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Please create an account to submit an application for the DTP or iCASE route.

A copy of the application form can be viewed here.

There are 18 DTP studentships available over the four research themes in the 2023/24 academic year. Students on the DTP route undertake 3 twelve week rotations in up to three laboratories at Birkbeck or UCL.

iCASE studentships are available in the 2023/24 academic year. Studentships are funded by the MRC and one will be funded 50% by the MRC and 50% by a partner from industry. 

Applicants must hold, or be expected to achieve, a first or high upper second-class undergraduate honours degree or equivalent (for example BA, BSc, MSci) or a Masters degree in a relevant subject.

All students whose first language is not English must be able to provide recent evidence that their spoken and written command of the English language is adequate for the programme according to UCL requirements. Applicants must achieve the level of ‘good’.

The UKRI has updated their eligibility criteria to confirm that international students will be eligible for all UKRI-funded postgraduate studentships from the start of the 2021/22 academic year.

All UKRI-funded PhD students will be eligible for the full award – both the stipend to support living costs, and fees at research organisations UK rate, however UKRI funding will not cover international fees set by universities.

The 2022/23 stipend rate is £19,668 per annum for students on the DTP route. Students on the iCASE route receive an additional annual top-up of £2,500 per annum.

There is also a Research and Training Support Grant (RTSG) of £5,000 per annum for the duration of the PhD programme.

UCL Birkbeck MRC DTP has limited institutional bursaries to fund the difference between the home and international fee rate. We also welcome applications from international students in receipt of alternative studentship funding.

At interview you will be expected to answer questions about your previous research experience and potential for an academic career

The interview panel will include the Theme Directors(s) and a selection of Principal Investigators from the theme

Interview dates
DTP route

• Experimental and Translational Disease - 13 February 2023
• Fundamental Mechanisms of Disease - 13 and 14 February 2023
• Health of the Public - 22 February 2023
• Neuroscience and Mental Health - 20 and 21 February 2023

iCASE route 

• Investigating how natural (ligand) and non-natural (antibody) affinity and dimersiation states affect the fate of CTLA-4 - Professor David Sansom - 14 February 2023
• Advanced MRI lung imaging using hyperpolarised xenon gas - Professor Mark Lythgoe - 15 February 2023
• Towards the development of a clinically and regulatory approvable treatment for Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) - Dr Stavros Loukogeorgakis - 17 February 2023
• Probing the conformational dynamics and oligomerisation of human islet amyloid polypeptide using state-the-art tandem ion mobility mass spectrometry - Professor Konstantinos Thalassinos - 20 February 2023
• Mapping attentive brain states in real time to support parent-child interaction in autism - Professor Emily Jones - 23 February 2023

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted between 6 and 13 February 2023.