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The Mitochondrial Biology Unit has an active post-graduate programme for training students for the Ph D or occasionally M Phil degrees. The programme aims to provide high quality training in both research and in transferable skills. The students are supervised and assessed by a research supervisor and a separate advisor, under the overall supervision of the Unit's graduate education committee.
Students become registered for the Ph D (or M Phil) degree at the University of Cambridge in the Postgraduate School of Life Sciences (Biological, Medical and Veterinary Sciences). Approximately 30 students in the Unit are registered in this programme.
The MBU recruits outstanding PhD students from all over the world. During the past 7 years, we have hosted 71 postgraduate students - 37 from the UK, 23 from the EU (mostly with University home-fees status), and 11 from overseas, from countries including Brazil, China, Iran, India, Japan, Malaysia and USA. 44 have graduated or have submitted their PhD theses, while others are still studying. Of the 44 PhD submissions, 38 (86%) were within four years. This result compares very well with submission rates of 72-73% within 4 years for the last three cohorts of PhD students overseen by the University’s Clinical and Veterinary Schools. The average time to thesis submission was 3 years 9 months and the longest time to submission was 4 years 6 months.
MBU PhD students are both productive and respected. They have achieved ca. 200 authorships on publications from the MBU, and regularly participate in conferences by giving talks and presenting posters. For example:
- Sabine Arndt was awarded the best poster prize at the 4th International Conference on the Biology of Hydrogen Sulfide 2015,
- Homa Majd gave an invited poster presentation at the 2016 GRC on Ligand Recognition and Molecular Gating,
- Beverly McCann was awarded the student speaker prize at the University of Cambridge Symposium for Biological and Life Science (SymBLS) 2017,
- Owen Jarman gave an invited talk at the Biochemical Society 2018 Christmas Bioenergetics Meeting, and
- Vasiliki Mavridou has been invited to give a lecture at the 2021 (Virtual) Young Mito Investigator Symposium.
We further find that our students are snapped up by academia, biotech and industry – and an increasing number now hold their own independent academic positions. The data on destinations of our PhD students show that, of the 44 that graduated during the past 7 years, 22 moved on to post-doctoral research positions, 12 took up industry research positions, and the others moved on to other careers such as patent law, clinical training, publishing, business development and secondary school teaching. We stay in close touch with our PhD alumni, and they provide valuable career advice to our current cohort.
Please watch our video (above) which showcases student life at the Unit: Life at the MRC MBU - Student Perspectives
The MBU welcomes applications from undergraduates wishing to carry out internships in the Unit. The duration of these visits is usually between two weeks and six months, however, we have occasionally hosted visiting undergraduates for longer periods.
Prospective applicants are enouraged to informally contact potential supervisors (see Research Groups), or to contact our dedicated Postgraduate Secretary, Penny Peck:
postgraduate.secretary@mrc-mbu.cam.ac.uk
Add info about Patrick and Jelle's PhD programmes.
Eligibility
Students who either are UK nationals or have established UK residency are eligible for the award of a full UKRI/MRC studentship.
Overseas (including EU) students can be considered for a limited number of fees-only UKRI/MRC studentships.
Overseas (including EU) students can be considered for funding under a scheme administered by the University of Cambridge. Details are given in the Postgraduate Studies Prospectus of the University of Cambridge. They include the Gates Cambridge Scholarships. If you wish to be considered for one of these awards, you must first be accepted by one of this Unit’s Ph D supervisors.
University of Cambridge Postgraduate Admissions: information for international students
Details of current projects are available on www.findaphd.com
For further details about these projects, please contact the appropriate supervisor directly by e-mail. Alternatively, write to Penny Peck, Postgraduate Secretary, MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, The Keith Peters Building, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0XY or e-mail her at: postgraduate.secretary@mrc-mbu.cam.ac.uk.