Yorkshire Students
The studentships below are for students who are registered at a university in Yorkshire. Please note the location of each project supervisor as this will be where the project will be hosted.
Applications are open until 11:59 AM, Friday 28th February 2025 for UK studentships
Applications are now closed
Application Form
In your application, you can choose two projects from any of the projects on this webpage.
University and Industry funded studentships
The following studentship is open to all 2nd and 3rd year students (including 3rd year leavers and those going onto an integrated Masters degree) and 4th year students finishing an integrated Masters degree.
Targeting altered glycan profile for improving prostate cancer treatment
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Newcastle, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Jess Peng, Medical sciences, Newcastle
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, causing over 12,000 deaths every year. Treatment of…
Investigating LPS sensing in human immunity to induce programmed cell death
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Davey Kneafsey, Dept. Biology, York
Immune cells detect bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) through the non-canonical inflammasome (NCI). LPS can be sensed internally, by guanylate-binding proteins, leading…
Novel genetic control of Aedes aegypti using CRISPR/Cas9-based gene drive system
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Eunice Adedeji, Dept. Biology, York
Dengue fever is a growing global health concern, with over 7.6 million reported cases in 2024. Transmission can be prevented…
Comparing microscopy modalities in breast cancer for image analysis with CellPhe
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Jodie Malcolm, Dept. Biology, York
Time lapse microscopy is a valuable tool for studying cell characteristics and predicting treatment response in disease, including in breast…
Lighting the LAMP: A rapid diagnostic tool to detect S. aureus during infections
FUNDING: 8 weeks (full time 35 hours per week, £12.44 per hour, consumables £800)
LOCATION: Leeds Beckett University, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Ian Hurley, Biomedical Sciences Dept., Leeds
Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen and is a nasal coloniser of ~30% of the global population. A systematic analysis…
Deconstructing biofilms to understand antibiotic resistance
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Agnes Noy, Dept. of Physics, York
Bacterial biofilms are difficult to penetrate using antimicrobials. When combined with the increase in antibiotic resistance in many pathogens, this…
UV controlled dynamic covalent systems in supramolecular chemistry
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Andrew West, Dept. of Chemistry, York
Dynamic covalent systems are a topical research area in supramolecular chemistry, characterised by fast equilibration between multiple reaction components that…
The Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, provided by the Max Perutz Fund
FUNDING: Two positions at 10 weeks (full time 37.5 hours per week, paid at LMB rate, B and 7)
LOCATION: Cambridge, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Laboratory of Molecular Biology
The Laboratory of Molecular Biology, the flagship institute of the Medical Research Council, is considered one of the birthplaces of…
Understanding stem cells: Cutting edge technologies in multi-parameter and spectral flow cytometry
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Sukhveer Kaur Mann and Prof. David Kent, Dept. of Biology, York
Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs) are one of the best studied adult stem cell systems with a wide range of robust…
Investigating Environmental Microbes in Newcastle using Nanopore Sequencing
FUNDING: 6 weeks (£2,800 student stipend, equivalent to Living Wage, £500 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Newcastle, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Matt Bawn Dept. of Environmental Sciences, Newcastle
Newcastle’s diverse environments, from the River Tyne to urban green spaces, provide a unique opportunity to study the microbial ecosystems…
Developing innovative techniques to monitor chemical and microbial pollution
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Harriet Sleight, Dept. of Environment and Geography, York
The rivers and lakes in Yorkshire are contaminated with mixtures of chemical and microbial contaminants. Monitoring of these contaminants requires…
Expanding expansion microscopy: Transforming plant bioimaging
FUNDING: 6 weeks (£2,800 student stipend, equivalent to Living Wage, £500 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Durham, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Lydia Kitchen Dept. of Biosciences, Durham
Expansion microscopy is a transformative technology allowing super-resolution microscopy (SRM) through physical magnification on conventional microscopes. Furthermore, it acts as…
Studying the role of plasmid transmission in lung disease
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Liverpool, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Prajwal Vishwanath Bharadwaj, Agriculture, Vet, and food science, Liverpool
Antimicrobial resistance is a major health threat and mobile genetic elements such as plasmids can spread resistance rapidly within and…
The challenge of battery recycling and the Role of Modelling
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Elham Hosseinzadeh, Dept. of Physics, Engineering and Technology, York
Managing end-of-life batteries is a significant challenge, especially with the increasing deployment of rechargeable batteries in electric vehicles. Battery recycling…
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) school food standards compliance pilot questions
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Michelle Patel and Nicola Nixon, Dept. Health Sciences, York
Children’s dietary quality affects their social, educational and health outcomes. Children consume 30% of their food in school and despite…
Assessing microscopy methods to study cellular organelle structures necessary for life
FUNDING: 6 weeks (£2,800 student stipend, equivalent to Living Wage, £500 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Cambridge, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Simon Walker, Babraham Institute, Cambridge
The interior of a cell is a highly organised environment. In eukaryotic cells this is partly achieved by assembling specific…
Effects and optimisation of a new compound on live cells using the very latest bioscience technologies
FUNDING: 8 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12 per hour, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Karen Hogg, Biology, York
BioStatus, a British Life Science Technology company, that develops, manufactures and sells highly innovative laboratory reagents for research-oriented cell-based analyses…
Developing tools to identify immune cells involved in parasitic disease
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Helen Sanders, Dr. Cecile Crosnier, and Dr. James Hewitson, Dept. of Biology, York
Parasitic worms cause long-lived infections that last many years in part because of their ability to manipulate immune cell function…
Imaging, manipulating and measuring HeLa cells
FUNDING: 6 weeks (£2,800 student stipend, equivalent to Living Wage, £500 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Cambridge, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Chengxi Zhu, Advanced Imaging Centre, Cambridge
Biological research has increasingly focused not just on observing bio-specimens such as cells, embryos, or tissues, but also on harnessing…
Understanding the value of community food programmes
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Prof. Bob Doherty, School Business and Society, York
The growth of community food organisations in the past decade means around 4,200 UK entities, distributing ~65,000+ tonnes of surplus…
An introduction to the role of animal technologist in biomedical sciences
FUNDING: Two positions at 10 - 12 weeks (full time 36 hours per week, £22,096 per annum)
LOCATION: Cambridge, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
James Cruickshank, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, ARES Animal Facility, Cambridge
Where there are no suitable alternatives, LMB scientists use mice and rats in their research, to understand biological processes at…
The protective role of PNN in neurodegenerative diseases
FUNDING: 8 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Bradford, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Stuart Dickens, Biomedical Sciences, Bradford
Neurodegenerative diseases are characterised by the death of specific cell types with protective factors saving other cells. The perineuronal net…
Enhancing research culture: A collaboration with Sense About Science
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time 37 hours per week, £12.60 per hour, accommodation and travel costs contribution)
LOCATION: London, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr Alex Reid, Dept. Psychology, York
This studentship is a collaboration between the University of York and Sense about Science (SaS), an independent charity that promotes…
Using genetically altered mice to understand human disease
FUNDING: Two positions at 10 weeks (full time 36 hours per week, £13.67 per hour, contribution to accommodation costs)
LOCATION: Harwell, Oxfordshire, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Sara Wells, Mary Lyon Centre, MRC, Harwell
The Mary Lyon Centre, funded by the Medical Research Council in Harwell, is the UKs flagship facility for the creation,…
Deep Learning to explore collagen microfibril assembly and protein engineering
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Mitya Pushkin, Dept. of Maths, York
Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly deep learning models like AlphaFold, has revolutionised the prediction of protein structures from amino acid sequences.…
The Puppet Master: Global virulence regulators in nasal colonisation by S. aureus
FUNDING: 8 weeks (full time 35 hours per week, £12.44 per hour, consumables £800)
LOCATION: Leeds Beckett University, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Arya Gupta, Biomedical Sciences Dept., Leeds
Staphylococcus aureus is an important human commensal and opportunistic pathogen, which colonises ~30% of the entire population. Hospitalised and immunocompromised…
Artificial intelligence (AI) decision support tools for local food systems
FUNDING: 10 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Prof. Phil Garnett, School Business and Society, York
Decision support tools are becoming increasingly integrated with artificial intelligence technologies to improve our decision making processes. Going beyond simple…
BBSRC Studentships: the building blocks of life
The following studentships are open to second year (BSc) and second and third year (integrated Masters) students.
Investigating the future: Carbon fixation in brown macroalgae
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60/hr per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Charlotte Walker, Dept. Biology, York
Brown macroalgae are primary producers found in coastal habitats all over the Globe, which are socio-economically important through their role…
Evaluating the antimicrobial effects of peptides against oral pathogens
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60/hr per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Sheffield, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Isabel Fernandes Parreira, Dentistry, Sheffield
Bacterial adhesion to host epithelial cells is a critical first step in infection. Antibiotics are often employed as treatment for…
Ensuring food security for the future: Novel crop protection strategies
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60/hr per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York,, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Sam Wilkinson, Dept. Biology, York
Plant pests and diseases are a major threat to global food security. Our reliance on unsustainable chemical pesticides highlights the…
Determining mechanisms that dictate mycorrhizal-induced resistance or susceptibility
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60 per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Christopher Bell, Biology, Leeds
Mycorrhizal fungi can form mutualistic interactions with plants that may boost plant vigour and primes plant defences to increase plant…
The guardian of the cell surface: Understanding transport across the glycocalyx
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60/hr per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Jelizaveta Pavljuk, Biomedical Sciences, Leeds
Are you keen to experience interdisciplinary research at the interface between biology, physics and chemistry? The glycocalyx is a complex…
Unlocking channels for communication in plant sciences
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60/hr per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Leeds, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Yoselin Benitez-Alfonzo, Biology, Leeds
This research project will be dedicated to studying how the microchannels in the cell wall, plasmodesmata, are regulated and how…
Investigating the role of bioenergetic complexes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60/hr per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr. Morwan Osman, Dept. Biology, York
Antimicrobial combinations targeting the bioenergetic system of Mycobacterium tuberculosis have transformed the treatment of the most lethal forms of the…
Enhancing plant growth-promoting effects of soil bacteria for bio-fertilisers
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60/hr per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Sheffield, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Sophie Groenhof, Biosciences, Sheffield
Chitinophaga are abundant in soil systems across the world, from forest floors to the rhizospheres of many commercial crops. Several…
Tackling the climate crisis: Characterisation of new algal carbohydrate active enzymes
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60/hr per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: York, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Aidan Salter, Dept. Biology, York
The climate crisis is accelerating the need to initiate a switch to a more sustainable circular bioeconomy. A focus of…
Using high molecular resolution microscopy tools to visualise Streptococcus pneumoniae
FUNDING: 9 weeks (full time, 37 hrs per week, £12.60/hr per hour, £700 consumables, £500 student accommodation bursary)
LOCATION: Sheffield, UK
SUPERVISOR(S):
Dr Laia Pasquina-Lemonche, Biosciences, Sheffield
The Streptococcus pneumoniae cell wall is mostly composed of peptidoglycan, a macromolecule forming an intricate 3D mesh of fibres and…