** Projects now available to apply to for fully-funded 4 year PhD studentships starting in Sept 2025 **
Application deadline: Midnight (23:59pm GMT), Wednesday 11 December 2024
This theme encompasses:
- all aspects of learning and behaviour, from neurobiology function through to higher brain decision making. It could also encompass sensory biology, from perception of signal through to response, and include plant/microbial perception and response pathways where appropriate.
- whole animal systems as research models, looking at development, physiology and function. It also includes ethical considerations and procedural aspects. The key is the whole animal as the starting point of the investigations and includes model systems such as zebra fish and mouse.
*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 be asked to apply to one of the partners (as listed in the 'Host Institution' column), but this is just for administration purposes. You will then be registered for your postgraduate studies at one of the partner universities of the lead supervisors. Your registered university will be confirmed by the DTP following the interview stage of the selection process.
*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.
Meet our supervisors: 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.
How to apply: You apply to the listed ‘ host institution’ (unless otherwise indicated in the table below) via the ‘apply now’ button. You will then be taken to the institutional application forms with guidance and further information on submitting an application.
| PROJECT TITLE |
MAIN SUPERVISORY TEAM Main supervisor (bold) + second supervisor – Or equivalents |
HOST INSTITUTION | KEYWORDS |
| A comparative investigation of sentience assays in mammals and invertebrates: Investigating the biological origins of affective consciousness | University of Bristol | Decision-making, Sentience, Cognition, Emotion, Mathematical modelling | |
| Assessment of hypervigilance to understand the neurobiological mechanisms of anxiety symptoms | University of Bristol | Neuroscience, Psychology, Attention, Memory, Anxiety | |
| Cellular and network effects of psychedelics on emotional memory processing *CASE | University of Bristol | Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Psychedelics, Behaviour, Sleep | |
| Chrono-nutrition and Chrono-pharmacology: Investigating the Impact of Intermittent Fasting and Pharmacological Treatments on Extra-SCN Brain Oscillators for Obesity Management | University of Bristol | Obesity, Circadian clock, Time-restricted feeding, Neurophysiology | |
| Corvids calling: understanding the origins of complex communication *AP | University of Exeter (Penryn) (Apply here) / Swansea University | Animal behaviour, Artificial intelligence, Communication, Evolution, Networks | |
| Designing lipid nanoparticles for highly efficient CRISPR/Cas9 ribonucleoprotein delivery and gene editing in pest insects | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (Apply to University of Bristol) |
Bionanotechnology, Gene editing, Entomology, Bioimaging, Biochemistry | |
| Determining impacts of exposure to environmentally relevant chemicals on tissue repair in fish | University of Bath | Ecotoxicology, Environmental biology, Cell biology, Analytical chemistry, Biochemistry | |
| Do gut derived metabolites underpin ergogenic effects of prebiotics: metabolic fate of short chain fatty acid oxidation | University of Exeter (St Luke’s) | Gut microbiome, Exercise physiology, Stable isotope study, Prebiotic, 13c labelled inulin | |
| Does time of day predict stress resilience/sensitivity across species? | University of Bristol | Stress, Circadian rhythms, Behaviour, Genomics, Glucocorticoids | |
| Drosophila models for mechanistic analysis of Huntingtin function in neurodegeneration | Cardiff University | Invertebrate genetics, Neurobiology, Molecular interactions, Development, Neurodegeneration | |
| Establishing the impact of plastic-derived endocrine-disruptors on adipose tissue function and health | University of Bath | Obesity, Endocrine, Inflammation, Environmental contaminants | |
| Establishment and Characterization of a Novel self-renewing, non-transformed Chicken Macrophage Cell Line for the Study of Innate Immunity *AP | University of Bristol (Apply here) / University of Plymouth | Macrophages, Innate immunity, Functional analysis, Gene expression | |
| How visual systems are adapted to their environments | University of Bristol | Visual ecology, Sensory biology, Animal behaviour, Climate change | |
| Immune system ageing in European badgers: fitness consequences, evolution and implications for disease dynamics *CASE | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Senescence, Immunology, Epidemiology, Evolution, Wildlife disease | |
| Learning from mother hens: Influence of maternal care on chicken welfare and microbiomes | University of Bristol | Animal welfare, Animal behaviour, Chicken, Microbiome, Maternal | |
| Linking dairy cows’ day-to-day behaviours with affective states and welfare. | University of Bristol | Animal welfare, Affective states, Artificial intelligence, Sustainable agriculture, Dairy farming | |
| Mechanisms of colour change in chameleon prawns – from genes to sensory ecology | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Behaviour, Vision, Gene expression, Predators and prey, Camouflage | |
| Modelling animal perception of camouflaged prey using artificial observers | University of Bristol | Animal colouration, Machine learning, Visual ecology, Camouflage, Sensory biology | |
| Physiological mechanisms of social ageing in European rabbits | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Ageing, Senescence, Animal behaviour, Sociality, Networks | |
| Rhomboid proteolysis: a novel regulator of synaptic function | University of Bristol | Neurobiology, Biochemistry, Proteomics, Electrophysiology, Enzymology | |
| Role of cholesterol and cholesterol metabolites in brain development | Cardiff University | Neuroscience, Developmental biology, Cholesterol, Zebrafish, Cerebellar organoids | |
| Standing up to threats: Understanding the neural mechanisms underpinning threat-related changes in balance control | Cardiff University | Neurophysiology, Balance, Brain stimulation, Muscles, Sensorimotor | |
| Stepping up our understanding of human foot biomechanics with computer modelling and simulation | University of Exeter (St Luke’s) | Biomechanics, Biomedical engineering, Exercise science, Musculoskeletal system, Simulation | |
| Studying the gut-brain connection in a marine worm model using a novel high-throughput imaging system | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Neuroendocrine signalling, Microscopy, Image analysis, Enteric system, Behaviour | |
| The curious case of Turritopsisdohrni jellyfish – elucidating epigenetic principles of immortality | Cardiff University | Epigenetics of ageing, Epigenomics/transcriptomics, Biological rejuvenation, Invertebrate biology, Development | |
| The role of Colgalt2 during skeletal development and ageing | University of Bristol | Zebrafish, Biomechanics, Osteoarthritis, Cartilage, Ageing | |
| Understanding the drivers of floral specialisation and its impact on bee nutrition and health | University of Bristol | Nutrition, Bees, Genomics, Pollination |