PhD Projects to make the world a better place
Are you interested in parasites moving from Amazon Rainforest? Or predicting the next pandemic? Or improving climate-resilient crops? Read more here.
Read more about these three PhD projects below:
Predicting the next pandemic by enhancing viral surveillance
- Application deadline: Wednesday, January 07, 2026
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
- For more information and applications follow this link
Develop the tools to predict pandemic threats before they spread. This PhD combines evolutionary genomics, AI-powered structural biology, and lab experiments to identify dangerous virus strains as early as possible from genomic data. Starting with SARS-CoV-2 but creating methods for influenza, H5N1, Mpox (previously known as monkeypox) and beyond. Working with labs With £2 million in funding and training across bioinformatics, protein modeling, and experimental validation, you’ll create open-source surveillance pipelines that strengthen global health security while building skills for careers in academia, pharma, or public health.
Funding Notes
This project is funded by the BBSRC YBDTP. Appointed candidates will be fully-funded for 4 years.
The funding includes: tax-free annual UKRI stipend (estimated to be £21,383 for the 2026/27 academic year), tuition fees and research consumables.
Uncovering natural and anthropic factors that affect the eco-epidemiology of Leishmania pathogens transmission in the Amazon
- Application deadline: Wednesday, January 07, 2026
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
- For more information and applications follow this link
Witnessing evolution: how Amazon parasites are learning to live among us. This PhD investigates how Leishmania parasites and their sand fly vectors are adapting to urbanization in the Amazon. We have already discovered a newly-evolved parasite population that emerged near Manaus within the past few centuries. You’ll combine cutting-edge genomics and bioinformatics with fieldwork in the Amazon rainforest, using spatial epidemiology, evolutionary genomics, DNA barcoding, and microbiome analysis to uncover how disease transmission systems respond to environmental change. Beyond contributing to control strategies for a disease affecting 30,000 Brazilians annually, you’ll gain diverse, career-defining skills and spend 1-3 months at Fiocruz, Brazil’s leading public health institution, directly connecting your research to real-world impact.
Funding Notes
- NERC ACCE+ DLA programme starts from September 2026.
- UKRI provide the following funding for 3.5 years:
- Stipend (2025/26 UKRI rate £20,780)
- Tuition Fees at UK fee rate (2025/26 UKRI rate £5,006)
- Research support and training grant (RTSG).
MAGIC Crops: Genomics to breed high yielding, resilient and nutritious amaranth
- Application deadline: Wednesday, January 07, 2026
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
- For more information and applications follow this link
Transform global food security by using genomics and gene editing to improve amaranth. Amaranths are drought-tolerant, nutrient-rich crop crucial for smallholder farmers in Africa and emerging as a high-value vertical farm crop in the UK. You’ll analyze a newly-generated pangenome and MAGIC population to map yield, flowering time, and nutritional traits, conducting field trials in South Africa and vertical farm experiments at York before validating genes through editing. This interdisciplinary project offers training across genomics, quantitative genetics, and molecular biology, with international fieldwork and direct impact on climate-resilient agriculture.
Funding Notes
This project is funded by the BBSRC YBDTP. Appointed candidates will be fully-funded for 4 years.
The funding includes: tax-free annual UKRI stipend (estimated to be £21,383 for the 2026/27 academic year), tuition fees and research consumables.