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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 now closed for applications to join the programme in 2025

Application Guidance for Prospective Students

Application Form Overview

LIDo is now closed for applications to join the programme in 2025

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.

Interdisciplinarity is the foundation of the LIDo programme. The PhD research in LIDo will discover and harness the rules of life by combining ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ interdisciplinary approaches spanning biological, physical, chemical, engineering, computational and mathematical approaches, including, but not limited to, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Graduates from any science, technology, engineering, or mathematical background who wish to conduct leading-edge bioscience research are encouraged to apply.

We seek to challenge traditional scientific boundaries and immerse our students in environments that develop their appetite for innovation, intellectual agility, and their confidence to transition effectively beyond their comfort zone.

As part of the application you will be asked to describe your interdisciplinary experience and interest. You should highlight any previous academic achievements, skills, or experiences that demonstrate your aptitude for working in different scientific fields. Of particular, but not exclusive, interest to LIDo are experiences of combining experimental and computational approaches, and of the application of methods from other natural sciences to biological problems. You should also explain your interest in an interdisciplinary PhD and describe a particular interface between disciplines that you believe has potential to contribute to solving biological problems. Technical details are welcome.

This question provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate (1) that you can already or have the potential to combine biological with physical, engineering, mathematical or computational approaches; and (2) that you have the motivation to tackle new areas beyond your current background.

You can describe work you’ve been involved in, courses or opportunities you sought, and how this prepares you for future interdisciplinary research. If you do not have experience in biological and/or computational approaches, you should describe experiences and motivation indicating that you have the potential and aptitude to learn these approaches that are required for PhD research in LIDo.

You should also describe a particular interface between disciplines that you are personally excited by and might like to pursue during your PhD. You will not be committed to this if you are made an offer. Our experience is that students’ interests change during the first year as they understand better the opportunities offered by the programme. This interface might be one in which you already have some experience or one that you have read about or simply one you envisage could be fruitful.
 

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.

LIDo offers 26 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 £21,237 per annum. 

LIDo can fund up to 7 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.