Cancer Research UK Birmingham Centre
Clinical and Non-Clinical PhD Fellowships

Deadline: March 2021.

Studentships available: 2 Non-clinical, 2 Clinical Research Training Fellowships and 2 Intercalating MBPhDs

Funding
Non-clinical: £140,000 over 4 years, including fees, laboratory expenses (~£13,500 pa), and stipend (£19,000 pa).
Clinical Research Training Fellowship: Up to £256,000 over 3 years, including fees, laboratory expenses (~£13,500 pa) and salary.
Intercalating MBPhD: £111,000 over 3 years, including fees, laboratory expenses (~£13,500 pa), and stipend (£19,000 pa).

The Centre’s PhD programme provides an outstanding opportunity for early career training in this dynamic, multidisciplinary environment. In addition, delivery of high quality research outputs from these studentships such as high impact publications, novel therapeutic strategies and clinical trial concepts, is strategically critical for the Centre. Six prestigious PhD training fellowships are awarded each year.

The Centre’s scientific focus is on understanding oncogenesis and tumour immunobiology, providing the scientific basis for novel targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and stratification approaches. The three core themes of the Centre are Immunology, Genomics and the Tumour Microenvironment.

• Our Immunology theme explores how anti‐tumour immunity is regulated, including the immunobiology of the tumour microenvironment, and how factors such as tumour genetics, oncogenic signalling and microbiota combine to influence it. Linking with these studies, we are characterising novel axes of cancer immunosuppression, identifying new molecular targets, and developing innovative immunotherapeutic strategies.

• Our Genomics theme is defining how DNA damage and repair defects influence cancer predisposition, how epigenetic reprogramming drives tumourigenesis, and, aligning with clinical trials on epigenetic modifiers, highlights new therapeutic opportunities. Linking with our clinical infrastructure genomics studies can identify how mutational profiles/epigenetic signatures influence patient outcomes/treatment response, providing novel stratification approaches.
• Our Tumour Microenvironment theme engaged groups from the Institute of Metabolism and Systems research, with the ultimate goal of harnessing the tumour microenvironment to improve our understanding of prognosis, response to treatment, and catalyse development of novel therapeutic approaches or treatment combinations.

For more information please visit our website.

Join the Cancer Research UK Birmingham Centre as a PhD Student and help to make it one of the UK’s most successful sites for translationally oriented cancer research.

How to apply

Non-Clinical Studentships

We offer two high quality peer-reviewed projects selected through the Cancer Research UK Birmingham Centre Studentship Review Committee. We are pleased to confirm our two non-clinical studentships for 2021 are:

• Dissecting the role of the DNA damage response in leukaemogenesis in a zebrafish model of GATA2 deficiency - Dr Rui Monteiro / Dr Martin Higgs / Prof Tatjana Stankovic
• Investigating the role of PRMT1-mediated methylation for DNA repair and cancer drug resistance - Dr Clare Davies / Prof Jo Morris

Please note that whilst the non-clinical studentships are open to both UK and international students, fees are only funded up to Home/UK rate therefore the difference would need to be self-funded.

Clinical Research Training Fellowships

Applications / enquiries should be directed to Claire Fenlon (c.m.fenlon@bham.ac.uk).

To apply, please send:

• A detailed CV, including your nationality and country of birth;
• Names and addresses of two referees, ideally who have supervised your laboratory research, but excluding proposed supervisors for the project;
• A personal statement highlighting your research experience/capabilities and your reason for applying for a PhD studentship at the Cancer Research UK Birmingham Centre;
• Copies of your degree certificates with transcripts;
• Evidence of your proficiency in the English language, if applicable;
• Detailed project proposal, which must have been developed in collaboration with proposed supervisory team – a project proposal form can be requested from c.m.fenlon@bham.ac.uk

Please note the Clinical Research Training Fellowships are only open to applicants with a medical degree that are currently undertaking clinical training and are expected to return to clinical training in the UK following completion of the PhD.

Intercalating MBPhDs

This opportunity is currently only open to students studying at the University of Birmingham. Applicants should have completed at least two years of an MBChB or one year of the Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) course. Applicants should also have completed or be completing an intercalating degree, or for GEM students only, have completed an undergraduate degree in a relevant subject.