UCL- Birkbeck MRC DTP - New Award

The Medical Research Council (MRC) have renewed their funding for the UCL-Birkbeck MRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) with a multi-million award enabling the partnership to train the next generation of leaders and innovators in biomedical research.
 
The MRC has announced it will fund 17 DTP awards across 34 UK Research Organisations (ROs) for student intake 2022 onwards. The awards support high quality doctoral training programmes that take a student-centred approach, focusing on scientific excellence, positive research culture and wider training opportunities.
 
Building on the success of the current UCL- Birkbeck MRC DTP, the new award, led by Professors Geraint Rees, Paola Pedarzani and Nicholas Keep, will support 22.5 postgraduate studentships per year; a further six studentships will be part-funded by the UCLH, Moorfields, and Great Ormond Street Hospital NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, and three more studentships reserved for BAME students match-funded by Birkbeck. The DTP will be funded for 3 years in the first instance (2022-24) with the possibility of an extension for another two years (2025-2026) subject to a mid-term review.

Professor Paola Pedarzani, Co-Director of the UCL-Birkbeck MRC DTP, said,  “Our MRC DTP students are brilliant researchers and enthusiastic members of our research community. Their ideas, initiatives and drive to communicate science, create a more diverse and inclusive environment and engage in the most challenging research have been inspirational, and it is a privilege to continue supporting them and new cohorts in their development.”
 
The UCL-Birkbeck MRC DTP comprises four Strategic Themes: “Fundamental Mechanisms of Disease”, led by Professor John Christodoulou; “Experimental and Translational Medicine”, led by Professor Claudia Mauri; “Neuroscience and Mental Health”, led by Professors Josef Kittler and Dimitri Kullmann; and “Health of the Public - Using Population Data for Better Health”, led by Professor Pam Sonnenberg and Dr Katie Harron. An additional iCASE stream, led by Professor Rachel Chambers, is centred on research and training collaborations with many industrial and commercial partners.