of improving their use in global health and biotechnology. Read more

Supervisors: Dr G Hall, Dr F Muskett

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

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From Genes to Signals: Visualising Molecular Interactions in Bacterial Communities

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Microbiology and Infection

Microbial communities are shaped by dynamic interspecies interactions that influence gene expression, metabolite production, and ecological behaviour. Read more

Supervisors: Dr K Schilcher, Dr Y Markaki

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

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Bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Microbiology and Infection

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, playing vital roles in shaping microbial communities and influencing health and disease. Read more

Supervisor: Dr SM A Millard, E Galyov, M Clokie

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

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Digital Engineering

Loughborough University

Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering

Digital engineering underpins our research in all our thematic areas and is also an area where we lead in the development of the underpinning methodologies. Read more

Supervisor: Dr S Kenny

31 July 2026 PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

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Bioengineering and Healthcare Technologies

Loughborough University

Department of Chemical Engineering

Sustainable production of next-generation pharmaceuticals and biologics to meet future healthcare needs is a key area of research at Loughborough. Read more

Supervisor: Dr DJ Malik

31 July 2026 PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

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Exploring the Respiratory mycobiome in Tuberculosis

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Microbiology and Infection

The latest WHO reports that around 10.7 million people were diagnosed and 1.23 million people died from the curable and preventable disease tuberculosis (TB) in 2024, putting it in the top 10 causes of death worldwide1. Read more

Supervisors: Dr LC Cuthbertson, Prof G Mukamolova

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

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Hydrogen, Clean and Sustainable Energy

Loughborough University

Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering

Generating clean and sustainable energy is a key global challenge and a real strength of the school, with work spanning fundamental research into novel materials and technologies all the way through to the scale up of these techniques towards industry readiness. Read more

Supervisor: Dr J Wagner

31 July 2026 PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

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Exhaled microbes and their detection by facemask sampling

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Microbiology and Infection

We all breathe out numerous microbes, even when we are sleeping. Our group knows this through our work on facemask sampling (FMS). . Read more

Supervisors: Prof M Barer, Dr N Garton

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

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Sustainable and Smart Materials

Loughborough University

Department of Materials

Materials lie at the heart of many of the world’s global challenges from how we generate our future energy, through the sustainable use of resources and the reduction of use of rare materials to designing for recycling. Read more

Supervisor: Dr S Hogg

31 July 2026 PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

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Genome dynamics of tandem repeat expansions in lung disease

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Genetics

Project Summary. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and fatal lung disease affecting approximately 50 per 100,000 individuals in the UK. Read more

Supervisors: Prof E Hollox, Dr R Badge

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

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Computational Neural Networks (CNNs), foundational large language models (LLMs), and pretrained transformers (GPTs) for phylogeny, biodiversity and functional genomics

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Genetics

Artificial intelligence will transform the identification, measurement, conservation and exploitation of biodiversity and the understanding and applications that can come from genomics, transcriptomics and genome assemblies. Read more

Supervisor: Dr PHH Heslop-Harrison

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

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The long and the short of human non-crossover recombination

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Genetics

Meiotic recombination plays a central role in generating DNA diversity, which in turn provides the capacity for a species to evolve. Read more

Supervisors: Dr C A May, Dr J Higgins

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

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Utilising Patient-Derived Explants to Elucidate Mechanisms of Resistance to PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitors

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Cancer Sciences

Project Summary. Immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-1 and PD-L1 have transformed the therapeutic landscape for several solid cancers. Read more

Supervisors: Dr G Miles, Dr GV Viticchie

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

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Assessing the tumour microenvironment and treatment response in endometrial cancer patient derived explants

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Cancer Sciences

Project. Endometrial cancer is the most common gynaecological malignancy in many countries and although it is typically associated with a good long-term outcome the prognosis of metastatic endometrial cancer (EC) is very poor. Read more

Supervisors: Dr E Moss, Dr G Miles

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

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Deciphering Pan-Cancer Tumour Microenvironment Ecosystems Using Single-Cell Atlases and Patient-Derived Explant Models

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Cancer Sciences

Background/project proposal. Cancer is characterized by multi-cellular communities with complex interactions that shape disease progression, treatment responses, and patient survival [1]. Read more

Supervisors: Dr G Miles, Dr GV Viticchie , Dr CD Demetriou

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

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Liquid biopsy for early detection and disease monitoring of aggressive T-cell lymphomas

University of Leicester

College of Life Sciences

Research Group: Cancer Sciences

Background. T-cell lymphomas are rare but highly aggressive blood cancers. Despite advances in cancer research, outcomes for patients with these diseases have seen little improvement in the past 30 years. Read more

Supervisors: Dr MA Ahearne, Dr H Walter

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

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We have 3,651 PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

We have 3,651 PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

Uncovering shared genetic and molecular mechanisms in multiple long-term conditions through multi-trait and multiomics approaches

Impacts of environmental exposures on critically ill children: a national cohort study

Eliciting Patient, Carer and Clinician Preferences for Virtual Ward Models in acute Atrial Fibrillation Care

The effect of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists on exercise adaptation

The genetics of disease progression; Are we using the right definition?

Identifying novel genes and pathways regulating human telomere length

From metabolism to immunity: rediscovering SGLT2

SGLT2 inhibitors and mitochondrial function: a new avenue for an existing drug

Investigating the roles that G protein coupled receptors play in hypertension

PhD Studentship in Sustainable Grease Lubrication

PhD Studentship in Water-Based Lubrication

Reactive Sulfur Species: Unlocking Nature’s Hidden Chemistry for Health and Sustainability

Epigenetics of early human embryonic development

Long non-coding RNAs and its biological functions

Decoding CDR Dynamics to Engineer High Affinity Antibodies for Next Generation Therapeutics

From Genes to Signals: Visualising Molecular Interactions in Bacterial Communities

Bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections

Digital Engineering

Bioengineering and Healthcare Technologies

Exploring the Respiratory mycobiome in Tuberculosis

Hydrogen, Clean and Sustainable Energy

Exhaled microbes and their detection by facemask sampling

Sustainable and Smart Materials

Genome dynamics of tandem repeat expansions in lung disease

Computational Neural Networks (CNNs), foundational large language models (LLMs), and pretrained transformers (GPTs) for phylogeny, biodiversity and functional genomics

The long and the short of human non-crossover recombination

Utilising Patient-Derived Explants to Elucidate Mechanisms of Resistance to PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitors

Assessing the tumour microenvironment and treatment response in endometrial cancer patient derived explants

Deciphering Pan-Cancer Tumour Microenvironment Ecosystems Using Single-Cell Atlases and Patient-Derived Explant Models

Liquid biopsy for early detection and disease monitoring of aggressive T-cell lymphomas

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