51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Researchers at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s National Heart and Lung Institute will play a leading role in two major national doctoral training programmes funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), aimed at developing the next generation of cardiovascular researchers.

For the first time, nearly £30 million of BHF funding has been awarded to a consortium of UK universities to train PhD students in interdisciplinary approaches to understanding, preventing and treating cardiovascular disease. 

51³Ô¹ÏÍø will lead one programme in partnership with the University of Oxford and will also be a major partner in a second programme led by the University of Cambridge, alongside Oxford and the University of Edinburgh. 

51³Ô¹ÏÍø–Oxford programme to train researchers in AI, data science and new technologies for cardiovascular medicine 

The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø–Oxford BHF 4-Year Multidisciplinary PhD Programme, titled Technology and Data-Driven Solutions for Effective Prediction, Prevention and Management of Cardiovascular Disease, will recruit 40 BHF-funded doctoral students across four cohorts beginning in 2026. 

Each year, five students will be based at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and five at Oxford, with all students jointly supervised across both institutions. 

The programme will train researchers to harness advances in artificial intelligence, multimodal data science, imaging and engineering to improve the prediction, diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease. 

Students will work across clinical, computational and engineering disciplines, developing new approaches such as AI models, digital technologies and data-driven tools, supported by research strengths at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and Oxford including advanced imaging platforms, large-scale clinical datasets and expertise in computational modelling. 

Dr Fu Siong Ng, Professor of Cardiology and Programme Director for the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-led training programme, said: 

“Cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and tackling it requires researchers who are comfortable working across traditional disciplinary boundaries. This PhD programme will bring together expertise in cardiology, engineering, artificial intelligence and data science to train researchers to use these interdisciplinary skills to translate technological advances into real improvements in patient care.” 

51³Ô¹ÏÍø joins Cambridge-led programme on multimodal data for cardiovascular prevention 

In addition, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø is co-leading the Cambridge-Edinburgh-51³Ô¹ÏÍø-Oxford 4-year PhD Programme, Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Through Multimodal Data-Driven Approaches in Diverse Populations directed by Professor Angela Wood at Cambridge. 

The programme will fund 42 PhD students and combine large population health datasets, multi-omics and systems biology approaches with advanced data science to better understand cardiovascular risk and develop new strategies for disease prevention in diverse populations. 

Dr Michela Noseda, Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Science and 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Co-Director for the programme, said: 

“Cardiovascular prevention depends on understanding biology from the cellular level to whole populations. This programme gives students the opportunity to work across scales, using multi-omics and population health data to develop insights that could improve prevention and outcomes across diverse populations.” 

 Building national capacity in cardiovascular research 

Across both programmes, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø researchers will collaborate with BHF Centres of Research Excellence, NHS partners and industry organisations working in medical technology, digital health and data science. The programmes are both supported by the National Heart and Lung Institute, which provides the research environment and supervisory expertise for 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s involvement. 

Professor Barbara Casadei, Head of the National Heart and Lung Institute, said: 

“This is exactly the kind of cross‑disciplinary training programme cardiovascular research needs. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s successful bids highlight the strength of expertise within the National Heart and Lung Institute and our ability to train the next generation of researchers to translate discovery‑led and data‑driven research into better cardiovascular care.” 

Together, the initiatives represent a significant investment in building research capacity across the UK, with a focus on emerging technologies, advanced data science and interdisciplinary collaboration. 

Recruitment for the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø–Oxford PhD studentships has now begun.