PhD Projects to make the world a better place
Are you interested in parasites moving from the Amazon Rainforest? Or predicting the next pandemic? Or improving climate-resilient crops? Read more here.
If you are interested in our research and are considering PhD with us, via another funding stream in your country, or as a self-funded student, please get in touch.
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)
Develop tools to spot pandemic threats early. This PhD blends evolutionary genomics, AI-powered structural biology, and lab experiments to identify risky virus strains directly from genomic data. You’ll begin with SARS-CoV-2 and extend methods to influenza, H5N1, Mpox (previously known as monkeypox), and beyond.
- Focus: Early risk prediction from sequence data
- Methods: phylogenetics, protein structure modeling, machine learning, high-throughput assays
- Outputs: open-source surveillance pipelines and actionable dashboards
- Training: bioinformatics, protein modeling, experimental validation
- Careers: academia, public health, biotech/pharma
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)
Witness evolution as Amazon parasites adapt to urban life. This PhD investigates how Leishmania parasites and their sand fly vectors adapt to urbanization in the Amazon. We have identified a newly evolved parasite population near Manaus that emerged within the past few centuries. You’ll combine genomics and bioinformatics with fieldwork to uncover how disease transmission responds to environmental change.
- Focus: Eco-epidemiology of urbanizing leishmaniasis
- Methods: spatial epidemiology, evolutionary genomics, DNA barcoding, microbiome analysis
- Fieldwork: Amazon rainforest; 1–3 months at Fiocruz (Brazil)
- Impact: evidence to inform control strategies for a disease affecting ~30,000 Brazilians annually
- Training: population genomics, bioinformatics, GIS, field methods, science communication
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)
Improve a climate-resilient crop with genomics and gene editing. Amaranths are a drought-tolerant, nutrient-rich crop crucial for smallholder farmers in Africa and an emerging high-value vertical-farm crop in the UK. You’ll analyze a new pangenome and a MAGIC population to map yield, flowering time, and nutritional traits, then validate candidate genes.
- Focus: Trait discovery and improvement in amaranth
- Datasets: high-quality pangenome and MAGIC population
- Methods: quantitative genetics, GWAS/QTL mapping, gene editing
- Experiments: field trials in South Africa; vertical-farm experiments in York
- Impact: tools and varieties for climate-resilient, nutritious crops
- Training: genomics, statistics, molecular biology
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.