London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

David Willetts, the Minister for Universities and Science, announced the support for PhD studentships as part of a UK-wide investment of £67 million in postgraduate training and development in the biosciences.

The new BBSRC London Interdisciplinary PhD Programme is being led by University College London with the School, King’s College London, Birkbeck, University of London, and the Royal Veterinary College as partners. The £5.4 million award is for 18 four-year studentships a year for three years.

Dr David Baker, Research Degrees Director in the Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the School and a co-applicant on the BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) application, welcomed the announcement, saying: "This is an excellent opportunity to work with our many partner institutions to enhance the support we offer our research students.”

Laura Drought is currently working towards a PhD (funded by a BBSRC CASE award with Pfizer as the industrial partner) in molecular biology in Dr Baker’s lab in the Pathogen Molecular Biology Department. The aim of her postgraduate project is to investigate the potential of phosphodiesterase enzymes as a target for antimalarial drug discovery.

She said: “This PhD is giving me the opportunity to work on something that really interests me and to contribute towards the understanding of a major global pathogen. Best case scenario, my research may be the first step towards developing a novel drug.” 

Across the UK, 14 DTPs will support 660 four-year PhD students. The programme will provide highly skilled scientists for academia, policy and industry and support the BBSRC mission to further scientific knowledge for economic growth, wealth and job creation - improving the quality of life in the UK and beyond.

David Willetts said: “This £67 million investment in postgraduate training is excellent news for students, research organisations, industry and the UK as a whole. The brightest and best students will be finding solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing us all, from food security through to renewable energy.”