MRC-funded PhD with Integrated Study in Precision Medicine 2025/2026

We are offering up to 22, 3.5 or 4-year PhD studentships in 2025/26 to talented, ambitious UK, EU and other International applicants. Studentships provide full tuition fee, and a stipend of at least £19,237 per year. A £300 travel and conference allowance, and £5,000 contribution towards consumable costs are also provided per year to all, with additional access to flexible funds on a competitive basis within the programme.

High calibre graduates are invited to apply for a 3.5 or 4 year MRC-funded PhD with Integrated Study in Precision Medicine, to start in September 2025. This exciting programme is a collaboration between the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and offers interdisciplinary projects focused on delivery of improvements in health and welfare, with opportunities also to take courses at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

Our vision is to train the next generation of healthcare and industrial research leaders with vital interdisciplinary skillsets - mathematical, engineering and biological - to unravel disease mechanisms and devise new therapies. You will develop the adaptability needed to make you an agile researcher in this fast-moving area, equipped to develop and utilise analytical methodologies to improve health and wellbeing.

Programme structure

Our programme is structured to meet the specific training needs of researchers who require depth in specialist areas and breadth to work across disciplines and sectors paired with practical understanding arising from real-world application.

Our degree training programme offers:

1. Flexibility in training: a 3.5 or 4 year Integrated PhD with a suite of bespoke taught training courses as part of an integrated study PhD (3yr research project, 6mths-1yr taught/experiential training). The number of credits of taught courses required will depend on prior experience and training.
2. Cutting-edge learning in both biomedicine and computation
3. Access to health-related datasets in Scotland and Sweden

Additional information on programme structure including taught and research requirements is available on the Precision Medicine webpages.

Find out more

The University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh is a leading postgraduate teaching and research centre, ranked 15th in the QS World Rankings 2023. The College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicines’ reputation as one of the world’s leading centres of medical and veterinary medical research has been reaffirmed by its UK REF 2021 results.

The University of Glasgow

The College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences is home to world leading expertise across an impressive diversity of basic science and clinical disciplines with research into genes, cells, organs, individuals, populations, and ecosystems. It is through our research and teaching excellence that we make a sustained contribution to the understanding and resolution of national and global issues.

Entry requirements

This programme is available to UK, EU and International applicants. Further information on eligibility requirements can be found here. All successful candidates will receive full funding and studentships will be competitively awarded. There is a limit to the number of International students that we can accept onto our programme (up to 30% per annum). We are strongly committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in training, and warmly welcome applications from those with disabilities, and from the full range of minority groups. Flexible PhD study is a possible option for successful UK applicants (dependent on project).

The minimum entry requirement for our research programmes is an undergraduate degree, with an excellent or very good classification (equivalent to first or upper second class honours in the UK).

You will also have to meet the University’s English language requirements if English is not your first language. Find out more about our language requirements here.

Application procedure

Applicants must choose a project and make their application by the deadline of 13th January 2025.

Applications are made via the University of Edinburgh website here. Please ensure to include and upload the Precision Medicine Recruitment Form (available to download from here) and a CV with your application.

Interviews are likely to be held at the end of February.

Informal enquiries can be made to precision.medicine@ed.ac.uk.