South West Doctoral Training Partnership

Page contents

• Programme overview
• Entry requirements
• Staff research interests

Programme overview

The South West Doctoral Training Partnership (SWDTP) is a BBSRC-funded PhD training partnership between the University of Bristol and the Universities of Exeter and Bath, along with Rothamsted Research. Our focus is in two main areas: Food Security, and World-Class Bioscience.

The training partnership offers studentships for a four-year research-based PhD programme, which includes some core teaching and two short research projects in the first year. A variety of PhD projects are available to students.

As part of their studentship, all students receive training in systems biology and the mathematical skills needed to support modern research, along with broader multidisciplinary training. In addition, all students will undertake a three-month professional internship to enhance career opportunities.

PhD projects available encompass a wide range of subjects within the broad Food Security and World-Class Bioscience themes, and range across many different Schools within the Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry, Medical and Veterinary Science, Science and Engineering.

There are also seminar programmes and residential conferences involving students from across the four institutions in this partnership. The PhD projects available cover the broad spectrum of the biosciences and are extremely diverse: from sub-cellular processes to whole-organism based studies across all the life sciences, the important criteria being that the research is world-class, and that each project provides a substantial training in the most recent approaches including systems-based methods. All research groups working within the BBSRC remit are potentially eligible to host students in this scheme.

PhD projects are available in a range of bioscience-focused research groups, within the following schools:

• Biological Sciences
• Biochemistry
• Cellular and Molecular Medicine
• Chemistry
• Clinical Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Engineering
• Experimental Psychology
• Geography
• Mathematics
• Physics
• Physiology and Pharmacology
• Veterinary Science

All the PhD projects will be co-supervised by at least two members of academic staff and will be based in a well-funded research group with a world-class publication profile.

Details of the PhD projects change from year to year, and will be advertised on our website each autumn. Representative projects and their supervisors for the current intake are available on our website.

NB: when applying for this programme, please select 'Faculty of Medical and Veterinary Sciences' in the Programme choice section, and choose 'South West Doctoral Training Partnership'.

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Entry requirements

An upper second-class UK honours degree in an appropriate science or technology, plus a minimum of B in A-level Maths (or equivalent qualification).

For information on international equivalent qualifications, please see our International Office website.

Admissions statement

Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.

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Key research interests

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