Bristol's world-class learning experience encourages students to become independent thinkers, equipped to respond to the intellectual, social and personal challenges they encounter throughout their lives and careers and become leaders in their chosen fields.

The dropdown lists below detail some of the neuroscience courses available for enrollment here at the University of Bristol. 

To find out more, or to view all the courses on offer, click on the appropriate link:

• Undergraduate courses
• Postgraduate courses

Open Days and Visits

The University of Bristol hosts a number of open days for prospective undergraduate and postgraduate students:

• Undergraduate open days and visits
• Postgraduate open days and afternoons

Grey Walter Prize for best PhD paper

Neuroscience research at Bristol has made an impact around the world, including (but certainly not limited to) synaptic and circuit function, robotics, deeper understanding of behaviour and cognition, mental health, epigenetics, and improving the wellbeing of populations, be they animal or human.  

Bristol Neuroscience recognises the contribution of Early Career Researchers to the field by running a competition named in honour of William Grey Walter who conducted basic and applied neurophysiological research at the Burden Neurological Institute in Bristol. He is best known for constructing some of the first electronic autonomous robots, Machina Speculatrix, whose reflexes, when combined with their environment, demonstrated life-like behaviour. 

The cash prize is awarded to an existing or recently graduated (within two years) University of Bristol PhD student who is first or joint author of a journal paper based on a research project which they conceptualised and developed independently and which has had discernible impact (input into the translational pipeline, media coverage, subsequent funding success to further the research, etc.). 

Submissions are welcome under any aspect of neuroscience under its broadest definition.

Past winners of the Grey Walter Prize:

• 2022 - Michael Ambler  (School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, graduated 2021), Michael Ambler, Timna Hitrec, Andrew Wilson, Matteo Cerri and Anthony Pickering (2021). Neurons in the dorsomedial hypothalamus promote, prolong, and deepen torpor in the mouse. The Journal of Neuroscience. 42(21), pp4267-4277.
• 2020 - Sandra Neumann (School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, graduated 2018), Sandra Neumann, Amy E. Burchell, Jonathan C.L. Rodrigues et al. (2019). Cerebral Blood Flow Response to Simulated Hypovolemia in Essential Hypertension: a magnetic resonance imaging study. Hypertension. 74(6), pp1391–1398.
• 2018 - Marie H Sabec (School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, graduated 2018), Susan Wonnacott, E Clea Warburton & Zafar I Bashir (2018). Title Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors control encoding and retrieval of associative recognition memory through plasticity in the medial prefrontal cortex. Cell Reports. 22(13), pp3409-3415. 
• 2017 - Emily J Henderson (Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, graduated 2016), Stephen R Lord, Matthew A Brodie, Daisy M Gaunt, Andrew D Lawrence, Jacqueline C T Close, Alan L Whone & Yoav Ben-Shlomo (2016). Rivastigmine for gait stability in patients with Parkinson’s disease (ReSPonD): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial. Lancet Neurology. 15: 249–58.

Applications to the Grey Walter Prize are OPEN

• Closing date: 15 October 2024
• Download the application form: Grey-Walter-2024-application-form (Office document, 46kB)‌
• Cash prize of £150 to be awarded

Eligibility

• You must be or have recently been a registered University of Bristol student (graduated within the past two years)
• You must be first or joint-first author of the paper
• The paper should be based on work that you completed from conception to publication
• You will need to justify your paper’s impact in the application form
• The article must have been published within the past two years and no more than two years past graduation if you have already completed your PhD; for the latest round, therefore, the paper must have been published in 2021 or 2022
• Pre-prints will be accepted
• The winner will be expected to give a presentation on their paper at at a future Bristol Neuroscience event, yet to be determined; allowances will be made according to availability, but remote presenting will be acceptable
• The judging panel will consist of the Bristol Neuroscience Hub leads

For further information on the scheme contact Catherine Brown.