MRC LMS 4-year PhD studentships
The MRC LMS is a core-funded transdisciplinary institute in which scientists and clinicians collaborate to advance the understanding of fundamental biology and its relevance to human health.
What we offer our PhD students
Successful applicants are awarded a PhD studentship that includes:
- A generous, tax-free stipend of £26,500 per year, for four years
- Full coverage of student tuition fees
- Funding for all necessary research consumables
- Visa costs for overseas students
To find out more about our recruitment process, please read this page. To find out more about our PhD programmes, please read our PhD Students page.
Core PhD positions available
Luis Aragon, Jesus Gil & Juanma Vaquerizas
Engineered proteins to protect plants and animals from parasites
Investigating vitamin D and oestrogen metabolism in sex-specific health outcomes
Carl Jenkinson & Petter Brodin
Targeting cancer cell proliferation by inhibition of HORMA-domain proteins
Enrique ‘Fadri’ Martinez-Perez & Alexis Barr
How gene enhancers control cell state transitions, with applications to autoimmunity and cancer
Inflammation and ageing: converging mechanisms underlying age-related multimorbidity
Dominic Withers, Jesus Gil & Petter Brodin
Causal machine learning of genetic and environmental mechanisms in heart disease
Declan O’Regan, Michael Inouye (Cambridge) & Ewan Birney (EMBL)
Transdisciplinary PhD positions available
The interplay of structural transitions and protein binding in DNA stress response
Luis Aragon (LMS), & Thomas Ouldridge (Imperial)
Visualising and Modelling Enhancer–Gene Communication in Human Pluripotency
Mikhail Spivakov (LMS), Srinjan Basu (Imperial) & Thomas Ouldridge (Imperial)
Quantitive, predictive, and actionable models of cellular decision-making in the immune system
Matthias Merkenschlager (LMS) & Thomas Höfer (German Cancer Research Centre)
Mining the human microbiome for new antimicrobials
André Brown (LMS) & Jason Micklefield (Imperial College London)
CRUK Funded Studentship
Enhancing Immune Surveillance and Targeting Senescence to Treat Ovarian High Grade Serous Carcinoma
Jesus Gil & Iain McNeish (department of Surgery & Cancer, Imperial)
Eligibility: The academic entry requirements are the same, but the funding is only available to HOME students (including those with settled status).
Eligibility and entry requirements
Our PhD programmes are open to applicants of all nationalities.
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Hold, or expect to obtain, a first or upper second-class honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant scientific subject from a recognised academic institution.
- A Master’s degree is preferred. Equivalent research experience (at least one year in total) will be considered.
- Meet the entry requirements of Imperial College London, including the English language requirement.
We welcome applications from individuals with backgrounds in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, or engineering. We’re looking for candidates who are passionate about advancing our understanding of fundamental biology and its impact on human health and disease.
For more information about the PhD application process or our LMS PhD programmes, please contact our Postgraduate Coordinator .
Application Timeline for the 2026 PhD programmes
- Application deadline: Thursday 20th November (23:55)
- Reference deadline: Monday 24th November (23:55)
- Interview invites sent: Friday 19th December
- Remote panel interview: W/c 5th January 2026
- Lab visits: Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd January 2026
- Offers made: Friday 30th January 2026
- Programme start date: Monday 26th September 2026