Artificial Intelligence
University of Leeds
About the Project Please note that the start date for this project is 1 February 2027 One fully funded PhD scholarship is available jointly in the School of Computer Science and the School of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Leeds in 2026/27. This scholarship is open to UK home fee applicants only and covers full tuition fees plus a UKRI-aligned maintenance stipend and a Research Training Support Grant.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Civil Engineering
University of Leeds
About the Project One full/ partial scholarship is available in the School of Civil Engineering in 2026/27. This scholarship is open to international applicants and covers Home (UK) fees plus maintenance at the UKRI rate of £21,805 for 3.5 years. This fully funded PhD place provides an exciting opportunity to pursue postgraduate research in a range of fields relating to materials science and engineering.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Civil Engineering
University of Leeds
About the Project One full scholarship is available in the School of Civil Engineering in 2026/27. This scholarship is open to UK applicants and covers fees plus and maintenance. This fully funded PhD place provides an exciting opportunity to pursue postgraduate research in energy micropiles, a sustainable solution to provide thermal energy to buildings as well as structural support.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Applied Mathematics
University of Leeds
About the Project Please note the start date for this project is Monday 1 February 2027. Join an international team developing scalable algorithms to solve numerical linear algebra challenges on supercomputers. Modern high-performance computing increasingly relies on hardware accelerators originally designed for artificial intelligence.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Food Sciences
University of Leeds
About the Project One full scholarship is available in the School of Food Science and Nutrition in 2026/27. This scholarship is open to UK (Home) and International candidates and covers UK tuition fees as well as a UKRI matched stipend (currently £21,805 in 2026/27). International students will be required to cover the fee difference between home and international fees. Please see the full advert on the University of Leeds institution website.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Engineering
University of Leeds
About the Project This fully funded PhD position will reward the successful candidate with an award covering full fees, a maintenance stipend in line with UKRI rates, and a Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour (LITAC) grant worth 10,000 GBP for personal development and consumables. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to join the PGR community in the School of Design and access training and support for their specialism.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Biomedical Engineering
University of Leeds
About the Project A funded PhD opportunity involving the application of engineering methods to improve patient outcomes following hip replacement surgery. Although total hip replacement (THR) surgery is highly effective in most individuals, there is evidence that outcomes are poorer in some patient groups, and in cases where mechanical complications such as implant failure or periprosthetic fracture occur.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Biomedical Engineering
University of Leeds
About the Project This funded PhD will develop methods to evaluate total hip replacement (THR) surgery in patients with high body mass index (BMI). Although THR surgery is highly effective in most individuals, there is evidence that outcomes are poorer in some patient groups, such as those living with obesity.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Food Sciences
University of Leeds
About the Project One full-time PhD scholarship is available in the School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds, commencing in February 2027. The studentship is associated with PROFEED (Progressive Solutions for European Feed Autonomy through Sustainable Plant Protein Value Chains), a Horizon Europe research and innovation project. The funding covers UK tuition fees as well as a UKRI matched stipend (currently £21,805 in 2026/27).
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Epidemiology
University of Leeds
About the Project A full-time PhD scholarship is available in the School of Medicine in 2026/27. The scholarship is open to UK applicants and covers UK tuition fees for 3 years, a maintenance stipend at the UKRI rate (£21,805 for 2026/27) and up to £8,000 to support research-related activities. This PhD will explore how stakeholders value technologies designed to reduce falls in residential social care settings.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Artificial Intelligence
University of Leeds
About the Project One full scholarship is available in the School of Computer Science at the University of Leeds in 2026/27. This scholarship is open only applicants who qualify as Home student for fee purposes and covers tuition fees plus maintenance. The position is to start on 1st February 2027.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Cancer Biology
University of Leeds
About the Project This fully funded PhD position will reward the successful candidate with an award covering full fees, a maintenance stipend in line with UKRI rates, and a Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour (LITAC) grant worth 10,000 GBP for personal development and consumables. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to join the PGR community in the School of Design and access training and support for their specialism.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Civil Engineering
University of Leeds
About the Project Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing UK infrastructure. Bridges keep people, goods and services moving every day: they support commuting, emergency access, freight, public transport and local economies. However, many bridges were designed for environmental conditions that are now changing.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 30 September 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Biotechnology
University of Leeds
About the Project Anaerobic digestion technology plays a pivotal role in delivering the global clean energy transition to low-carbon fuels like hydrogen and methane from biomass. Anaerobic digestion is a natural process where microorganisms that thrive under limited, or no oxygen supply feed on organic materials, including wastes, causing such materials to structurally break down into simpler materials, producing an energy dense gas known as biogas.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 9 October 2026
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Analytical Chemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project PhD Studentship: Linking molecular architecture to the functionality of hydrocolloids using advanced characterization techniques Project ID : 2607 LLN Type of studentship: PhD (4 years) Funding Source: Fully funded 4-year PhD (BBSRC Food Consortium Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award) Theme of project: Soft Matter Physics, Food (Bio)Chemistry Primary Host Institution: University of Leeds, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, School of Physics and…
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 23 October 2026
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Bioengineering
University of Leeds
About the Project This project is part of cohort 4 of the EPSRC CDT in Developing National Capability for Materials 4.0, with the Henry Royce Institute. This PhD Project sets the foundation for a new class of smart, durable hydrogel coatings designed using digital-first principles.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 8 January 2027
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Artificial Intelligence
University of Leeds
About the Project This project is part of cohort 4 of the EPSRC CDT in Developing National Capability for Materials 4.0, with the Henry Royce Institute. Electron microscopy is often used in the characterisation of nanomaterials, with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) covering a wide range of nano- and micro-length scales, and associated spectroscopies providing chemical information.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- 8 January 2027
- Funding
- Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)
Biophysics
University of Leeds
About the Project Cardiac arrhythmias are a leading cause of sudden death and morbidity. This project aims to identify why they occur in the elderly and novel routes to therapies. Common cardiac arrhythmias - when the heart starts to lose its coordinated rhythm, such as atrial fibrillation and sick sinus syndrome, result in poor overall function. The incidence of these increase as we get older.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bacteriology
University of Leeds
About the Project Antibiotics make possible the treatment and cure of life-threatening bacterial infections and have added over a decade to average human lifespan. Unfortunately, the utility of these drugs is being rapidly eroded as pathogenic bacteria evolve to resist their effects; in 2019, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) killed ~1.3 million people worldwide, and this figure is set to rise to 10 million by 2050.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cell Biology
University of Leeds
About the Project The School of Biomedical Sciences invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2026/27. We especially welcome applications that connect to the School's core research areas, which include the mechanisms underlying diseases causing health problems in an ageing population.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project The Tuplin group explores how RNA viruses regulate replication and translation of their genomes through dynamic interactions between structured viral RNA, host and viral proteins and host-cell non-coding RNAs (including siRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs).
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Bacteriology
University of Leeds
About the Project Background The antibiotic fusidic acid (FA) blocks bacterial protein synthesis by interacting with Elongation-factor G (EF-G). Resistance to FA is caused by FusB, which interacts with EF-G, altering its motion. Research by the second supervisor has shown that FA resistance can be overcome by preventing the EF-G/FusB interaction, identifying the key binding area on EF-G.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2025/26. Conjugating SUMOs1-3 (Small Ubiquitin-like Modifiers) to proteins has important roles in protein localisation, stability, and activity. SUMO signalling is implicated in a wide range of cellular processes. A small family of SUMO proteases (SENPs) remove SUMOs from proteins.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project Antibiotics make possible the treatment and cure of life-threatening bacterial infections. Since their introduction in the middle years of the 20th Century, they have added ~10 years to the human lifespan, and have become a cornerstone of modern medicine. Unfortunately, the utility of these agents is being rapidly eroded as pathogenic bacteria evolve to resist their effects.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project This project is available to self funded candidates only. The Herod lab has a broad interest in virus replication, with a particular interest in studying single-stranded positive-sense RNA viruses important for human and animal health. We uses an interdisciplinary approach to understand the molecular mechanism that regulate viral genome replication, virion assembly and disassembly.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2025/26. The broad aim of this research is to understand the effects of forces applied onto biopharmaceuticals during their manufacture. Using this knowledge we can then rationally modify either the manufacture process or stabilise the protein sequence to become “manufacturable”.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project We are facing global concerns on food security, climate change and sustainability that require innovations to improve crop environmental resilience. Membranous channels (named plasmodesmata, PD) connect neighbouring plant cells mediating the transport of signalling proteins, hormones, metabolites and RNAs and coordinating developmental processes such as organ formation and responses to pathogens.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project V(D)J recombination is essential to produce antibody and T-cell receptor genes but since the reaction involves breaking and rejoining DNA, it is highly dangerous and errors have long been thought to lead to leukaemias and lymphomas. Recently, we discovered a novel way in which mistakes in V(D)J recombination lead to leukaemia.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biodiversity
University of Leeds
About the Project Marine mammals are keystone species for marine ecosystems. Understanding how they could be impacted by climate heating is important for evaluating risks to marine biodiversity, ecosystem function and ecosystem services. The Caspian seal (Pusa caspica), is endemic to the Caspian Sea in Central Asia, the largest landlocked waterbody on the planet.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Food Sciences
University of Leeds
About the Project You will work on yeast strain development for use as a fortified strain in the fermentation industry with potential as a standalone product. Alongside, the post holder will look at identifying high value metabolites produced by the yeast during the fermentations. Furthermore, you will test the feasibility of upcycling vegetable loss to formulate a growth media for the microorganisms, lowering production costs and promoting circular economy.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2025/26 in the area of molecular virology. 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
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project The project focuses on how infectious agents modify the individuals that they infect and how neuroimmune responses to infection moderate behaviour changes in warm-blooded animals and humans. Infection has been associated with behavioural changes in animals, with pathogens that reach the brain among the most prominent.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cancer Biology
University of Leeds
About the Project This project is available immediately to both Home-rated applicants and International applicants who have a sponsor or are able to self-fund their studies. Students must be able to provide the appropriate level of fees based on their fee status plus laboratory consumables costs per year. This is in addition to the provision of personal living expenses.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biomechanics
University of Leeds
About the Project The anatomy of the legs is complex with multiple muscles that are (anatomically) capable of flexing and extending the limb joints. How do these muscles operate mechanically and how is their action co-ordinated to produce stable and economical walking and running? A new model proposes that the geometry of the limbs and anatomical positioning of the muscles enables muscles to operate sequentially as linkages that avoid work demands (Usherwood, 2022: J. Exp.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Neurology
University of Leeds
About the Project The School of Biomedical Sciences invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in neuroscience 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
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project The School of Molecular & Cellular 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 PhD sponsor who will cover this cost. We especially welcome applications that connect to the School's core research areas, which include Cancer, Cell Biology and Structural Biology.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biomechanics
University of Leeds
About the Project Neuroplasticity is integral to recovery and maintenance of functional independence as we age, and even more crucial in individuals with developmental disorders such as Cerebral Palsy and those with injuries to their brain and/or central nervous system (Spinal Cord Injury, Stroke, MS).
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Aerospace Engineering
University of Leeds
About the Project This PhD research will develop the next generation of through-thickness reinforced composites, potentially involving materials manufacturing, experimental characterisation and AI-assisted numerical modelling. There is an unprecedented need for composites with a good balance between in-plane and out-of-plane properties to meet Net Zero.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
Bacteriology
University of Leeds
About the Project Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is an essential component of the diagnostic workflow in the clinical microbiology laboratory, since it is able to define which antibiotics have the potential to treat bacterial infection in a given patient. Current AST systems can determine antibiotic susceptibility profiles in ~6-8 hours under ideal conditions. In cases of serious, life-threatening infection (e.g.
- Location
- Leeds, 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
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project We have identified a previously undiscovered ‘signal switching’ mechanism used by a branch of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) family – fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs) – that are important in early development but also oncogenic in a range of cancers. The allosteric molecular switch that we’ve found triggers an order-to-disorder transition within the kinase domain, revealing a cryptic binding site for PI3 kinase.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biochemistry
University of Leeds
About the Project The School of Biomedical Sciences 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. We will target protein acetylation to reduce microglia activation as a potential therapy for Alzheimer’s and neurodegeneration.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Microbiology
University of Leeds
About the Project Antibiotics make possible the treatment and cure of life-threatening bacterial infections and have added over a decade to the average human lifespan. Unfortunately, the utility of these drugs is being rapidly eroded as pathogenic bacteria evolve to resist their effects; in 2019, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) killed ~1.3 million people worldwide, and this figure is set to rise to 10 million by 2050.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Biotechnology
University of Leeds
About the Project The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2025/26. Research in the Goonawardane lab is focused on the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underly viral persistence and variable disease outcome for emerging RNA virus infections.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Cancer Biology
University of Leeds
About the Project The School of Molecular and Cellular Biology invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2025/26. We especially welcome applications that connect to the School's core research areas, which are understanding life in molecular detail, with particular relevance to infectious diseases and cancers.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only
Neuroscience
University of Leeds
About the Project This project investigates a novel mechanism by which brain insulin resistance contributes to metabolic and cognitive dysfunction, focusing on the Nucleus of the Tractus Solitarius (NTS) within the dorsal vagal complex (DVC). While peripheral insulin resistance is well-characterized, the brain’s role in systemic metabolic regulation remains underexplored.
- Location
- Leeds, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- Deadline
- Year-round applications
- Funding
- Self-Funded PhD Students Only