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The Queen Square Institute of Neurology is pleased to offer up to six 4-year non-clinical PhD studentships in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and related disorders starting in September 2025. This PhD programme is available thanks to a generous donation of the Libby Owen (Oswestry) Fund to the Queen Square Institute of Neurology, and it is designed to support PhD students wishing to embark on a research career in the field in translational neuroscience linked to PD.
Programme Structure
In the first year of the programme, students will be given the opportunity to develop an extensive range of knowledge and transferable skills in various areas of PD research. This will be achieved through taught activities, including courses in statistics, seminars and MSc modules, and three 12-week (maximum) rotation projects in laboratories of their choosing, investigating any aspects of the pathomechanism and therapeutic intervention in PD.
This period will enable students to interact with various supervisors before deciding on a three-year PhD project. The rotation aspect has been very popular with our students as it gives students hands-on experience of research methods with which they may not be familiar with.
Students will embark on their 3-year PhD project at the end of year one, after submitting a PhD proposal. Students will be expected to take a lead role in developing their project proposals, and will have the opportunity to link together the studies undertaken during their lab rotations to pursue novel, exciting avenues in PD research.
One student of this cohort will be able to carry out their PhD project in collaboration with the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM) in Paris. In this case, the student is expected to spend a period of one year working at ICM in the laboratory of the secondary supervisor.
Funding
This is a fully-funded 4-year PhD programme, which covers Home tuition fees and offers a generous stipend starting at approx. £26,000 per year, as well as travel (£4,500 in total for the 3-year PhD) and consumables funding (£2,000 per rotation in year 1 and £10,000 per year for years 2-4) plus a travel supplement for the student collaborating with ICM.
Eligibility
Students must have achieved at least an upper 2:1 in their undergraduate degree. An MSc is not a pre-requisite.
Overseas students may apply but will receive funding at Home rates. As such they will need to show evidence of their ability to pay the fee shortfall for the full duration of the study.
How to Apply
An application is made by emailing your CV, two letters of support from academic referees, academic transcripts and a personal statement to j.dosanjh@ucl.ac.uk. Your personal statement should be no longer than one side of A4. We require that these FIVE documents are submitted in one merged PDF file labelled as SURNAME_FIRST NAME_PD_QSION.pfd. No other documents will be accepted.
All enquiries regarding the programme should be made to giampietro.schiavo@ucl.ac.uk and ion.pgr@ucl.ac.uk.
Closing date: Thursday 12th December 2024 at 4:00 pm local time.