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Students who join the programme via the DTP route will undertake two 4-month rotations in their first year before choosing their final PhD project. These rotations will be in two different LIDo partner institutions to benefit from the broad rich research environment offered by this exceptional consortium. 

LIDo makes a call for new DTP projects after we have recruited our students. This means there are approximately 3 months in the Spring when our offer holders are able to work with potential supervisors on submitting a project proposal to the programme. During this time LIDo provides support to students to help understand what makes a strong LIDo DTP project, what exactly is BBSRC remit and how projects can display interdisciplinarity. The full DTP project portfolio of at least 200 projects in available by the end of July each year, you can view the 2022 project list here.

LIDo is closed for applications to join the programme in 2024

Application Guidance for Prospective Students

Application Form Overview

LIDo is open for the iCASE project EROSIVE WEAR OF THE TEETH: CHARACTERISATION OF A SUBSURFACE LAYER FORMED ON ERODED ENAMEL. CHARACTERISING SUBSURFACE ERODED ENAMEL (CHASE) only.

Students who join the programme via the iCASE route do not undertake rotations in their first year and instead begin directly on their named industrial collaborative project from the start of the programme. During the 4-years of study iCASE students will spend between 3-18 months on placement with their industry partner.

Students can apply directly to the named iCASE projects advertised on our website. iCASE applicants will have two interviews, the first will be with a neutral LIDo panel and if successful at that stage a second interview with the iCASE supervisors will take place shortly after.

Application Guidance for Prospective Students

Application Form Overview

In 2021/2022 we received 1077 applications and offered 300 interview places.

If you would like to see the different sections of the application form in advance you can view our application overview here. 

Applicants must hold, or be expected to achieve, a first or high upper second-class undergraduate honours degree or equivalent (for example BA, BSc, MSci) or a Masters degree in a relevant subject.

Applicants must be confident using computers and show some evidence of numeracy (minimum GCSE mathematics or statistics or an equivalent or alternatively a university degree module with a good grade).

All students whose first language is not English must be able to provide recent evidence that their spoken and written command of the English language is adequate for the programme. The required evidence may be one of the following:

• Substantial education or work experience conducted in English
• A recently obtained acceptable English language qualification or test result. Our preferred English language qualification is the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic Version and we require candidates to achieve the level of "GOOD".
• Good level: Overall grade of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in each of the subtests.

Our shortlisting guidelines can be found here. Candidates who are unsure if they meet the entry criteria should contact the programme prior to submitting an application.

LIDo offers 41 BBSRC studentships each year across our DTP and iCASE routes of entry. All studentships cover home fees and pay a stipend at the UKRI London rate.

The current London UKRI stipend rate is £19,668 per annum. 

LIDo can fund up to 11 international students at full overseas tuition fee rates, these places can be award to students on either the iCASE or DTP route of entry and will be for a named partner in the LIDo consortium. 

In addition to our BBSRC studentships, the LIDo consortium partners contribute a number of institutionally funded DTP places on the programme each year. These awards pay Home tuition fees and a tax-free stipend at the same UKRI rate but they do restrict students to rotations and PhD projects based at the institution that is providing the funding. 

We also accept applications from self-funding students and those in receipt of alternative scholarships. 

LIDo is funded by the BBSRC, which restricts our PhD projects to areas under their remit.

What we do not fund

We do not offer projects in medical or clinical research on humans. Important and popular topics such as Clinical Neuroscience, Mental Disorders, Cancer, Neurodegenerative Diseases, and late-stage Drug Development are outside our remit. Our projects do not involve patients or non-infectious human diseases. Research on infectious disease is focussed on the biology of the causative agent (e.g., the bacterium, fungus, parasite, or virus) or on epidemiology. Projects focussed on human biology are concerned with normal processes in healthy people.

More information on our projects can be found here.

If you are interested in medical or clinical research, please consider PhD programmes funded by the MRC, Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, and the Crick Institute. For research in educational psychology and the social psychology of human groups, please apply to the PhD Programmes funded by the ESRC. Further details on the areas of research funded by the various UK Research councils may be found here.