University College London - Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour
Why Study at SWC?
We will provide intensive training in experimental techniques, including imaging, physiology, molecular, and behavioural methods in systems neuroscience. First-year students will build their own two-photon microscope, implement a 1,000 channel in vivo recording system, design viral tools for circuit tracing, and develop a closed-loop behaviour assay.
We will provide (together with our Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit colleagues) a comprehensive introduction to theoretical and systems neuroscience. Gatsby and SWC students will overlap extensively during their first year with the opportunity to maintain these contacts throughout their PhD.
You will live and work in central London, the highest concentration of neuroscience research in the world. The SWC PhD is your opportunity to receive world-class training as a neuroscientist and launch a career in academia or industry.
SWC students are fully funded and will receive an annual stipend of £22,278, equivalent to the Wellcome PhD programme.
SWC also covers the cost of tuition fees for home/EU students and international students.
The Programme
The SWC PhD is a four-year programme. The first year includes a semester of coursework and three laboratory rotations. A PhD project and advisor are selected at the beginning of the second year.
View the preliminary overview of the programme; detailed syllabi for the Systems, Theoretical, and Experimental courses can be viewed on the SWC PhD Programme website.
Entry requirements
A keen interest in Neuroscience, coupled with an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience, Life Sciences or related degrees such as Physics, Maths or Computer Science at a minimum of upper second-class UK Bachelor’s level or overseas equivalent.
How to apply
Applications for our 2019-20 cohort open on Monday 10 September 2018.
To apply visit http://www.ucl.ac.uk/adminsys/search/ and search for the 2019-20 academic year of the RRDSWCSING01 programme by selecting the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre as the department.
Please complete the online application form and upload:
- A current CV;
- Transcripts or qualification certificates and, if available, GRE scores;
- A 1,000 word essay focusing on what you see as a key, unanswered question in neuroscience. Please discuss why you are interested in this question, how you would approach its solution, and what impactfinding a solution would have for our understanding of the brain.
Deadline: midnight, Sunday 18 November 2018.
Please ensure your given referees are able to provide a reference by the deadline.
We will use the email address given in your application for correspondence so ensure that you will still have access to it at the start of the next academic year.
Contact us
If you have any queries about the SWC PhD programme, or the application process, please contact us at SWC-PhDprogramme@ucl.ac.uk.
If you would like to be kept up to date with our application opening and closing dates please sign up to our PhD alert.
