4 Year Fully-Funded PhDs in Biological Sciences, from the South Coast Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (SoCoBio DTP) for October 2024

The South Coast Biosciences (SoCoBio) is a BBSRC-funded Doctoral Training Partnership offering a broad 4-year research training programme that provides the skills and experience needed by future bioscience leaders of academia or industry. SoCoBio is a collaboration of four leading Universities and an independent research Institute - The University of Southampton, The University of Kent, The University of Sussex, The University of Portsmouth and NIAB at East Malling.

We provide doctoral training in Biosciences across the South Coast in the following themes:

• Understanding the rules of life (~11 scholarships available)
• Bioscience for sustainable agriculture and food (~5 scholarships available)
• Bioscience for renewable resources and clean growth (~8 scholarships available)
• Bioscience for an integrated understanding of health (~2 scholarships available)

A full list of available projects including industry co-funded studentships is available on the SoCoBio website. Projects are categorised as Priority or Standard projects. Priority projects are projects that address key training areas for our DTP, and we are especially keen to recruit students to these projects.

We are keen to recruit students with creative drive from diverse academic backgrounds: those in both Physical (for example, Chemistry, Maths, Computer Science, Engineering) as well as the Life Sciences (for example, Biology, Biomedical sciences, Biochemistry, Biotechnology).

We are strongly committed to promoting equality and diversity and encourage applications from candidates with protected characteristics and from a wide range of backgrounds. We can offer extra support to students with additional responsibilities to enable them to undertake their PhD training.

Programme Highlights

As a SoCoBio student you will:

• Receive four years of funding covering university fees, tax fee stipend and research/training funds. (International students* awarded a studentship with SoCoBio will be eligible for a fee waiver to cover the difference between UK level tuition fees and the international fee rate).
• Follow a skills training programme in year one, with taught modules and two laboratory rotations. (Industry co-funded studentships do not undertake rotations).
• Become part of SoCoBio’s vibrant and friendly student community, meeting at conferences and summer schools during your PhD.
• Have access to expert supervisors in two SoCoBio institutions or industry, working on cutting edge research of global importance.
• Get training in your specific field of research and also broader research skills such as Data Management.
• Develop broad employability skills with training in business skills including entrepreneurship and science communication, and a 3-month internship outside academia.

* The number of international studentships awarded per cohort is capped by UKRI at 30%.