How to apply:
Applicants are encouraged to approach potential supervisors, or group leaders, to discuss a suitable research proposal prior to preparing an application.
1) Before starting the application, please ensure you are eligible to apply for admission
The University of Cambridge require its graduate entrants to have:
- at least a 2.1 in an Honours degree from a UK University or equivalent standard from an Overseas University (e.g. CGPA 3.5/4.0) in a relevant subject
- two outstanding references, (we advise that you request these well in advance of the application deadline)
- fluency in the English language – full information on the University’s requirements can viewed here.
For more details of the University’s academic requirements see the University’s Postgraduate Admissions pages.
2) You will need to apply through the University’s Applicant Portal.
The course is listed as the Doctoral Training Programme in Medical Research, and MRC iCASE Programme, and can be found via this link: SCM DTP-MR
PhD Course choice:
There is a question on the application form to indicate which PhD course you are applying for. You will have the option to indicate either:
- DTP-MR
- MRC iCASE
- Both
3) Funding section: When asked ‘Do you wish to apply for funding?’ please tick the box ‘Yes – I wish to apply for funding’.
By ticking ‘Yes’ there are a number of University and College funds you will be considered for automatically if you meet the eligibility criteria, and you will be excluded from consideration if you do not select this option. You can find out what these are by using the Student Funding Search. https://www.student-funding.cam.ac.uk/
Most of these require you to submit your course application by the course funding deadline.
There are some funds that require additional information from you in order to be considered. Please note that though many of these will have the same deadline as the course funding deadline (02-Dec-2021), some may be earlier or later.
Further details on funding can be found here: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/funding/how-apply-funding
4) Research Section: You may indicate up to two different potential supervisors, and research projects for consideration. Please indicate these in priority order using the fields on the application form. Please note that your primary supervisor must be based within the School of Clinical Medicine.
It is not necessary to upload a full research proposal with your application, but please use the research summary section to provide details of the area of study that you are most interested in researching. Please note that the SCM DTP-MR studentships are awarded to students on merit, and the studentships are not assigned to particular research groups.
Further Help & Guidance can be found here: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/how-do-i-apply/help-guidance-research
Please note ** If you are planning to apply for both the MRC DTP iCASE Programme, and the DTP-MR, then you may need to upload an additional document to detail your reasons for applying to the DTP-MR, and your area/s of interest, as there is unlikely to be room on the admissions application form.
You can either use the additional information section to detail your reasoning, or you can merge an additional document to the end of your CV, uploading them as the same document. The file size for the CV/statement will still need to within the 2MB size limit. **
5) Separate Departmental Applications: Applicants are strongly advised that in addition to applying to the SCM DTP-MR, that they also make a separate application for a place direct with the relevant Department (also selecting ‘Yes’ to the funding question on the ‘How to apply for Funding’ page). By doing so you will automatically be considered for a place and funding via the Department should you not be awarded a studentship with the SCM DTP-MR.
Cambridge Trust & Gates Cambridge Pages: Similarly, for your departmental applications we encourage you to complete the Cambridge Trust and Gates Cambridge sections so that you are eligible for as many sources of PhD funding as possible beyond the DTP (be aware that earlier deadlines may apply).
For your departmental application it is essential that you contact a supervisor in advance, and put together a research proposal. Please be aware that application attachments may vary by course (for example some will request a CV and/or research proposal); please provide all information requested by the course(s) for which you would like to be considered, and ensure that you follow the instructions regarding funding for your separate departmental application(s).
Application Fee and Fee Waiver Scheme: There is a three for one offer on the application fee for courses within life sciences, so there will only be one application fee. Further details can be found here: https://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/application-process/how-do-i-apply/application-fee/fee-life-science-courses
Timeline:
A) Announcement: Applications open 18th October 2021.
B) Deadlines:
The final deadline/closing date for applications is 12:00 pm (noon) GMT, Thursday 2nd December 2021. All supporting documentation including references must be submitted by this date.
C) Interviews:
It is anticipated that interviews will be held online the week of 24th January 2022.
D) Offers
Initial offers will be communicated starting in mid February 2022..
If you have any questions, please contact Dee Longdin – DTP-MR Postgraduate Administrator at dtp-mr@medschl.cam.ac.uk