MRC Funded Doctoral Studentships in Biomedical Research
HealthBRIDGE is an exciting and innovative 1+3-year PhD training initiative designed to improve human health and drive UK economic growth funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) through its Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA) scheme.
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Programme objectives
HealthBRIDGE is Science for Humanity, with discovery-to-impact thinking embedded both in 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's strategic mission and HealthBRIDGE’s design. HealthBRIDGE will train future biomedical researchers to integrate their insights across disciplines and sectors and translate discovery into meaningful health, economic and societal impact. HealthBRIDGE students will shape their own research, employ diverse routes to impact including Patient and Public Engagement (PPI), entrepreneurship and commercialisation training, and develop professional skills to help them form part of a highly skilled workforce across a range of careers.
"These awards will allow students to benefit from 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's exciting health innovation ecosystem, centered around the Hammersmith Hospital and White City Innovation District. In time, we hope that they will become the innovators and entrepreneurs we need to maximise the impact of current advances in medicine". Professor Graham Cooke, Vice Dean (Research) at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Faculty of Medicine said
Partnerships, including with the Association of Medical Research Charities () are a core component of HealthBRIDGE, strengthening links between academic excellence, patient priorities, and real-world health outcomes.
Are you ready to shape the future of biomedical research?
Unlike traditional routes to a PhD, HealthBRIDGE is student-led meaning that you design your PhD project through a 1+3 training structure (year 1 lab rotations followed by a PhD in years 2-4). We are looking for academically excellent, highly motivated and outward looking research students who will thrive from HealthBRIDGE’s unique cohort-based training, who will embrace opportunities for collaboration with non-academic partners and who are eager to develop the digital, commercial and entrepreneurial skills needed to help transform their discoveries into real-world healthcare solutions.
HealthBRIDGE will open for applications on 14 October 2026 with the first cohort of students commencing in October 2027. Find out more about how to apply.
