£137 million investment boost to biomedical postgraduate study

25 October 2007

The Wellcome Trust has announced a major investment in postgraduate biomedical research training in the UK. The Trust, the UK's largest medical research charity, will make available £137 million over nine years for four-year PhD programmes for basic biomedical scientists and PhD programmes for clinicians.

The investment will see an extension of the Wellcome Trust's flagship Four-year PhD Studentship Programmes for basic scientists, aimed at supporting the most promising students to undertake in-depth postgraduate research training. More than 20 such programmes are being awarded to centres of excellence at UK universities. Specialised training will be provided at the cutting-edge of a wide range of important biomedical research areas ranging from structural biology to epidemiology through to immunology, neuroscience and more.

Students in the basic PhD programmes will spend the first year of their study working in a range of laboratories and with a variety of supervisors. This will enable the PhD students to develop a broader experience and build a support network of their peers before going on to choose the PhD research project to be undertaken in the subsequent three years.

"The Wellcome Trust has been at the forefront of innovative PhD research training programmes," says Dr Candace Hassall, who oversees the PhD programmes for basic scientists. "The success of the PhD programmes funded to date shows that they attract the best students who are enabled to make an informed choice in the selection of their PhD supervisors and can help to develop their own research project. Collaborative, often interdisciplinary research can flourish and the students can build productive and enjoyable networks."

In addition to the PhD programmes for basic scientists, the Wellcome Trust is also launching a number of three-year PhD programmes for clinical scientists, to be announced in the New Year. Complementing the funding provided through the Trust's current Research Training Fellowships, these programmes will give clinical PhD students access to the established best practice that has proved so successful for the training of basic scientists.

"The need for innovative approaches to support the academic training of young clinicians has never been greater," says Dr John Williams, who oversees the PhD programmes for clinical scientists. "The recognition of the benefits that a programmatic approach has brought to the PhD training of basic scientists has informed the Trust's desire to establish similar programmes tailored to the unique needs of the clinician scientists.

"The programmes will provide the clinical trainee with a structured, well-mentored environment that will enable them to access high-quality research environments that might not have otherwise been available to them. The establishment of clinical PhD programmes will significantly increase the support that the Trust provides for clinicians wishing to undertake rigorous research training."

PhD programmes are sought after by universities because they attract significant numbers of applicants from a wide range of backgrounds.

Furthermore, recognising that biomedical research can be expensive, the Wellcome Trust also provides realistic research costs to support the students' PhD projects.

"It's important that PhD students receive generous research funding," says Dr Hassall. "This allows students to work on important and novel projects without cost being an unreasonable barrier."

The Wellcome Trust's expansion of its PhD programmes was welcomed by Professor John Iredale from the University of Edinburgh, who will host a Wellcome Trust PhD Programme for Clinicians.

"I am delighted that the Wellcome Trust has made this critical investment in the training of clinician scientists," says ProfessorIredale. "Through this exciting and innovative scheme, institutions such as ours will be able to offer a first class research experience to young clinicians embarking on an academic career."

Further information on the Wellcome Trust's PhD programmes

Watch out for three-year PhD programmes for clinical scientists, to be announced in the New Year.

Contact

Craig Brierley
Media Officer
Wellcome Trust
T +44 (0)20 7611 7329
E c.brierley@wellcome.ac.uk

Notes for editors

1. The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending around £500 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.