Applications for projects starting in September 2024 have now closed.

For fully funded studentships starting in September 2025, projects will be advertised in October 2024.

Below are the projects that were advertised last year, to give you an idea of projects that could be advertised in the future.

Improving animal and human health and wellbeing across the lifecourse.

*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 in collaboration with the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE) is 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.

You can find out more about the project supervisor listed below and the research team by visiting our meet our supervisors webpage.

PROJECT TITLE	MAIN / ROTHAMSTED / LEAD SUPERVISOR(S)	HOST INSTITUTION	KEYWORDS
Ageing and body clock rhythms: The importance of a social network	Prof Hugh Piggins	University of Bristol	Socializing, sex differences, sleep cognition, mouse
Antimicrobial peptides- silver bullets or lead Evaluating antimicrobial peptides as replacements for antibiotics: exploring the consequences of resistance	Prof Ben Raymond	University of Exeter (Penryn)	Antimicrobial resistance, Innate immunity, Cross-resistance, Antimicrobial stewardship, Experimental evolution
Characterisation and inhibition of snake venom metalloproteinases for next-generation antivenom	Prof Christiane Schaffitzel	University of Bristol	Snake venom, metalloproteinases, platelet aggregation, blood clotting, antivenom, protein engineering
Deciphering the aerosol survival of respiratory pathogens	Dr Darryl Hill	University of Bristol	Aerosol science, microbiology, bioinformatics, biophysics
Development of dendritic signal processing in the brain: a role for GABAergic interneurons?	Dr Paul Anastasiades	University of Bristol	Neuroscience, Development, Physiology, Circuits, Calcium Imaging
Exploiting the chemical genomics of Pseudomonas spp. for natural product antifungals effective against fungal pathogens of wheat	Dr Tim Mauchline	Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) (apply to University of Bath)	Secondary metabolites, Pseudomonas, wheat, anti-fungal, pathogen.
Healthy diet, healthy pregnancy: stem cell approaches to modulate placental hormones and improve pregnancy outcomes	Prof Rosalind John	Cardiff University	Pregnancy, diet, stem cells, in vivo models, human cohort data
Investigating the interactions of incretin hormone mimetics with hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system arginine vasopressin and oxytocin release	Prof David Murphy	University of Bristol	Metabolism, Neurohypophysis, Tirzepatide, Proteomics, Genome-wide association study (GWAS)
Tackling antibiotic resistance with covalent macrocycles	Dr Scott Lovell	University of Bath	Covalent Drug Discovery, Peptide Phage Display, Antibiotic Resistance, Structural Biology, Chemical Proteomics
Testing joint shape, form, function and loading in zebrafish and their relationship to human population studies	Prof Chrissy Hammond	University of Bristol	Zebrafish, joint, biomechanics, genes, musculoskeletal
The impact of environmental endocrine-disruptors on adipose tissue function and health	Prof Dylan Thompson	University of Bath	Adipose, Endocrine, Inflammation, Environmental Contaminants, Physiology, cell biology, biochemistry, nutrition, Analytical Chemistry
Understanding the cellular processes that support pattern separation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus and how ageing affects memory	Dr Denize Atan	University of Bristol	Pattern separation, Dentate gyrus, Memory, Computational modelling, Ageing