London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has been awarded funding for a new programme of prestigious studentships for training the next generation of health scientists.

Run in partnership with St George’s, University of London, the London Intercollegiate Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) is funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and provides high-quality PhD training across the spectrum of biomedical and public health research.

Through the latest round of MRC funding, LSHTM and St George’s will be able to fund six PhD students a year for at least three years under the themes of global health, health data science, infectious disease and translational and implementation research. A further three PhD students a year will be funded by the two institutions.

Professor Neil Pearce, Director of LSHTM’s Doctoral Training Programmes, said: “We are delighted to receive this award which enables us to continue our highly successful DTP partnership with St George's, University of London. More than ever, the world needs highly-skilled young scientists who learn from leaders in the field - that’s exactly what this programme offers.”

The judging panel were impressed with the approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in LSHTM’s submission, commenting ‘that this was one of the strengths of this application, and they would encourage LSHTM to share their EDI approach with other DTP programmes.

Dr. Elizabeth Brickley, LSHTM Lead of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion for the London Intercollegiate Doctoral Training Partnership, said: "We are pleased that our EDI strategy was commended by the judging panel and are excited to get to work on implementing these vital initiatives.  Tackling the systemic barriers in postgraduate research degree programs is at the heart of our proactive approach which links to broader anti-racism and decolonising global public health activities. 

“Ultimately we wish to widen participation in doctoral training and cultivate a supportive, inclusive, and diverse community of future scientific leaders. Of the nine studentships per year, three will be ring-fenced for UK students from ethnic minority backgrounds.”

The award forms part of the MRC’s £79 million to support doctoral training for the next three years, through their Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) competition.

The MRC has announced it will fund 17 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-centred approach, focusing on scientific excellence, positive research culture and wider training opportunities.

Professor Fiona Watt, Executive Chair, MRC, said: “We are thrilled to announce our funding for the next generation of MRC PhD researchers through 17 new UK-wide Doctoral Training Partnership awards. Outstanding research is only possible when we invest in people to conduct that research. Our new awards are student-centred, setting out to increase the diversity of individuals pursing research careers and providing opportunities for students to widen their horizons during and post-PhD.”