Applications for fully-funded 4 year PhD studentships starting in Sept 2026 are now closed
For studentships starting in Sept 2027, projects to apply to will be advertised in Oct 2026
Below are projects that were advertised for studentships starting in Sept 2026. We are no longer accepting applications to these projects, but remain viewable to give a flavour of the types of projects across the DTP. Exception: If you have external-funding (including self-funding), these projects are still available to apply to – further information.
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The research theme encompasses the following areas. Click on the link below to be taken to these projects, or scroll though our full list of projects below.
- Antimicrobial & Therapeutic Innovation
- Biophysics, Nanotech & Biosensors
- Protein Engineering & Functional Biomolecular Systems
- Other
This theme encompasses:
- all aspects of synthetic or engineering biology, from innovation to application including the development and functional application of molecular biosensors.
- biophysical aspects of organismal biology across the scale.
- research on antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), form mechanisms to promising therapies.
*CASE: These are CASE DTP studentships. As part of the programme, you will be required to undertake a placement with the CASE partner for a minimum of 3 months.
*AP: These are Standard DTP studentships with an associate partner where you will be required to spend time with each of the partners. You will then be registered for your postgraduate studies at one of the partner universities of the lead supervisors.
*JD: This project is in collaboration with the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE) and subject to a joint degree award. Successful applicants will be registered at both these institutions, and graduates will be awarded a joint degree from these two institutions upon successful completion of the PhD programme.
To help you decide on your PhD project, you can gain a detailed insight into the working style of the main supervisor and the research environment you will be part of, by visiting our meet our supervisors webpage or ‘clicking’ on the supervisor listed in bold below. You can also find out more about the second supervisor by ‘clicking’ on their name below.
Antimicrobial & Therapeutic Innovation
| ID | PROJECT TITLE |
MAIN SUPERVISORY TEAM Main supervisor (bold) + second supervisor – Or equivalents |
HOST INSTITUTION (also the registered university unless otherwise stated) STUDENTSHIP TYPE |
KEYWORDS |
| 145 | Antiphage defence systems and antimicrobial resistance: two sides of the same coin? |
University of Exeter (Streatham) Studentship type: Standard |
Microbiology, antimicrobial resistance, artificial intelligence, phage biology, experimental evolution | |
| 259 | Drugging a Hunger Receptor: Structure and Mechanism of Agonist Binding to Novel Vestibular Site in FFAR1 |
University of Bristol Studentship type: CASE |
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), obesity, drug discovery, computational biology, cryo-EM | |
| 141 | Engineering prophages to kill Burkholderia bacteria for phage therapy and biotechnology |
Cardiff University Studentship type: CASE |
Bacteriophages, Burkholderia bacteria, Phage Therapy, Synthetic biology, Cystic Fibrosis | |
| 306 | How Microbes Work Together: Using Multi-Omics to Decode Polymicrobial Interactions and Advance AI-Assisted Rapid Diagnostics |
University of Exeter (Streatham) Studentship type: CASE |
Microbial-interactions, Infection, AI-diagnostics, Multi-omics, Tuberculosis | |
| 231 | Understanding the effects of antibiotics on bacteriophage infectivity |
University of Exeter (Penryn) Studentship type: Standard |
Microbiology, bacteriophage antibiotics, phage therapy defence | |
| 218 | Unlocking the Secrets of Structure–Function Relationships in Antibiotic Resistance Enzymes |
University of Bristol Studentship type: Standard |
Antibiotic resistance, Beta-lactamases, enzymes, structure and dynamics, allosteric networks |
Biophysics, Nanotech & Biosensors
| ID | PROJECT TITLE |
MAIN SUPERVISORY TEAM Main supervisor (bold) + second supervisor – Or equivalents |
HOST INSTITUTION (also the registered university unless otherwise stated) STUDENTSHIP TYPE |
KEYWORDS |
| 280 | CRYCT – A peptide magnetosensor to engineer magnetic field sensitivity in biological systems |
University of Exeter (Streatham) Studentship type: CASE |
Magnetoreception, cryptochrome, quantum biology, spectroscopy, protein engineering | |
| 294 | Learning to design dynamic proteins |
University of Exeter (Streatham) Studentship type: Standard |
Protein design, Generative AI, Mathematical modelling, Structural proteomics, Gene editing | |
| 329 | Mechanism of host-pathogen interactions at the ciliated surface |
University of Exeter (Streatham) Studentship type: Standard |
Biophysics, microbiology, cilia, signalling, cell motility | |
| 338 | Powering Plants with Photonics: using biophotovoltaics to understand how plants use nanostructures to manipulate light |
University of Bristol Studentship type: Standard |
Photosynthesis, plant photonic nanomaterials, plant-light interactions, sustainable solutions | |
| 184 | The Ozempic Receptor in Action: Dissecting Signalling Pathways of Drugs and Ligands |
University of Exeter (Streatham) Studentship type: Standard |
Membrane biophysics, biological interactions and signalling, nanotechnology, biosensors, single molecule sensing, photonic sensors |
Protein Engineering & Functional Biomolecular Systems
| ID | PROJECT TITLE |
MAIN SUPERVISORY TEAM Main supervisor (bold) + second supervisor – Or equivalents |
HOST INSTITUTION (also the registered university unless otherwise stated) STUDENTSHIP TYPE |
KEYWORDS |
| 195 | Elucidating snake venom metalloproteinase mechanisms for new snakebite treatments |
University of Bristol Studentship type: Standard |
Snakebite treatment, toxins, haemotoxic snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs), X-ray crystallography, enzymology | |
| 241 | Engineering enzymes for photobiocatalysis |
Cardiff University Studentship type: Standard |
Biocatalysis, photocatalysis, enzyme engineering, engineering biology, protein design | |
| 281 | Mechanistic Dissection and Engineering of Modular Polyketide Synthases |
University of Bristol Studentship type: Standard |
Natural products, chemical biology, biochemistry, structural analysis, chemical synthesis | |
| 319 | Mercury rising: Unifying molecular principles of biological temperature sensing |
University of Exeter (Streatham) Studentship type: Standard |
Temperature sensing, Arabidopsis, Molecular biology, epigenetics, structural proteomics | |
| 350 | Model and AI-guided genome design |
University of Bristol Studentship type: Standard |
Whole-cell modelling, AI, genome design, metabolic engineering, Escherichia Coli | |
| 232 | Rational Design of Novel Degraders for Targeted Protein Degradation |
University of Bath Studentship type: Standard |
Targeted protein degradation, ubiquitin, chemical biology, PROTAC, Aptamer | |
| 225 | Structural and Transcriptional Insights into Therapeutic Jumbophages |
University of Exeter (Streatham) Studentship type: Standard |
Microbiology, Bacteriophage, CryoEM, Protein structure, Transcriptomics | |
| 315 | Understanding the Dynamics of NFkappaB transcription factor complex formation |
Cardiff University Studentship type: Standard |
Transcription factors, bimolecular interactions, bioimaging, protein engineering, molecular dynamics | |
| 118 | Understanding the molecular mechanism of the MADS bacterial immune system and its synergy with CRISPR-Cas |
University of Bristol Studentship type: CASE |
Prokaryotic defence systems, CRISPR-Cas, Protein complex assembly, Enzymology, Bacteriophages | |
| 346 | Unlocking Fungal Biosynthetic Potential to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance |
Swansea University / University of Bristol Registered University: Swansea University Studentship type: Standard with Associate Partner |
Microbiology, Protein engineering, Natural products, Antimicrobials, Biosynthesis |
Other
| ID | PROJECT TITLE |
MAIN SUPERVISORY TEAM Main supervisor (bold) + second supervisor – Or equivalents |
HOST INSTITUTION (also the registered university unless otherwise stated) STUDENTSHIP TYPE |
KEYWORDS |
| 212 | Developing targeted covalent macrocycles to combat immune-mediated diseases |
University of Bristol Studentship type: Standard |
Complement, peptide phage display, covalent inhibitors, chemical proteomics, drug discovery | |
| 349 | Development of next generation therapeutics for enhanced immune protection. |
University of Bristol Studentship type: Standard |
Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Immunology |