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Full details about postgraduate studies at the Unit
Applications are invited for research in any topic falling within the research interests of the staff at the Unit. See the postgraduate research pages for details of supervisors currently offering PhD study opportunities.
For eligible applicants, several MRC funded studentships are available (see MRC eligibility details), and independently funded applications are very welcome. See also details of other sources of funding in the University application section, the University Prospectus and the Gates Cambridge Scholarships
Our current recruitment poster is here.
Deadline for applications and what happens next:
Update - December 2011 - The competition for admission in October 2012 has now closed and late entries cannot be accepted by the online system.
What happens next - we are now shortlisting our applications. All shortlisted applicants will be called for interview (in person or by phone) in January/early February, with decisions being made by 9th February to meet the University funding deadlines. The CAMSIS application system will updated with any changes in status for each application so please check there first if you have a live application with us and would like an update on progress.
General information re applying:
- The University online application system will not accept any applications for places here before 1st September.
- Our course code for PhDs is NUAP22, described as 'PhD Probationary in Biology at MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences'. Please note in some parts of the University application system the old code is still showing - NUAPBL22 - we have asked for this to be changed but please be assured it is the same course and go ahead with your application.
- The course code for MPhils is NUAPM1, described as 'MPhil in Biological Science (CBSU)'.
- The University application system will close for our applications on 1st December, and will not accept late applications against our course code. If you have missed this deadline but still wish to apply please email me, but do note that we do not generally accept late applications. All applications should now be made online, and all supporting materials must be received by mid-December (the system will give exact dates, based on your application date). An online university application costs £50, payable at the time of the application.
- If you have any further problems or questions or wish to make a preliminary enquiry please email grad-admin @ mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk (without the spaces)
Please note that if you are applying for sources of funding other than an MRC Studentship (eg Gates, CISS, CHESS etc), you should check the relevant deadlines and ensure that your application is submitted in good time - in particular for Gates USA applications which can have very early deadlines.
It is planned that all studentship interviews will take place in January/February.
Application procedure
All applications must be submitted via the University of Cambridge, and you should do this via the Graduate School. The Graduate School website has information on courses, qualifications and the new online application procedure and you should use this site to ensure you are applying for the correct programme and have the appropriate pre-requisites. A new fully online admissions procedure is currently being implemented, and all applications should be made (and paid for) online. The University charges an application fee of £50 per application submitted, and this will also need to be paid online, by credit card.
If you would like to make contact with a possible supervisor here before applying please feel free to do so, most welcome informal approaches from potential students and will be happy to discuss current research and possible future projects. Contact details can be found on the Postgraduate Research Pages or the People page on this website (see links on left-hand menu).
Please note that there is no separate form for applying to this Unit specifically, nor for applying for MRC studentship funding. In your application you should name the MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit as the department you wish to be considered by, and the University Board of Graduate Studies will forward your application to us. Our course code for PhD degrees is NUAP22 (but see note above), and for MPhils is NUAPM1. Once you have submitted your initial application, please inform us by emailing grad-admin @ mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk (without the spaces) to ensure that we know that it is on the way and can monitor progress of your application online, and ensure we receive all your supporting information. We ask all applicants to provide a 1-2 page research proposal detailing the topic they would like to cover in their PhD, plus a CV and two references, all to be supplied electronically.
Full details of the application process are given on the Graduate School website.
We prefer all CBU students to begin their course in October as we run various induction events and graduate training seminars for the first years students, beginning at the start of the university term in October.
If you need any further information please contact us at grad-admin @ mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk (without the spaces).
Eligibility for admission to the University
Competition for admission to the University of Cambridge graduate programme is intense. Like all departments in the Graduate School, we require all our graduate entrants to have:
- at least a 2.1 in an Honours degree or equivalent (eg CGPA 3.5/4.0) in a relevant subject
- two outstanding references from senior University staff at your most recent University
- fluency in the English language – recent IELTS test with an overall band score of at least 7.0 with not less than 7.0 in speaking, listening and writing, and 6.5 in reading.
The minimum entry requirements given above are set by the University, not the CBU, and are non-negotiable. For more details of the University's academic requirements see the University's Graduate Prospectus.
MPhil study
Please note that although occasionally we have taken students for the MPhil (by research, not taught), we do not normally do so, mainly due to our limited capacity for taking students. If you do wish to discuss this option please contact your potential supervisor directly or email us at the above address. The online course code for MPhil study is NUAPM1.
Part-time study
We do occasionally accept applicants for part-time MPhils (2 years) and part-time PhDs (5 years), but full-time places will generally be allocated as a priority to ensure we maximise our limited spaces.
Membership of the University of Cambridge
Students at the CBU are registered as PhD candidates at the University of Cambridge and are required to fulfil the admissions requirements of the University. (These can be found in the University Prospectus). General enquiries about awards to overseas students, fees etc can be made to the Board of Graduate Studies. Initial registration is for a 'Not at first registered probationary PhD', and students are only fully registered for their PhD on satisfactory completion of their first year of study.
You become a member of the University of Cambridge Graduate School of Life Sciences which oversees the progress of your research and offers additional facilities and courses. While carrying out your research you are able to enjoy all the advantages of the University facilities and the collegiate system. There are substantial contacts with other experimental, clinical and neuroscience groups in the University of Cambridge, including the Departments of Experimental Psychology, Neurology, and Psychiatry, and the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre (WBIC) at Addenbrooke's Hospital.
Aims
It is our aim to develop in our students the skills required to submit a satisfactory PhD thesis at the end of 3 years. In order to achieve this, a student will have acquired the essential skills required to design and conduct experiments (including applying for ethics approval where necessary), to analyse results, and to communicate these both in writing and orally. These skills will include those that can be transferred successfully to their choice of academic or other career.
Support
The PhD at the CBU is achieved by supervised research and is under the jurisdiction of the Degree Committee for the Faculty of Biology. The provision of supervision and teaching is overseen by the Graduate School of Life Sciences. Within the CBU, the internal Graduate Committee is responsible for all aspects of the running of the degrees. A suitable project falling within the interests of the supervisor, and sustainable within the limits imposed by the facilities available at the CBU, is agreed by both student and supervisor, and endorsed by the Graduate Committee. Each graduate student has a primary Supervisor, who will supervise the main body of their research, and an Advisor who acts as a supplementary source of advice and support. We also have two pastoral tutors who offer personal support and counselling throughout a student's time at the Unit.
Seminars
Students attend a variety of Unit Seminars given by distinguished scientists and are also able to present their research by giving seminars, usually in their second year. They are able to draw from the CBU's panels of research volunteers, both normal and clinical, and enjoy the benefits of superb computing facilities and support staff, including a Graphics/Multimedia Officer.
The Cambridge Graduate Programme in Cognitive and Brain Sciences
CBU students are full members of the Cambridge Graduate Programme in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, which has been jointly established by the Unit and the Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry. This consists of a weekly series of theoretical seminars presented by senior researchers from the CBU and from the University. Lectures will be held on Mondays 4-5.30pm in the West Wing Seminar Room at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge, CB2 7EF (unless otherwise specified), or at the Experimental Psychology department on the Downing Site in Cambridge city centre. Seminars are held during Michaelmas and Lent terms only. These are compulsory for CBU first year students, but anyone interested is also welcome to attend and we always welcome visitors form other university departments.
Details of the Seminar Programme will be updated regularly and any changes in the programme, as well as any other information of interest, will be communicated via e-mail - if you are interested in receiving these updates please e-mail the seminar administrator [mandy.carter @ mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk] to ensure that your name is on the "Camgrads+" mailing list.
All public talks are publicised on the University talks website, which also contains an archive of older lectures.
Facilities and Linkages
The CBU has excellent facilities for experimental behavioural studies involving normal populations and patients with brain damage, as well as institutional links with Addenbrooke's hospital giving access to various types of patient populations, including stroke and progressive neural degenerative diseases. There is a fMRI (3Tesla) scanner on the premises, and also a MEG facility and an EEG laboratory. Through its partnership with the University of Cambridge Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, the CBU has excellent access to PET and to additional fMRI (3 Tesla) neuro-imaging facilities. The CBU also offers state of the art computing facilities, supporting Unix, PC, and Mac platforms, and handling the large volumes of neuro-imaging data as well as extensive computational modelling. All students have their own networked desktop computer, with internet access through JANET.
The Unit's close links with the University Department of Experimental Psychology and the Department of Psychiatry are strengthened through the Cambridge Graduate Programme in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, a joint programme of termly Seminars given by members of each Department and attended by all graduate students.
Information about the strength and breadth of neuroscience research in Cambridge is on the Cambridge Neuroscience network of which CBU is an active member.
Completion on time
The CBU has adopted the following procedure, designed to ensure that students complete their research on time.
The primary goal of the student's first year is to put them in a position to hit the ground running at the beginning of their second year, with a fully developed and agreed research plan for the last two years of their thesis, and, preferably, with a significant chunk of relevant research and training already completed. To this end, students and supervisors are encouraged to begin discussion of possible topics as soon as the student arrives, and to initiate exploratory research, skills training, literature surveys, etc., as soon as is practicable. If supervisors do not feel that satisfactory progress has been made towards agreeing and developing a possible topic within six months of the student arriving (usually March 1st of the first year), then they should allocate a topic within the broad area of interest stated on the student's application. A student who objects to the proposed topic may approach the Graduate Studies Committee over a change in supervisor, but should be prepared to accept a proposal from the secondary supervisor.
Assessment will take place at the end of the first year, with the submission of a 5000 word report by 30th June. This will comprise a summary of the student's progress over the previous months and is likely to include a literature review motivating the choice of research topic and an account of experimental and theoretical work completed. The report must also include a proposal outlining the research planned for the next two years' work, directed towards the completion of a PhD in that period. The student will also be expected to submit an up-to-date Progress Log, outlining their participation in seminars, training courses, etc., over the first year. This is to meet University and Research Council requirements for graduate training.
The report is distributed to and evaluated by the student's primary and secondary supervisor and by the Graduate tutors. A five way meeting is then held with the student. A recommendation would normally then be made to the Faculty Degree Committee that the student be registered for a PhD and to the MRC that the grant be continued for a further two years. These recommendations can only be made following the meeting with the Graduate Committee, and it is the supervisor's responsibility to ensure that these occur on a reasonable time-scale - unless there are exceptional circumstances, we would expect the evaluation process to be completed by the end of July.
Around nine months before students are due to complete, a meeting will be held between student, supervisors, and representatives from the Graduate Committee to make sure things are on track for completion. Our aim is to reduce the stress of discovering, towards the end of the third year, that there is still too much to do and not enough time to do it. Students will be asked to bring two things to these meetings: an outline of the proposed thesis, with a plan for what is still needed and when it will be done; and a first part of the thesis itself, which could be literature review, methods sections, an experimental chapter, etc.
This is not in any way intended as an assessment, which in any case would not be suitable in a student's third year. The thesis plan is intended to crystallise the remaining requirements in the minds of both student and supervisors. The written material is intended to ensure that the student has actually got some experience of what writing the thesis will be like. It constantly happens that students discover that writing is far more time-consuming than they had expected, and we think the best way to get a realistic expectation about this is to have some actual practical experience. To sum this up: our aim is to reduce stress, not to add to it!