Behavioural Biology
University of Bristol
About the Project Over 80% of people experience a traumatic event during their lifetime; of these, up to ~10% develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is characterised by distressing flashbacks, avoidance, hyperarousal and nightmares, and often reflects emotional dysregulation with an inability to effectively process traumatic memories. Crucially, current therapies fail to deliver long-term control of symptoms in ~50% of sufferers.
- Location
- Bristol, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 21 October 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Behavioural Biology
Medical Research Council (Cambridge)
About the Project The overall goal of our research is to discover the circuit implementation of learning and action selection. Since these functions likely emerge from parallel and distributed computations across many interconnected brain areas, over the past five years we have established an approach that involves combining comprehensive brain-wide analysis of structure and function in the tractable Drosophila larva.
- Location
- Cambridge, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 8 December 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Behavioural Biology
Medical Research Council (Cambridge)
About the Project Neuroscience in the fly and beyond is being transformed by the availability of connectomes, synaptic resolution wiring diagrams. We have played leading roles in two large collaborations that have recently generated and analysed separate (female) brain and (male) nerve cord connectomes for the fly. Furthermore, we have now completed a male CNS connectome (brain and nerve cord together).
- Location
- Cambridge, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 8 December 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Behavioural Biology
Medical Research Council (Cambridge)
About the Project In recent years, great efforts have been made to map the synaptic wiring diagrams of simple and complex nervous systems. However, chemical synapses, the connections used in most connectomics research, represent only one type of functionally important signalling between neurons.
- Location
- Cambridge, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 8 December 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Behavioural Biology
Medical Research Council (Cambridge)
About the Project How does the brain transform what we perceive into what we do? Even a simple action, such as stopping at a red light and moving again when it turns green, requires the brain to select relevant sensory information, form an intention, prepare an appropriate movement and execute it at the right moment. How neural circuits achieve this transformation from perception to action remains a fundamental question in neuroscience.
- Location
- Cambridge, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 8 December 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Behavioural Biology
The University of Western Australia
About the Project Plastic pollution is one of the most widespread and enduring human alterations to all environmental niches across our planet’s surface. The potential for microplastics to negatively impact ecosystems and human health is catastrophic, and rivals that of other global threats, including climate change and ozone depletion. An estimated 12 billion metric tonnes of plastic waste will end up in the natural environment by 2050.
- Location
- Perth, Australia, Australia
- Deadline
- 30 December 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Behavioural Biology
University of Reading
About the Project Project Overview To date, efforts to address the impacts of climate change on biodiversity have focused on gradual shifts in species’ abundance and distribution. However, extreme weather events, expected to increase in frequency and severity under climate change, have the potential to drive local extinctions at more immediate timescales.
- Location
- Reading, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
The University of Western Australia
About the Project Avoiding extinction: predictors of local adaptation in the wild Wild populations are becoming smaller and more isolated; whilst simultaneously having to adapt to a rapidly changing environment and climate. Against this stark dichotomy of adapt or perish, it is imperative that we learn how best to support small, fragmented populations.
- Location
- Perth, Australia, Australia
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Behavioural Biology
Imperial College London
About the Project Same-sex sexual behaviour occurs across the animal kingdom, from insects to primates, yet it has long puzzled evolutionary biologists: how can a trait that does not directly produce offspring persist generation after generation? This PhD will tackle that puzzle using one of the longest-running primate field sites in the world, tracking hundreds of male rhesus macaques over three years.
- Location
- London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Behavioural Biology
University of Reading
About the Project Project Overview: Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease represent major health risks in ageing societies. While few causative genetic risks for age-associated neurodegenerative disorders have been identified, the role of environmental factors and gene-environment interactions in disease development remains largely unknown.
- Location
- Reading, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Salford
About the Project The ring-necked parakeet Psittacula krameri is one of the world’s most successfully introduced species. Native to the Indian sub-continent and sub-Saharan Africa, this species is the UK’s only naturalised parrot, and populations are continuing to increase rapidly across Europe. P. krameri are highly gregarious, and vocalizations play an important part in their ecology.
- Location
- Manchester, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Reading
About the Project Deficiencies of thyroid hormone are common throughout the globe. Adult-onset hypothyroidism is prevalent in around 8-10% of the population and is associated with reproductive disorders, anxiety, depression and impairment of memory. Currently, the intervention is to give back thyroid hormone in the form of levothyroxine but this has only been partially successful.
- Location
- Reading, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Birmingham
About the Project Every day, we make choices that involve balancing opportunities with risks—but what’s actually happening in our brains as we make these decisions remains largely unknown. A central mystery in neuroscience is how the brain evaluates conflicting options and prioritizes specific actions. Evidence suggests there are sex differences in decision-making and unique vulnerabilities to neurological disorders across genders.
- Location
- Birmingham, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Leicester
About the Project Drosophila Sleep Neurogenetics Laboratory at University of Leicester is open to supervise enthusiastic students for their PhD research in the area related to neurogenetic mechanisms underlying visually-driven sleep. Please see this page for the funded opportunities and contact kc280@leicester.ac.uk to discuss any self-funded possibilities . Sleep is universally conserved behaviour across animal kingdom.
- Location
- Leicester, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Reading
About the Project An appropriate balance between excitatory and inhibitory neural processes in the brain underlies healthy psychological function. Two examples of conditions in which there is an imbalance are autism and ADHD. In these two cases there is a relative lack of GABA, which is the main neurotransmitter underlying the inhibitory side of the balance. There is also some evidence of a similar imbalance in anxiety disorders.
- Location
- Reading, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Reading
About the Project Join a programme of work that aims to build conceptual and empirical bridges between the physiological, psychological, and cultural influences on human adolescent development. You will use neuroimaging, mathematical modelling, and theoretical analysis to describe the maturational processes that link brain-body physiology with cognition and behaviour in young people.
- Location
- Reading, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Reading
About the Project Project Overview: Neuropeptides, comprising of short amino acid chains, are potent bioactive molecules with extensive neuromodulatory functions and are predominantly expressed within the central nervous system. Neuropeptides are implicated in various physiological processes, including neurotransmission, neuroendocrine regulation, and modulation of synaptic activity.
- Location
- Reading, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Liverpool
About the Project Could what we eat reshape the crosstalk between our gut, muscles and heart as we age? This exciting PhD harnesses cutting-edge metabolomics to decode the nutrition-gut-muscle-heart axis, uncovering biomarkers of healthy ageing and novel targets to prevent age-related cardiovasucal and cardiometabolic disease.
- Location
- Liverpool, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Leeds
About the Project The School of Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2025/26. This opportunity is open to candidates who have the means to self-fund their studies or who have a sponsor who will cover this cost.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
The University of Manchester
About the Project T cell–based immunotherapies have shown promise for certain malignancies, yet multiple factors limit their effectiveness in solid tumors. This project seeks to address those limitations through a multipronged strategy that combines interventions and genetic modifications known to yield incremental improvements when used individually.
- Location
- Manchester, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Reading
About the Project Project Overview Ageing leads to a progressive decline in essential cellular processes, including protein production, folding, and degradation. As these systems become less efficient, misfolded proteins and damaged organelles accumulate, contributing to tissue decline and age‑related disorders. A key regulator of protein quality control is the ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS), which labels proteins for degradation or modulates their activity.
- Location
- Reading, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Behavioural Biology
University of Leicester
About the Project Why do we age, and can that process be slowed? This project explores one of biology’s most fascinating and urgent questions by studying how tiny insects can reveal universal rules of ageing. The jewel wasp Nasonia vitripennis offers a powerful new model for understanding how genes and the environment interact to shape how long and how well organisms live.
- Location
- Leicester, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only