The School of Life Sciences at the University of Westminster is pleased to offer four Studentships for prospective PhD researchers starting in September 2024.
The School is home to the Centre for Resilience, Centre for Nutraceuticals and the Research Centre for Optimal Health. Research in the School across these fields has an international reputation for excellence, as confirmed by the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), resulting in substantially increased funding from Research England for our School.
Building on these successes, we offer four PhD studentships to ensure our research continues to be impactful for the next REF exercise in 2029. Located in the heart of London, the School of Life Sciences has an active research culture to which our well-established doctoral research programme contributes. The School is fully committed to enabling a supportive and safe learning and working environment which is equitable, diverse and inclusive, based on mutual respect and trust, and in which harassment and discrimination are neither tolerated nor acceptable.
The successful candidates will have exceptional research potential in a relevant Life Science discipline: Mechanisms of disease; Biomarkers of healthy ageing, infection and disease; AI, imaging and health; exercise, resilience and nutrition; medicines development; quantum biology; stem cells, biomaterials and nanotechnology.
Applications are invited for the following award, which is tenable for up to three years for full-time study subject to minimum enrolment periods*. The studentships will consist of:
- A home fee waiver (Home Rate) of £5,800, including bench fees per year of £4,000, and an annual stipend of £20,622 (raising each year in line with UKRI increases) for three years. *This includes London weighting.
Please note that while overseas fee-paying students may apply, the fee waived would be at the home rate, and successful applicants will need to pay the difference in the tuition fee if assessed as overseas (current overseas rate.
Specific projects
We are looking for a PhD student to develop 3D models of the human breathing lung. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and the resulting Covid pandemic has highlighted the need for effective biological methods to assess viral infectivity and potential antiviral drug candidates. In this project, human lung cells will be grown in 3D with an air/liquid interface, with upper and lower human lung epithelial cells obtained from diverse individuals. This model, once established, will be evaluated as a tool for screening novel antiviral and repurposed drugs against SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses that might lead to future pandemics. The project will also work towards developing a more sophisticated “breathing” lung-on-a-chip system.
The successful applicant will acquire a number of skills, such as 3D culture models, viral pseudotype production, drug delivery, transcriptomics, proteomics and molecular docking, and will have the opportunity to present research findings at international scientific meetings.
Please contact Dr Adele McCormick to discuss: [email protected]
We are looking for a PhD candidate who will work within a multidisciplinary team to conduct the first clinical investigation into the reversibility of genome damage and accelerated genome ageing following bariatric surgery in adolescents. The successful applicant will investigate changes in micronutrient profile, markers of adiposity, inflammation, metabolic syndrome, acquired DNA damage and accelerated genome ageing pre-and post-surgery.
Please contact Dr Emanuela Volpi to discuss: [email protected]
Artemisinin compounds are safe and effective antimalarials. Recent evidence in our lab has shown these compounds also exert a potent anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting neutrophil migration and the release of cytokines, chemokines and neutrophil extracellular traps. In systemic inflammatory conditions, such as sepsis and CoVID-19, large numbers of neutrophils migrate to patient’s organs and release these harmful mediators, leading to organ damage and death. The ability to ‘switch-off’ these damaging effects has led to artesunate (an artemisinin compound) entering a Phase III clinical trial with the World Health Organization (WHO) for CoVID-19, in collaboration with our lab.
However, little is known about the effect of artemisinin compounds on macrophages, which also cause host organ damage and death during systemic inflammation. Monocytes will be isolated from blood of diverse origins and stimulated to differentiate into macrophages. The macrophages will then be stimulated with inflammatory mediators which induce systemic inflammation, including LPS (sepsis) and SARS-CoV-2 spike-protein (CoVID-19). The effect of artemisinin compounds on the macrophage chemotaxis, cyto/chemokine release, degranulation, cytotoxicity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) release in response to the stimulation with be assessed. This will involve cell culture, chemotaxis assays, live-cell microscopy, calcium imaging, flow cytometry and ELISA. The PhD will give vital information on the anti-inflammatory effects of artemisinin compounds on macrophages from the blood of diverse ethnic populations, including those populations adversely affected by sepsis and CoVID-19. The project will provide data for high-impact publications and aims to expand the clinical use of artemisinin compounds by also providing data for them to enter further clinical trials.
Please contact Dr Hassan Morad to discuss: [email protected]
This project will assess the impact of the provision of free school meals for Primary school Children in London. The project aims to appraise some of the following objectives: Childhood obesity, micronutrient deficiencies , school attainment and alleviating inequalities.
Please contact Dr Xanthi Maragkoudaki to discuss: [email protected]
The studentships will include a comprehensive personal and professional development training, and a mentoring programme, provided through the University of Westminster Graduate School. The researchers will join a School that is strongly committed to decolonising and diversifying policies, practices and cultures within, and beyond, Higher Education.
Entry requirements and how to apply
Candidates should normally have a minimum classification of 2.1 in their Bachelor Degree or equivalent and preferably a Masters degree. Applicants whose secondary level education has not been conducted in the medium of English should also demonstrate evidence of appropriate English language proficiency normally defined as IELTS: 6.5 (overall score with not less than 6.0 in any of the individual elements).
You can read more about what should be in a PhD research proposal on our How to write your research proposal page.
You can read more about our entry requirements on our Entry requirements page.
Follow the link below to apply for the programme most appropriate to your research.
The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday 17th May 2024. Interviews will be held in June 2024.
The Studentship title is SLS Research Studentship with one of the project numbers shown above.
* Minimum full-time enrolment before submission is 33 months. Fee waivers and maintenance are in place for the three-year studentship. Following that there is a six-month no fee period for writing up. Should a doctoral research student not have submitted by the end of the no fee period then a £1,500 fee is applicable.