Search all centres, programmes and partnerships

There are currently 33 bodies offering funded, cohort-based doctoral training opportunities at the University of Bristol, covering key research areas across all faculties. The table below provides information about all organisations, programmes, partnerships and doctoral training centres open to prospective research students.

Contact information for centres, programmes and partnerships
CDT/Programme/PartnershipFunderPartnersResearch areasFaculty

Name: GW4 Clinical Academic Training (GW4-CAT HP) PhD Programme for Health Professionals

Director: Professor Richard Coward and Professor Yvonne Wren

Contact: Dr Jayne Bailey (Programme Manager) or Tracey Jarvis (Programme Administrator)

Wellcome Trust (WT)
  • Cardiff University
  • University of Exeter
  • University of Bath
  • Population health
  • Cardiovascular sciences
  • Neuroscience
  • Mental health
  • Infection, immunity & repair
  • Cancer or molecular cell biology
Health Sciences

Name: MRC Addiction Research Clinical Training programme: MARC

Director: Professor Anne Lingford-Hugues (Imperial College), Professor Matt Hickman (Co-Director)

Contact: April Haesler (administrator)

 

Medical Research Council (MRC)
  • Imperial College London (lead)
  • Kings College London
  • Population Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Human genetics
  • Bioinformatics
Health Sciences

Name: BHF 4 Year PhD programme: Integrative Cardiovascular Science

Director: Professor Alastair W. Poole

Contact: Sue Summerill (admissions and 1st yr admin)

British Heart Foundation (BHF) N/a
  • Cell and molecular biology
  • Cardiovascular physiology
  • Biochemistry and pharmacology
  • Clinical science
  • Population health
Health Sciences

Name: South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership: Ground-breaking research training in the Arts and Humanities

Director: Dr Tamar Hodos

Contact: Chantelle Payne (DTP Manager) or
Luke Thornberry (DTP Administrator) or Anona Williams (DTP Training and Collaboration Facilitator) or Katy Henson (Digital Marketing Officer)

Arts and Humanities Research Council
  • Aberystwyth University
  • Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales)
  • Bath Spa University
  • University of Bristol
  • Cardiff University
  • University of Exeter
  • University of Reading
  • University of Southampton
  • Cranfield University
  • UWE

 

  • Archaeology
  • Celtic Studies
  • Classics & Ancient History
  • Creative Writing
  • English
  • History, History of Art
  • Philosophy
  • Classics
  • Cultural and Museum Studies
  • Law and Legal Studies
  • Political Science and International Studies
  • Theology, Divinity and Religion
  • Dance
  • Design
  • Drama and Theatre Studies
  • Media
  • Music
  • Visual Arts
  • Languages and Literature
  • Linguistics
Arts

Name: Wellcome Trust PhD in Dynamic Molecular Cell Biology

Director: Professor Ian Collinson (Professor Pete Cullen, Professor Anne Ridley, Dr Helen Weavers)

Contact: Sue Summerill (admissions and 1st yr admin)

Wellcome Trust N/a
  • Multiprotein complexes in gene maintenance and expression
  • Dynamic organisation, regulation and re-modelling of the cytoskeleton
  • Molecular complexes involved in protein translocation and trafficking
  • Cell organisation, morphogenesis and tissue function
  • Cancer, neuroscience, infection and immunity, cardiovascular biology
Life Sciences

Name: Wellcome Trust PhD in Neural Dynamics

Director: Professor Richard Apps (Professor Conor Houghton)

Contact: General enquiries

 

Wellcome Trust N/a
  • Neuroscience
  • Mathematical Modelling
  • Computational Neuroscience
Life Sciences

Name: BBSRC South West Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (SWBio DTP)

Director: Professor Jon Lane

Contact: Dr Samantha Southern 

Associate partners: Marine Biological Association (MBA), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), SETsquared Bristol, Swansea University, UCB Pharma and University of the West of England (UWE). 

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
  • University of Bath
  • Cardiff University
  • University of Exeter
  • Rothamsted Research
  • Advancing the frontiers of bioscience discovery
  • Bioscience for sustainable agriculture and food
  • Bioscience for an integrated understanding of health
Life Sciences

Name: EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Synthetic Biology

Director: Professor Antonis Papachristodoulou (Oxford)

Contact: Kathleen Sedgley (Centre Manager) or Centre Administrator

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
  • University of Oxford (lead)
  • University of Warwick
  • Systems Biology
  • Systems Approaches to Biomedical Sciences
  • Synthetic Biology
  • Interdisciplinary Bioscience
  • Synthesis for Medicine and Biology
  • Biomedical Imaging
Life Sciences

Name: GW4 BioMed Doctoral Training Partnership

Director: Professor Colin Dayan (Cardiff)

Academic Leads (Bristol): Professor David Shepphard and Professor Paul Martin

Contact: Erica Lewis (Centre Manager)

 

Medical Research Council
  • Cardiff University (lead)
  • University of Bath
  • University of Exeter
  • Infection, Immunity and Repair
  • Neuroscience and Mental Health
  • Population Health
Life Sciences

Name: Centre for Doctoral Training in Communications

Directors: Professor David Bull and Professor Mark Beach

Engineering N/a
  • Communication Systems & Networks
  • Visual Information
  • High Performance Networks
  • Intelligent Systems
Engineering

Name: Industrial Doctorate Centre in Composites Manufacture

Director: Professor Janice Barton

Contact: Helen Howard, Centre Manager [and/or Caroline Perkins, Administrator (from Jan 2023)]

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • Cranfield University
  • University of Manchester
  • University of Nottingham
  • Aerospace
  • Automotive
  • Marine
  • Wind energy
  • Construction
Engineering

Name: EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Innovation in Non-Destructive evaluation (FIND)

Director: Professor Bruce Drinkwater

Contact: John Edwards (Manager), M Blaydes (Administrator)

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • Imperial College London
  • University of Strathclyde
  • University of Manchester
  • University of Nottingham
  • University of Warwick
  • Enhancing Quantitative NDE
  • Delivering Quantitative NDE
  • NDE for Quantitative Monitoring & Smart structures
Engineering

Name: EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Informatics: Science and Engineering (WISE)

Director: Professor David Butler (Exeter), Ross Woods, Rafael Rosolem

Contact: Debbie Ford (Centre Administrator, 01392 723732), General enquiries

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • University of Exeter (lead)
  • University of Bath
  • Cardiff University
  • Sustainable management of water resources and systems
  • Environmental protection
  • Water utility infrastructure
  • Sound water science and engineering approaches
  • Policy, consumer behaviour, new economic models and ecosystem services
Engineering

Name: Wellcome Trust PhD in Molecular, Genetic and Lifecourse Epidemiology

Director: Professor Caroline Relton

Contact: Sharen Hockey-O'Keefe, 87274 (Administrator)

 

Wellcome Trust N/a Health Sciences

Name: Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials

Director: Dr Ian Lindsay

Contact: Becky Freshwater (CDT Manager)

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council N/a
  • Energy: Generation, conservation and storage
  • Technology and Innovation
  • Mesoscopic Materials and Devices
  • Health and Life Sciences
Science

Name: EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Technology Enhanced Chemical Synthesis

Director: Professor Jonathan Clayden

Contact: Krissy Stothard (Admin Manager) or Sbu Mbatha (Course Manager)

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council N/a
  • New scaffolds for medicines and agrochemicals
  • Cleaner synthesis
  • Design of new functional molecules
  • Synthetic methodologies
  • Natural product chemistry
  • Designer ligands for catalysis
Science

Name: Bristol Chemical Synthesis (BCS) CDT

Director: Professor Jonathan Clayden

Contact: Krissy Stothard (Admin Manager) or Sbu Mbatha (Course Manager)

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council  N/a
  •  Chemical Synthesis
Science

Name: EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Catalysis

Director: Professor Duncan Wass (Director)

Contact: Michal Perdjon (CDT Manager)

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • Cardiff University (lead)
  • University of Bath
  • University of Exeter
  • Heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis
  • Reaction engineering
Science

Name: Centre for Doctoral Training in Condensed Matter Physics

Director: Professor Stephen Hayden

Contact: Thom Brain (CDT Manager) can be reached via cdt-cmp@bristol.ac.uk

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • University of Bath
  • Superconductors
  • Novel magnetic materials
  • Single atomic layer crystals (graphene and related 2D materials)
  • Plasmonic structures
  • Metamaterials
  • Power electronics
  • Optoelectronics
  • Instrumentation and sensor development
Science

Name: EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Diamond Science and Technology

Director: Professor Mark Newton (Warwick)

Contact: Professor Paul May (Co-Director) or General Enquiries

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • University of Warwick (lead)
  • Aberystwyth University
  • Cardiff University
  • University of Bath
  • Imperial College London
  • Newcastle University
  • University of Oxford
  • University of Strathclyde
  • University of Durham
  • University of Nottingham 
  • Electronics & Devices
  • Geophysics
  • Manufacturing
  • Measurement & Sensing
  • Theory & Computation
  • Medical, Biophysics & Biochemistry
  • Optics & Photonics
  • Quantum Technologies
Science

Name: NERC GW4+ Doctoral Training Partnership - a consortium of excellence in innovative research training

Director: Professor Daniela Schmidt

Contact: Dr Emeliana Palk (Hub Manager, 45644), Sara Berrow (Coordinator)

Natural Environment Research Council
  • University of Bath
  • Cardiff University
  • University of Exeter
  • Natural Hazards
  • Biogeochemical Cycles
  • Genomes and Evolution
  • Ecology, Conservation and Biodiversity
  • Atmospheres, Oceans and Ice
  • Climate Change, Impacts, and Sustainability
  • Water
Science

Name: Centre for Doctoral Training in Theory and Modelling in Chemical Sciences

Director: Professor Mark Wilson (University of Oxford)

Contact: Liz Gresham (Administrator, University of Oxford)

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • University of Oxford (lead)
  • University of Southampton
  • Theoretical and computational chemistry
  • Software development
Science

Name: ESRC South West Doctoral Training Partnership

Director: Professor Richard Harris

Contact: Sonja Foster (Manager) or Joanna Williams (Administrator)

Economic and Social Research Council
  • University of Bath
  • University of Exeter
  • Plymouth University
  • University of the West of England
  • Various - please see the prospectus entries for particular programmes for further details of school and departmental research groups
Social Sciences & Law

Name: Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol Science

Director: Professor Jonathan Reid

Contact: Dr Rachael Miles (Course Manager) or Paul Lacey-Drake (CDT Administration Manager) or Yaelle Hartley (CDT Partnerships Manager)

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • University of Bath
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Hertfordshire
  • Imperial College London
  • University of Leeds
  • The University of Manchester
  • Basic aerosol processes
  • Environmental aerosol
  • Aerosols and health
  • Measurement techniques
  • Aerosol technology
Science, Engineering, Life Science, Health Science

Name: EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Trust, Identity, Privacy and Security in Large-scale Infrastructures (TIPS-at-Scale)

Director: Professor Awais Rashid (Bristol lead, Director) and Professor Adam Joinson (Bath lead, Deputy Director)

Contact: Fionnuala Hill (CDT Manager)

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • University of Bath
  • Cyber Security
Engineering

Name: EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Computational Statistics and Data Science: COMPASS

Director: Professor Nick Whiteley (Director), Dr Daniel Lawson (Deputy Director)

Contact: Harriet Lee (CDT Manager)

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council N/A
  • Computational statistics
  • Data science
Science

Name: UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Advanced Computing

Director: Henning Flaecher (Bristol PI)

Contact: Roz Toft (CDT Manager, Swansea University)

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • Swansea University (lead)
  • Cardiff University
  • Aberystwyth University
  • Bangor University
  • Machine learning
  • Uncertainty modelling
  • Human-computer interaction
  • Computational logic for AI
  • Responsible innovation & enterprise in AI
Engineering

Name: UKRI CDT in Interactive Artificial Intelligence

Director: Professor Peter Flach

Contact: Suzanne.Binding@bristol.ac.uk (Centre Manager)

UK Research and Innovation

 

  • Data-driven AI
  • Knowledge-drive AI
  • Human-AI interaction
  • Responsible AI
  • Interactive AI in context
Engineering

Name: EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Nuclear Energy Futures

Director: Dr Mark Wenman (Imperial College)

Bristol Contact: Professor Chris Truman

Imperial Contact: n/a

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • Imperial College London (lead)
  • Bangor University
  • Open University
  • University of Cambridge
  • Advanced Reactor Technology
  • Structural Integrity
  • Nuclear Materials
  • Nuclear Waste Management
  • Decommissioning and Disposal
  • Fusion
  • Policy Regulation and Risk
  • Control and Instrumentation
Engineering; Science

Confused about the differences between different types of Doctoral Training programmes, partnerships and centres? Read our guide to Doctoral Training models explained.

Report updates

Please report any updates and changes to doctoral-college@bristol.ac.uk and we will correct them asap.

Edit this page