• please name the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit as the Department you wish to apply to, selecting ‘PhD in Medical Sciences (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit)’ or ‘Mphil in Medical Sciences (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit’
• upload a 2 page (PhD) or 1 page (MPhil) research proposal detailing the topic you wish to cover in your PhD
• please also upload a CV
• you will also need to name two referees
• ensure you tick any funding sources you believe you may be eligible for, so that you receive full consideration in all relevant funding competitions and maximise your chances of being awarded funding

All the above will need to be provided electronically via the University application system, ensuring you upload all supporting information by the deadline so that your application does not automatically expire. Please do not send items directly to the CBU by post or email, as we are not permitted to accept applications directly. Instead, the University Postgraduate Admissions Office will forward your application to us once it is complete. It is also worth noting that there is no special form to be considered for MRC studentship funding.

Full details of the application process are given on the Postgraduate Admissions website.

We prefer CBU students to begin their course at the beginning of Michaelmas term in October, as we run various induction events and postgraduate training seminars for first year students at the beginning of Michaelmas term. Having said that, we do sometimes permit deferred entry with a later start, and can make reasonable adjustments. However, please contact us in advance if there are good reasons why a deferred entry might work better for you or your supervisor.

In addition to being a member of the University and also the Department (which in this case is the CBU), all Cambridge postgraduates will also be a member of a Cambridge College. Further information about selecting a college can be found here.

If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact grad-admin [@] mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk (without the brackets and spaces).

Eligibility for admission to the University

Competition for admission to postgraduate programmes at the University of Cambridge is intense, and the CBU, like all departments, requires its postgraduate entrants to have:

• at least a good 2.1 in an Honours degree or equivalent (eg CGPA 3.5/4.0) in a relevant subject
• two outstanding references as detailed in the application
• fluency in the English language, as described here

These minimum entry requirements are set by the University, not the CBU, and are therefore not negotiable. Further details of the University’s entrance requirements can be seen here.

Part-time study

We welcome applications from individuals wishing to undertake a part-time PhD (5-7 years). We are accustomed to supporting part-time students and making appropriate adjustments to the timing of annual review meetings and provision of training. If you wish to consider this as an option, we recommend that you contact your potential supervisor in the first instance and email us at the above address before applying.

MPhil study

We sometimes have students who wish to undertake a one year (research) MPhil. MPhil students are currently in the minority at the CBU. However, if this is an option you are interested in, we encourage you to contact your potential supervisor before submitting your application. Please also do not hestitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Interviews

If we shortlist you following submission of your application, you will be invited to an interview. Interviews are generally held in early January and will this year most likely be held by Zoom. The interview typically lasts 30 to 40 minutes, and is used as an opportunity to chat about your experience of research to date and your ideas about the research you would like to do in an MPhil or PhD. You will also be given an opportunity to ask us any questions you have about what it is like to be a student at the CBU, the colleges, the University, or anything really. Interviews generally involve a panel of three to five individuals – the admissions tutors and individuals who have more expertise in the particular area of research. But don’t let this worry you – we are friendly! We aim to let you know whether we have offered you a place to embark on postgraduate study at the CBU within one to two weeks of your interview.

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. Information about fees, funding, the application process and more (including for overseas students) can be found on the Postgraduate Admissions page, where there are answers to many frequently asked questions and a Contact Form to facilitate inquiries to the Admissions Office. Students will initially be registered as ‘probationary’ PhD students (referred to in the Student Registry and in CamSIS as ‘Not at first registered’), and students are only fully registered for their PhD upon satisfactory completion of their first year of study, assessed via a first year review meeting typically held in June of the student’s first year.

You become a member of the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine 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 Psychology, Neurology, and Psychiatry, and the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre (WBIC) at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Our postgraduate program

To find out more about our postgraduate program and individuals who have been offered a place in previous years, please have a look here.

Student testimonials

Last but not least, for a more informal sense of what it is like to be a postgraduate at the CBU, we recommend our student testimonials