Cohort-based training in King's Doctoral Training Partnerships and Centres for Doctoral Training

The Centre for Doctoral Studies at King's works with a range of Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) and Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs). These deliver studentship funding and training for postgraduate researchers and are primarily supported by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI).

Furthermore, DTPs and DTCs often provide funded doctoral places in the form of studentships, primarily for Home/EU students.

Doctoral Training Partnerships and Centres at King's

King's College London is part of a number of DTPs and DTCs, either as a member of a consortium with other institutions or as the main host for the centre.

If you have a question about King's Doctoral Training Partnerships, please contact the DTP/CDTs listed below.

To find out more about the training available to postgraduate research students at King's please see our Doctoral Training pages.

The London Arts and Humanities Partnership is an AHRC-funded doctoral training partnership supporting PhD studies in arts & humanities. LAHP brings together three global leading UK Research Organisations: Kings College, London (King’s),University College London (UCL), the School of Advanced Study, University of London (SAS).

For further information and to apply, please visit the LAHP website.

Please send general enquiries to: info.lahp@london.ac.uk or ukri-studentships@kcl.ac.uk

The London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (LISS) invites applications for four year (1+3) studentships for candidates for a Masters’ degree leading directly to a PhD, and for three year (+3) doctoral studentships (PhD only) at one of the LISS DTP partner institutions: King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London or Imperial College London.

We welcome applications from candidates with UK or EU residency whose research is situated within any of LISS DTP’s 13 Thematic Pathways. These cover a range of social science disciplines, including business and management, economics, education, epidemiology, geography, international relations, law, linguistics, politics, psychology, sociology, war and security studies. The DTP particularly welcomes project proposals utilising advanced quantitative methods and interdisciplinary approaches and has dedicated awards in these areas to offer.

Please visit the LISS website for more information on: eligibility criteria, studentship benefits and regulations, deadlines and how to apply.

Please send general enquiries to: liss-dtp@kcl.ac.uk

Located in the heart of London, King’s College London and our associated NHS partner hospitals provide a vibrant and globally renowned biomedical research community.

Our integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to medical research offers a wealth of cutting edge training opportunities in fundamental discovery science, translational research and experimental medicine.

Our students undertake projects drawn from across all our Health Faculties in areas as diverse as: structural biology, stem cells, cancer, HIV/AIDS, mental health, population genetics and bioinformatics, therapeutic development, as well as interventional clinical trials.

The cohort-focused philosophy of our programme ensures that our graduates experience the full diversity of our scientific endeavour, learn how to collaborate, communicate and think creatively, and leave King’s equipped to tackle key biomedical challenges in a rapidly changing world.

For further information and to apply, please visit the MRC DTP studentship website.

Please send general enquiries to: mrc-dtp@kcl.ac.uk

The London Interdisciplinary Biosciences Consortium is one of the largest BBSRC funded Doctoral Training Partnerships in the UK. Representing an exciting collaboration between six of London's world-class universities and specialist institutions, the consortium provides students with a unique opportunity to pursue innovative interdisciplinary research projects in the heart of one of the world's most vibrant cities.

This 4-year programme is aimed at graduates with a strong interest in multi-disciplinary research. We invite applications from highly motivated students from a wide range of academic backgrounds including biological, biomedical, veterinary, physical, computational, engineering or mathematical disciplines.

Applications are now closed for 2021.

Please send enquiries to ukri-studentships@kcl.ac.uk.

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Smart Medical Imaging provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary PhD programme in Medical Imaging, specifically designed to meet the challenges in healthcare and medical imaging. 

King's College London and Imperial College London, two world leading research-focused universities, collaborate to create an interdisciplinary training approach specifically designed to provide a unique PhD experience.

The Centre builds on strong existing collaborations between King's and Imperial, including substantial joint grant funding, joint publications and current joint supervision. The CDT is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

For further information and to apply, please visit their website.

Please send enquiries to: imaging-cdt@kcl.ac.uk

The mission of CANES is to train future research leaders in the understanding, control and design of systems far from equilibrium, based on rigorous training in theoretical modelling, simulation and data-driven analysis, and a breadth of awareness of common themes across disciplines.

Additionally, CANES functions as a UK Centre of Excellence for the research and research user community, and a national and international hub in the area of non-equilibrium systems.

The CANES training programme consists of a first year combining taught courses and research projects, leading to the award of an MSc. In years two to four, leading to a PhD, the programme will include open question sandpits, master classes, journal clubs and an annual retreat.

Students will also be able to undertake internships at a broad range of industrial and international academic partners.

Please send enquiries to ukri-studentships@kcl.ac.uk.

The LSGNT is made up of 53 mathematicians in three London Universities, with interests in different aspects of number theory, geometry and topology. We already work together in many ways, which include research collaborations and joint seminars and working groups.

The training that we offer as the LSGNT differs from a traditional UK PhD in pure mathematics in a number of respects, and is closer to the US graduate school model (though you will not have to do anything like as much teaching as a typical US graduate TA). In the first year, we offer a broad mathematical training, with an emphasis on topics in geometry and number theory. We also establish an ethos of working and learning together in a friendly and supportive environment. Towards the end of the first year, you will have to agree on projects and supervisors and before the start of year 2, enrol at an agreed College out of the three: UCL, King's and Imperial. The collaborative spirit established in the first year will be maintained by a number of mechanisms including cross-College supervision teams, junior seminars and working groups. Students are encouraged to organise other activities, such as an LSGNT colloquium, an annual retreat and an annual conference.

We expect to recruit students with a wide variety of mathematical backgrounds: some will already have clear ideas about a research project and the necessary knowledge to start right away, while others will not yet have decided where their interests lie. The first-year training will be flexible enough to accommodate and support everyone in the transition from undergraduate to research-level mathematics.

For further information and to apply, please visit the LSGNT studentship website.

The London NERC DTP is a partnership of nine prestigious research organisations across London, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Our aim is to attain new standards of excellence in environmental science research training, and deliver a transformative inter-disciplinary experience for PhD students in the heart of London. We currently fund 142 PhD students in the natural sciences.

Our students are trained at World-leading research centres, which cover a the breadth of environmental science research, from those driven by contemporary environmental challenges to those exploring complex questions about the evolution of planet Earth. Our PhD programme is focussed on eight key research themes: Biodiversity & Ecology, Earth, Atmosphere & Ocean Processes, Environmental Pollution, Evolution & Adaptation, Natural & Biological Hazards, Past Life & Environments, Solid Earth Dynamics and Pan-disciplinary research.

For further information and to apply, please visit the NERC studentship website.

Wellcome Trust Advanced Therapies for Regenerative Medicine MRes and PhD.

This programme aims at training a new generation of researchers in advanced therapies for regenerative medicine. As cell and gene therapies enter the clinic in increasing numbers, there is a need to foster the basic science that underpin new therapies and introduce PhD scientists to the challenges and opportunities involved in translation and commercialisation. Our programme is designed for students, who wish to carry out high quality lab-based fundamental research and find solutions to challenging medical problems.

Applications for Cohort 2022 will open in October 2021.

Wellcome Trust Neuro-Immune Interactions in Health and Disease MRes and PhD.

Cross-talk between the nervous and immune systems is critical for survival, and disrupted neuro-immune communication is observed in many debilitating conditions, including chronic inflammatory, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases.

To better understand these conditions, we urgently need a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers that can work across the neuro-immune spectrum. The Wellcome Trust ‘Neuro-Immune Interactions in Health & Disease’ PhD Training Programme is designed to provide the requisite training, using state-of-the-art technologies, cutting-edge science and supervision methods.

Applications for Cohort 2022 will open in October 2021.

The UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe and Trusted Artificial Intelligence brings together world leading experts from King’s College London and Imperial College London to train a new generation of researchers in safe and trusted artificial intelligence (AI).

The STAI CDT offers a unique four-year programme, focussed on the use of model-based AI techniques for ensuring the safety and trustworthiness of AI systems. Students will engage in various training activities, alongside their individual PhD project, ensuring that not only are they trained in state-of-the-art AI techniques, but also that they acquire a deep understanding of ethical, societal, and legal implications of AI in a research and industrial setting. Through engagement with the CDT’s diverse range of industrial partners, students will be exposed to the different experiences, challenges, and technical problems involved in both startups and large corporations.

For further information and to apply, please visit the CDT studentship website.

Please send general enquiries to: stai-cdt@kcl.ac.uk

Led by Professor Richard Dobson and Dr Vasa Curcin. This Centre will incorporate additional students funded by both the Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Trust BRC.

For further information and to apply, please visit the Data-Driven Health website.

Please send general enquiries to: drivecdt@kcl.ac.uk.

Led by Professor Seb Ourselin and Dr Christos Bergeles. This Centre also incorporates additional students funded by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Trust BRC.

For more information, please visit the Surgery CDT website.

Please send general enquiries to: sie-phd@kcl.ac.uk.

The Biological Physics Across Scales Centre for Doctoral Training (BiPAS CDT) is a multi-disciplinary doctoral training programme in biological physics based at King's College London.

Led by Professor Sergi Garcia-Manyes.

For more information, please visit the BiPAS CDT website.

Please send general enquiries to: bipas-cdt@kcl.ac.uk

4-year MRes+PhD Studentships

This research-intensive 4-year programme for core cardiovascular training includes an initial MRes year with multiple laboratory rotations and practical workshops that precedes a 3-year PhD project. The programme aims to impart a broad understanding of the fundamental biology of the cardiovascular system, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying disorders of this system, and multi-disciplinary approaches towards the development of novel interventions for the amelioration of such disorders. These objectives are achieved through a combination of research mini-projects, workshops and a library project in Year 1, leading to the award of an MRes in Cardiovascular Sciences, followed by a specialised 3-year PhD project complemented by additional graduate training activities with in our King’s BHF Centre of Research Excellence.

Studentship applications are now closed for 2021.

The Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme on 'Understanding the mechanics of Life' aims to train future research leaders to develop new techniques, methodologies and analytical tools required to resolve outstanding challenges underpinning Mechanobiology across a broad range of biological themes.

The programme builds upon current research and supervisory strengths at King’s College London, encompassing three faculties and eight Departments, and is a hub of postgraduate training in Mechanobiology in the UK.

Through a 3.5-year PhD project and intensive training through a mechanobiology bootcamp in Year 1, dedicated workshops and seminar series, and possibilities to carry out international research placements in partner institutions, students will be trained to work confidently and seamlessly across the Physical Sciences-Biology interface to revolutionise the life sciences with breakthrough understanding, disruptive technologies and ambitious innovation.

For more information, please visit the Mechanics of Life Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship website.

Please send general enquiries to: mechanicsoflife@kcl.ac.uk

The Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Programme Knowledge Orders before Modernity is an innovative collaboration between King’s College London and the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent. The programme explores the capacity of the handwritten word comparatively, outside and well as within western cultures, after as well as before the advent of the printing press. It seeks to challenge a conventional periodization which associates complex knowledge, complex archival mechanisms, and mundane recording with the arrival of print.

In the lifetime of the award the programme will fund three cohorts of doctoral scholars, starting in 2024, 2025, and 2026, and up to three Master’s Plus scholarships for applicants from under-represented groups. Successful applicants to Knowledge Orders will participate in a shared programme of visits, events, and discussions.

For further information and to apply for the programme please visit the Knowledge Orders before Modernity website.