PhD in Medical Science (Cambridge Mind and Brain Institute)

At any one time, the CMBI hosts up to 60 postgraduate students from the UK, EU, and Overseas. We warmly welcome applications from individuals wishing to pursue research in areas covered by any of our research programmes. Our approaches span experimental cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, computational modelling and neuroimaging using MRI, MEG, and EEG, and our postgraduates benefit from the CMBI's research panels of typical and specialist (e.g., Cambridge Cognitive Neuroscience Research Panel) volunteers. The CMBI also has superb computing facilities as well as committed professional and technical staff that that offer IT, graphics, and multimedia support.

We encourage applicants to visit the CMBI webpages to learn more about our ongoing research and opportunities. Once you have identified a project or research area, we encourage you to reach out to a potential Supervisor who does research in your area of interest.

The CMBI has excellent state-of-the-art facilities for experimental behavioural studies, as well as institutional links with Addenbrooke's Hospital, which enables access to patient populations that include stroke and progressive neural degenerative diseases. Several research programmes have strong interests and expertise in mental health, and in recent years students have worked alongside clinicians to explore mechanisms and novel treatments in individuals with ongoing mental health difficulties such as anxiety and depression.

There is a 3 Tesla MRI scanner on the premises, as well as MEG and EEG facilities. Through its partnership with the Cambridge Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, the CMBI has excellent access to PET and additional fMRI (3 Tesla) and high-field (7 Tesla) scanning facilities. The CMBI also offers state-of-the-art computing facilities, supporting Unix, PC, and Mac platforms and handling large volumes of neuroimaging data, as well as extensive computational modelling. All students have their own networked desktop computer with internet access.

The Institute's close links with the University Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry are strengthened through the Cambridge Postgraduate Programme in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, a joint programme of termly seminars for all first-year postgraduate students, given by members of each department.

The CMBI also benefits from membership in the Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine as well as the wider neuroscience community in Cambridge, supported by the Cambridge Neuroscience network.

The primary aim is for our postgraduate students to develop the skills required to submit an excellent PhD thesis in either three or four years (five to seven years if part-time), depending upon the duration of their funding.

To that end, our students design and conduct robust and high-quality experiments and then analyse the results. Alternatively, students may apply sophisticated analyses to existing ‘big data’ sets from large cohort studies. In both cases, an important aim is for our students to learn to communicate their findings in writing and orally to academic or lay audiences. We also aim for our students to be fluent and practised in open science principles and methodologies.

While there is no 'standard' route or model, our experience is that an excellent PhD results from asking a good question and the expertise of our supervisors in combination with the dedicated enthusiasm of our doctoral students.