MRC Doctoral Training Programme in Precision Medicine (Edinburgh/Glasgow)

What you get

You get a fully funded PhD place. Your tuition fees are paid in full, and you receive a living stipend (a yearly payment to cover your living costs) of at least about EUR 24,700 per year (£20,780 at the 2025/26 rate). You also get about EUR 5,900 per year (£5,000) for lab and course costs, plus roughly EUR 360 per year (£300) for travel. The funding runs for 4 years, or 3.5 years if you already hold a relevant Master's degree.

The programme is run jointly by the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow. It is paid for by the Medical Research Council together with both universities. Precision Medicine means matching the right treatment to the right patient using genetic, health-record and imaging data. You are trained in the maths, statistics and computing skills to work with this data. Alongside your research project, you take taught courses in areas like statistics, research ethics and bioinformatics.

Who can apply

• Degree: You hold, or are about to finish, a first-class or upper second-class (2:1) UK honours degree, or an equivalent qualification from outside the UK.
• Field: Your degree is in a relevant area of science or technology.
• Nationality: Anyone can apply, from the UK or abroad. But international applicants can fill at most 30% of each intake, so places for them are limited.
• On campus: You study in person and live within commuting distance of Edinburgh or Glasgow. You cannot study remotely.
• English: If English is not your first language and you are not from the UK, you provide a language certificate when you are admitted.
• Specific project: You apply to named, advertised PhD projects (up to 3). You cannot apply with your own research proposal.

How to apply

You submit one application through the University of Edinburgh's Degree Finder portal, even for Glasgow-based projects. First, applications are shortlisted anonymously. Shortlisted candidates are then invited to an interview. The round for September 2026 entry closed on 12 January 2026. A further round for later entry has not yet been announced.

How realistic are your chances?

Only up to 26 places are offered across both universities over three years, so competition is strong. Good grades are the baseline, not the deciding factor. Because you apply to a specific advertised project, your fit with that project and a convincing personal statement matter most. International applicants are capped at 30% of each intake, which makes those places even tighter.