PhD Studentships 2024

LifeArc and MND Scotland will jointly fund up to one PhD studentship, to start in Autumn 2025.

How often?

Usually awarded annually.

How many, how much and for how long?

We are offering up to one PhD studentship for 2025. Up to £100,000 will be available for a project up to three years in duration.

Funding will cover:
• Institute tuition fees (at UK rate only)
• UKRI level stipend
• Justified consumables and travel

In addition, LifeArc will provide the opportunity for the student to spend a minimum of 6 weeks as a placement student at the LifeArc laboratories either in Stevenage or Edinburgh where they can get valuable insights into work in an industrial setting and learn more about translational science. If required, additional funds will be provided by LifeArc for travel and accommodation costs for the duration of the LifeArc placement. This does not need to be requested as part of the studentship application.

The maximum that can be applied for: £100,000.

• Applications should be submitted by the supervisor, not the student.
• The primary applicant should be a researcher based at a recognised University in the UK and have an employment contract that exceeds the duration of the studentship. An early career researcher (ECR, within 10 years of PhD) can be named as a co-applicant but may not be a lead applicant unless they have a contract of employment that exceeds the duration of the PhD studentship (e.g. someone who has recently
  established their own research group), and they are supported by someone who has experience in PhD supervision.
• The primary applicant may not have been awarded a PhD Studentship with MND Scotland in the 12 months prior.
• The PhD student recruited must have a minimum of a 2ii degree in a relevant subject. We can accept applications from a clinical source but any costs above the agreed threshold will need to be met elsewhere.
• The student does not need to be named on the application and can be recruited postaward.

All applications must be submitted via the MND Scotland FlexiGrant online application portal.

Deadline is 11.59 pm on 31 October 2024.

If your research proposal requires input from people affected by MND, your application must be accompanied by a completed ‘Involving People in Research’ form. This will allow us to assess what support and assistance MND Scotland can provide for you. Should your research project be funded you will automatically be given the assistance you require.

For PhD studentships, the nature of the training environment provided for the student is very important and substantial weight is given to the part of the application where this is addressed.

LifeArc is aiming to use its funding contribution to form a partnership with the host University. They will provide an industry- based advisor to support the PhD student with advice on project plans and progress to bring industrial expertise to the project. This will allow the student to learn more about translational science and how industry engages with projects to eventually take them into the clinics. LifeArc offers a 20 min online meeting to potential applicants to explore what a partnership would look like and to discuss what the applicants would like to gain
from this collaboration. If you would like to discuss this further, please email research@mndscotland.org.uk and request a meeting with LifeArc.

As part of this collaboration the student will be invited to spend a minimum of six weeks at the LifeArc laboratories in either Stevenage or Edinburgh in order to access industry leading facilities and technologies whilst embedded in a MND translational research environment. These
placements would complement the capabilities in the home academic lab and would be managed around the exact needs of the PhD project.