The funding will be used funding to train the next generation of academic, healthcare, and industrial biomedical PhD researchers.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) announced on 8 July 2021 that it will fund 17 Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) awards across 34 UK Research Organisations (ROs) for student intake 2022 onwards.
MRC's vision for these DTP awards is to support high-quality doctoral training programmes that take a student-centered approach, focusing on scientific excellence, positive research culture and wider training opportunities.
Building on the successful King's College London DTP in Biomedical Sciences, led by Professor Mike Malim from the School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences, this new award will support three additional cohorts of more than 90 talented PhD students across our Health Faculties. Combined with the current DTP and its partner programmes, this flagship research and training programme will work with a cohort of more than 300 PhD researchers as our future leaders and innovators in medical research and enterprise.
On behalf of the entire DTP leadership, we are delighted with this outcome and thank the MRC for their endorsement of our programme. We are very grateful to the College and our numerous industrial partners for their matching support, which the MRC clearly saw as a strength of our bid. We now look forward to working with current students and our Health Faculties to play to our many strengths and train future generations of scientists and research leaders.– Professor Mike Malim, School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences
Underpinned by King's excellence and breadth in health research, the awarded DTP will be structured around three major training themes, providing focus and cohesion relevant to tackling important and challenging questions in discovery, translational and clinical research: (1) Cells, Molecules and the Basis of Health and Disease, led by Dr Cynthia Andoniadou and Dr Tracey Mitchell; (2) Neuroscience and Mental Health, led by Professor Francesca Happé and Dr Sandrine Thuret; (3) Biomedical Engineering and Medical Imaging, led by Dr Sebastien Roujol and Dr Tim Witney.
The MRC DTP in Biomedical Science training programme (Director of Training Dr Baljinder Mankoo) reflects university and NHS objectives through its training themes, bridging pre-clinical and clinical research and contextualising it within societal, economic, and ethical values. A new iCASE pathway, led by Professor Steve Niederer, will expand research and training collaborations with a number of current and new industrial and commercial partners, specifically recognising their skills and training needs.
Through working closely with NHS, industrial and international partners and providing multi-disciplinary research training with an emphasis on public and patient benefit, the DTP will prepare our graduates for fulfilling and productive careers in a rapidly evolving world that offers increasing opportunities to translate discovery into impact.
