British Heart Foundation 4 Year PhD Programme in Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes

Programme PhD projects address the challenge of cardiovascular disease and diabetes and include 2 mini-projects in Year 1, which can be outside the laboratory of the primary supervisor but closely related to your main area of research. This provides the opportunity to spend all 4 years primarily directed towards your main PhD project while retaining the option to change direction and/or supervisors during Year 1 if properly justified. Final selection of your PhD project and supervisors occurs by 9 months when a proposal is provided to the British Heart Foundation (BHF).  

Year 1 also includes a carefully designed programme of lectures, generic laboratory training and clinical experiences. Within years 2 to 4, you may also plan a visit to an outstanding overseas or UK laboratory, or gain experience in a non-academic environment, to develop further skills and experience relevant to your research interests and help you plan a future career within or outside of academia. You will also receive support from our careers centre and learn from our alumni about their career journeys.

Highlights of the Programme

• Support from a dedicated programme co-ordinator (Dawn Best)

• A buddy scheme that links you with an established programme PhD fellow during your first year

• A mentorship scheme where we help you to find an experienced mentor outside of your supervision team

• Access to world class research facilities  

• Maximized time for the main PhD project 

• Overseas visits to other world-leading laboratories – subject to COVID-19 restrictions  

• Support for career development 

• Off-campus research retreats – subject to COVID-19 restrictions  

• Opportunities to publish your research and a review article

• Extensive relevant taught and real-life training experiences 

• Wide multidisciplinary supervisor pool (including clinician-scientists) 

• Located in a stylish state-of-the-art scientific building on one of the largest university-hospital complexes in the UK 

• Diabetes, thrombosis and inflammation Diabetes and other metabolic disorders are characterised by increased risk of blood clotting (thrombosis) linked to inflammation. This theme focusses on understanding the molecular and metabolic factors that drive inflammation and associated thrombosis within blood vessels.

• Diabetes, heart failure and multi-morbidity Multi-morbidity is the co-occurrence of two or more chronic health conditions. Diabetes is a systemic disease which impacts across different organs. This theme focusses on understanding the relationship between diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases.

Entry Requirements

• The award is open to applicants who are eligible to pay academic fees at the UK rate. The programme will pay these fees.

• Applicants will have, or expect to obtain, a degree equivalent to at least a UK upper second-class undergraduate degree in a relevant subject area including; medical sciences, biomedical sciences, structural biology, biochemistry, imaging, physics, chemistry, mathematics and computing 

• Applicants applying should not already have been awarded a doctoral degree 

• We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates. We particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. All scholarships will be awarded on the basis of candidate potential. 

Applicants whose first language is not English must meet the Faculty’s English Language requirements, where applicable. 

To apply please complete an online application form, in which you will need to upload the following supporting documents.

• Three supporting statements about your previous achievements, why you wish to study for a PhD, and your experience of using evidence. These will be used by our shortlisting panel (without any other information you submit) to select candidates for interview. The supporting statement prompts that you need to complete found here. You will need to copy, complete and submit this as part of your required application documents.

• Full Academic CV.

• Degree certificates and transcripts both for undergraduate and postgraduate studies as appropriate (or marks so far if still studying)

• 2 references from academic referees. Offers are subject to satisfactory references. Please ensure you have named your referees on your application form. We will contact all referees directly as part of the application process.

• Evidence of English language ability, if applicable 

• After you submit your application, we will also ask you to complete an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion questionnaire. We encourage candidates to complete this form (or indicate that they prefer not to) so that we can understand our progress in recruiting under-represented groups.

To help us identify that you are applying for this opportunity please ensure you provide the following information on your application form:

• When asked for your programme of study please select Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (PHP-CADD-4FT) 

• In source of funding make it clear that you are applying for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Scholarship 

• Give your chosen research theme as the project title 

Enquiries regarding the application process should be directed to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Graduate School  fmhpgradmissions@leeds.ac.uk 

In addition to the interview, there will be an opportunity to learn more about the Programme from: 

• A short talk by the Programme directors Professor David Beech and Dr Richard Cubbon who will discuss and answer questions about our programme ethos, the structure of our training, and the research in our Institute. 

• A presentation by current Programme PhD fellows and the opportunity to discuss their experiences 

Successful candidates will be contacted by the Programme directors after interview to discuss their project selection, a process which will include the opportunity to meet prospective supervisors and learn about the projects they are offering