Medical Research Council Great West 4 BioMed Doctoral Training Partnership (MRC GW4 BioMed)
Applications for fully-funded studentships starting September 2023 have now closed.
The MRC GW4 BioMed Doctoral Training Programme (DTP) brings together the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff (lead) and Exeter to develop the next generation of medical researchers, helping them to be collaborative, curious, critical and confident. Students will have access to the combined research strengths, training expertise and resources of the four research-intensive universities, with opportunities to participate in interdisciplinarity and 'team science'. The DTP is committed to a target for more than 50% of projects to be co-supervised across at least two of the partner universities, allowing students to join existing and emerging research partnerships.
PhD projects will be aligned with one of the three strategic research themes that characterise the GW4 BioMed DTP: Infection, Immunity and Repair; Neuroscience and Mental Health; and Population Health. The DTP also places a strong emphasis on cross-cutting skills priorities (quantitative skills, interdisciplinary skills and in vivo skills) and may also fund excellent projects that sit outside the strategic themes where they focus on one or more of the skills priorities. Each studentship provides funding for 3.5 years.
The training programme has three strands: research skills; professional and career development skills; and opportunities to broaden horizons. Collectively the DTP is particularly strong in providing opportunities for training in quantitative skills (including mathematical modelling), using data for discovery, as well as major strength in interdisciplinary training, including imaging (physics, engineering), chemistry, health economics and psychology. Students are also encouraged to undertake placements, research visits, public engagement internships and a mini-MD programme of bespoke clinical exposure. Events throughout the programme will develop researcher communities across the partnerships.
Projects available from the University of Exeter through this Centre can be viewed by searching the studentship funding database.
