Doctoral training programme secures future investment from MRC

A partnership between Queen Mary University of London and the University of Southampton has successfully bid for 45 studentships from the Medical Research Council (MRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Funding for the studentships, awarded to the Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), is part of a £79m boost to provide doctoral training for ~200 students per year across MRC’s remit, including data science at the interface of human health and biology and whole organism physiology.

The Queen Mary/University of Southampton consortium, which currently runs the MRC DTP Programme in Translational Immunology, Inflammation and Cancer, is one of just 17 successful bids across the UK.

Professor John Marshall, co-director of the MRC DTP at Queen Mary’s Barts Cancer Institute, said:

“This excellent news is the product of enormous amounts of hard work from our DTP students and key staff at both universities, for which we should be very proud.”

Professor Mark Cragg, director of the MRC DTP of the School of Cancer Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine at Southampton, comments:

“We are very proud of our current DTP which we have developed with Queen Mary over the last 5 years and look forward to training the next generation of PhD graduates in Translational Biomedical Sciences over the next 5.”

The 45 studentships shared across the DTP consist of five standard studentships and four iCASE studentships (jointly supported by industry) per year to be allocated initially over three years - with a further two years after successful review. Each studentship will pay fees, stipend and training costs for successful PhD candidates, who will undertake world-leading research work within the remit of Translational Biomedical Sciences. Student intake will begin in 2022.

Announcing the DTP awards nationally, Professor Fiona Watt, Executive Chair, MRC, said:

“We are thrilled to announce our funding for the next generation of MRC PhD researchers through 17 new UK wide Doctoral Training Partnership awards. Outstanding research is only possible when we invest in people to conduct that research. Our new awards are student-centred, setting out to increase the diversity of individuals pursing research careers and providing opportunities for students to widen their horizons during and post-PhD.”

The DTP will also receive additional Flexible Support Funding to provide additional opportunities for students within and across cohorts. This funding will also be used to encourage under-represented groups of undergraduates to experience research through summer placements, as well as provide additional funds to support high-cost research projects.

More information

• Find out more about the MRC DTP Programme at Queen Mary/the University of Southampton, and meet some of the past and current students: https://www.bci.qmul.ac.uk/study-at-bci/postgraduate-research/mrc-doctoral-training-partnership-programme/
• MRC news story - MRC announces future investment in doctoral training