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Postgraduate Training

Graduate education lies at the confluence of our two major missions - teaching and research - and so is central to the Department’s activities. The Department is a major player in graduate education, with the largest complement of graduate students - currently more than 100 - in the Graduate School of Biological, Medical and Veterinary Sciences. Our graduate students make a vital contribution to the internationally competitive research programmes that have attained a 5* rating in the last two Research Assessment Exercises. They also play a role in teaching our undergraduates via the College supervision system and in Practical classes. The majority of our PhD graduates subsequently pursue careers in academic or industrial biomedical science, and a large number have attained highly influential positions.

Most of our graduate students pursue research towards a PhD taking either a three or four year track. A small number register for the one year M.Phil research degree. Each graduate student is based within a research group where they carry out their research project under the supervision of a member of academic staff or a senior Research Fellow. They also have an independent advisor - a member of staff who is not directly involved in their research project - with whom they meet to discuss progress. In each year of the PhD, students give a presentation about their project. In the first year they give a seminar to an audience of first year students and two academics about their proposed research project; at the end of the second year they present a poster detailing progress to date; towards the end of the third year there is a two-day research symposium open to the whole Department, in which all students give an account of the research they have carried out. These presentations, along with the weekly group research meetings and journal clubs, allow students to develop various presentation skills, as well as providing a means of monitoring progress. In addition to these Departmental activities, graduate students attend various courses concerned with specific scientific topics, generic research skills, transferable skills and careers, which are provided by the Graduate School. The Department provides a comprehensive course on Research Techniques, primarily for its own first year graduate students, but also open to students elsewhere in the Graduate School.

Details of currently available projects may be found at FindAPhD.com and additional information is available on each group leader's web page.

Graduate students in Biochemistry organise their own weekly discussion forum featuring primarily techniques-oriented talks by students. These are interspersed by occasional talks from visiting speakers - often former students of the Department - upon various careers in the Biological Sciences. In addition, the forum provides a focus for student-led social activities, including an annual barbecue.

Our students are funded from a variety of sources, including the Department’s BBSRC Doctoral Training Account, which allows us to award either three or four year studentships. We also have studentships from MRC, various research charities, industry, Cambridge Commonwealth/Overseas Trust, individual Governments and private means. A number of students hold CASE studentships, with industrial collaborators including GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche Discovery, Peptide Therapeutics, AgrEvo, and Horticultural Research International. Biochemistry is also a constituent Department in the four year Wellcome Trust PhD programme in Developmental Biology.

In summary, the Department provides a lively and varied graduate training programme, producing high-calibre PhD graduates who commonly reach important positions in academic and industrial science and in related professions.