PhD Opportunities

We are not currently offering PhD studentship opportunities and will advertise projects for 2027 studentships in December 2026.

The FoodBioSystems training programme

FoodBioSystems Doctoral Researchers (DR) undertake training that leads to a PhD and equips them with extra skills and knowledge to support their future career. Research projects are co-supervised across two institutes within our academic partnership and DRs take part in our cohort training programme to gain a core understanding of food systems, data analysis and modelling. They will also follow a programme of subject specific learning, depending on their needs. All DRs carry out a 3-month professional internship (generally not related to the research project).

Please explore this website to find our more about the DTP training programme, current projects at  six of the partner universities and meet some of our researchers to check out what they have said about their research and training experiences.

Studentship and application information

Studentship funding information

FoodBioSystems is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the four-year studentship covers a tax-free stipend (salary), research costs and tuition fees at the standard Home/Republic of Ireland (RoI) rate. The stipend is set by UKRI and in 2025/26 is £20,780 (or £22,780 for a studentship based at Brunel University). The pay increases slightly each year at rate determined by UKRI.

The studentship allows time to undertake the DTP training programme, complete your research and submit your thesis within a 4-year registration period.

Funding note for international students

Please note that DTP funding cannot contribute towards the following costs: visa fees, healthcare surcharge, relocation costs, guarantor services. These costs must be found from other sources or met by the individual student.

  • At University of Reading, from autumn 2026, all new international students will be charged international rate fees. UKRI funding only covers Home/RoI fees, therefore new FoodBioSystems DTP funded international students at University of Reading will be required to pay the difference between the international and Home/RoI student fees (currently about £16000-£19000/year). This cost must be found from other sources or met by the individual students.
  • Aberystwyth University, Brunel University, Cranfield University, University of Lincoln, Queen’s University Belfast and University of Surrey will not charge international rate fees.

Projects

We advertise more projects than there are available studentships because, unfortunately, we find that not all projects receive applications from candidates who are eligible to be funded, or who meet the funding threshold.

Applicant Eligibility

Funding Eligibility 

FoodBioSystems DTP is funded by UKRI and our studentship funding is only available to successful candidates who meet the eligibility criteria set out in the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) harmonized training terms and conditions which you can find here. Please note also:

At Aberystwyth University, Brunel University, Cranfield University, University of Lincoln, Queen’s University Belfast and University of Surrey

  • FoodBioSystems DTP studentship awards for home students are conditional on acceptance onto PhD programmes as home students.
  • Awards to international students are conditional on acceptance onto PhD programmes as international students (noting that they will not be charged international fees).

At University of Reading

  • FoodBioSystems DTP studentship awards for home students are conditional on acceptance onto PhD programmes as home students.
  • Awards to international students are conditional on acceptance to PhD programmes as international students and the award recipients providing evidence that they can meet the extra cost of international fees (either themselves or from other sources).

Residency requirements

Residency requirements are complex and too detailed to capture in full below.  To ensure you meet the residency criteria, please check the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website which provides detailed information about eligibility for home student status in: England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Home student applicants

The majority of our funding (minimum 70%) is available to students with home student status. To be classed as a home student, you must meet the following criteria:

  • Be a UK or Irish National (and were ordinarily resident in the UK or Republic of Ireland for three full years before the start of the course), or
  • Have settled status in the UK and meet residency requirements (under EU Settlement Scheme), or
  • Have pre-settled status in the UK and meet residency requirements (under EU Settlement Scheme) or
  • Have indefinite leave to remain or enter.

You may also be recognised as a home student if you are ordinarily resident in the UK and

  • You are a refugee (recognised by the UK government) or the spouse/civil partner or child of a refugee.
  • You have applied for asylum and as a result have been granted Exceptional Leave or Humanitarian Protection (or you are the spouse/civil partner or child of someone who has).

International student applicants

If you do not meet the above criteria, you will be classed as an International student.

We welcome applications from international students and we receive many excellent applications each year. However, we can award a maximum of 30% of our funding to international students. Between 2022 and 2025 approximately 1/100 international student applicants were successful.

Academic Eligibility

An upper 2nd class degree (or equivalent) is required in a subject appropriate to the PhD projects applied for (see the project description for more information). Candidates with a lower class of Bachelors degree, but a good performance at the Masters level (merit or above) will also be considered.

To support accessibility to PhD training opportunities, these studentships are only available to applicants who have not previously obtained, or are nearing the end of, a PhD degree (or equivalent).

If you have an international qualification, please check the degree course eligibility  information provided by the host universities before you apply to the DTP: Aberystswyth University,  Brunel University, Cranfield University, University of Lincoln,  Queen’s University Belfast, University of Reading, University of Surrey.

Language Proficiency

Candidates, whose first language is not English, must show the necessary levels of English proficiency required by the university that will be hosting the PhD Studentship (the university where the project lead supervisor works). If you have completed a degree or higher degree in a course that was taught in English this may be sufficient evidence of your language proficiency. Please check the relevant university website for further details. If the website does not provide the information you are looking for, please contact the relevant university admissions office.
Aberystwyth University, Brunel University, Cranfield University,  University of Lincoln, Queen’s University Belfast, University of Reading, and University of Surrey.

Equity Diversity and Inclusion

The FoodBioSystems DTP is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). We want to build a doctoral researcher and staff body that reflects the diversity of society, and to encourage applications from under-represented and disadvantaged groups.

 Applicants with disabilities or specific learning differences

Applicants can choose to disclose a disability or specific learning difference on the application form. The DTP office will contact shortlisted applicants who have made this disclosure so we can offer reasonable adjustments to interviews. This information is kept confidential unless the applicant chooses to share it with the interview panels.

Guaranteed interview scheme

FoodBioSystems DTP offers a guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) for candidates from eligible under-represented ethnic groups. This is an opt-in process. Applicants can participate in this scheme if they meet the following criteria:

  1. Hold UK home student fee status (details on UK fees status are available from UKCISA)
  2. Identify as:
    1. Black, African, Caribbean or Black British
    2. Asian or Asian British
    3. Belonging to mixed or multiple ethnic groups
  3. Hold or expect to obtain a minimum of a 2.1 undergraduate degree in a relevant subject, or equivalent qualification
  4. Meet the essential candidate criteria for the project (these are stated in the advert)

Candidates with a guaranteed interview must also provide full written answers to all questions about research and transferable skills in the application form. Assessment of written answers and interview performance are both considered when awarding studentships (see assessment criteria).

Applicant mentoring scheme

We offer applicants, who meet GIS criteria, an opportunity to apply to our applicant mentoring programme. Applicants who are accepted onto the mentoring programme receive four mentoring sessions, with trained DTP student mentor, during the application process.

  • Meeting one: A brief pre-application discussion with the mentor
  • Meeting two: An application writing support session
  • Meeting three: An interview preparation session
  • Meeting four:  A post application outcome reflection session

To be eligible to receive mentoring, applicants must:

  1. Hold UK/RoI fee status
  2. Identify as:
    1. Black, African, Caribbean or Black British
    2. Asian or Asian British
    3. Belonging to mixed or multiple ethnic groups
  3. Hold or expect to obtain a minimum of a 2.1 undergraduate degree in a relevant subject, or equivalent qualification
  4. Meet the essential criteria described in the project’s student profile (see project advert)

Priority will be given to applicants who meet the above criteria and also identify with one of the following:

  • Have ever been in receipt of free school meals
  • Are the first in their family to attend higher education
  • Have completed/are completing their undergraduate studies at a non-Russell Group university

Part-time registration

Our studentships can be offered to home students on a part-time basis, and studentship end date and stipend payments will be amended to reflect the part-time registration. We regret that part time registration is not available to international students due to complexities of visa restrictions.

Candidates who are awarded a studentship, and wish to register part-time, must discuss arrangements with the project supervisor and DTP office before enrolment. Please note that students in full-time employment are not eligible for an award of any kind from UKRI, and we recommend that if part-time studentships are combined with paid employment, the combined time commitment does not exceed 48 hours per week.

The minimum registration for DTP funded part-time students is 0.5 FTE (studying an average of 20 hours per week over 8 years). However options for part-time study vary at different universities. If a university offers a maximum part-time registration period of six years, the DTP studentship will be awarded at 0.67 FTE (studying an average of 27 hours per week over 6 years).

How we select students

Applications received before the closing date and time are considered in two stages:

Shortlisting

Applications are checked for academic and funding eligibility. Eligible applications are anonymised and then considered by the PhD project supervisors. They mark the application answers against the assessment criteria. At this stage supervisors do not know the name, contact details or degree-awarding university of applicants. The four highest scoring candidates for each project will be invited to interview.

Interviews and selection panel assessment

Interviews

If your application is shortlisted you will receive an invitation to an online interview (on Teams or Zoom). As part of the interview, you will be asked to give a short (maximum five minutes) presentation on how you would approach the PhD project. This will be followed by five minutes for questions about the presentation. Additional questions will explore:

  • Your motivation to do a PhD with FoodBioSystems DTP
  • How your skills and experience prepare you for the specific project
  • Other questions about potential impact of the proposed research project, problem-solving skills, and how a PhD fits into your career plans

Selection panel assessment

If you are successful at interview, a panel of reviewers from the DTP Selection Committee will assess the written answers from your application form. They will not know your name, contact details or degree-awarding university at this stage.

Assessment criteria

We ask applicants to provide information about their academic qualifications, research experience and transferable skills/competencies. It is essential that all applicants (including those applying for a guaranteed interview) provide full answers in their written application, as these are assessed at least once during the selection process.
The table below shows what essential criteria the DTP is looking for in our PhD student candidates and where in the selection process we assess those criteria.

Essential Selection Criteria Stage Assessed
  Shortlisting Interview Selection Panel review of application form answers
Suitability of academic qualifications and background for the project x x
Academic and technical understanding of the PhD project and critical thinking skills. x
Suitability of project specific research experience and technical skills x x
Suitability of general research experience and technical skills for doing a FoodBioSystems DTP PhD x x
Ability to relate own skills to the proposed PhD project x x
Transferable skills/competencies (organisation, problem solving, team-working, and interpersonal/communication) x x x
Understanding of the proposed PhD project in context of the UK agri-food sector x
Motivation for undertaking PhD research with the FoodBioSystems DTP x
Awareness of how the PhD project fits into own career plans x x

How we award the studentships

The Selection Committee makes the final decision on studentship allocation, taking into account applicants’ performance at interview, reviewer assessments of written answers and previous assessment of project proposals. The Selection Committee considers each university separately, and awards studentships to projects with appointable students, up to a maximum number of studentships at that university. The DTP aims to spread the award of international studentships across the partnership, with a maximum of one international studentship awarded to an individual university. Where the number of projects with appointable students exceed the number of available studentships, the candidates are placed on the reserve list for that university.

Reserve list policy

The DTP manages the reserve candidate list by the following process:

We hold a two-stage reserve list. International students will be held on both reserve lists, but we can only offer studentships to international reserve candidates if we have not reached the 30% funding cap.

  • The first-stage list at each university consists of 1-3 suitable reserve candidates for each project (where available). The reserve must be a candidate who scores above a threshold (agreed by the Selection Committee). Students are included on this list irrespective of their UK residency status.
  • If the first-choice student withdraws, we offer the studentship to a reserve candidate for that project.
  • If a project has no suitable reserve candidate, the studentship is awarded to another project with reserve candidates from the same university.
  • If there are no remaining reserve candidates within a university, the studentship may be awarded to a project from the second-stage list of fundable students.

In practice, due to the 30% funding cap, we are rarely able to offer funding to international reserve candidates unless another international student has declined their studentship offer.

Previous applicant success rates

Success rates for home and international student applicants to the DTP (2022-26) are outlined below:

Cohort Number of projects advertised Number of studentships awarded

Number of international student applicants

% international applicants awarded a studentship Number of home student applicants % home student applicants awarded a studentship
2022 37 27 501 1.4% 86 23%
2023 50 30 774 0.9% 90 26%
2024 57 29 1176 0.9% 87 24%
2025 37 22 761 0.8% 85 18%
2026 40 20 882 0.7% 101 14%