Imperial wins MRC Doctoral Landscape Award to train the next generation of translational research leaders

Imperial College London will train 15 PhD students each year from 2027 to 2029 through a new Medical Research Council (MRC) Doctoral Landscape Award announced today.

This is part of a £90 million MRC investment that will see researchers undertake PhDs while gaining experience across academia, healthcare and industry. 

The Imperial College London ‘HealthBRIDGE’ (Biomedical Research, Innovation, Digital skills and Entrepreneurship) MRC Doctoral Landscape Award  is designed to drive longer term innovations in disease diagnosis, precision prevention and novel treatments that improve human health and drive UK economic growth. 

Professor Kevin Murphy (pictured below), from Imperial’s Department of Metabolism, Digestion, and Reproduction, and HealthBRIDGE Project Lead, said: “This training addresses a major UK workforce skills gap and will make graduates exceptionally competitive as industry scientists, entrepreneurs, policy advisors, and biomedical researchers.”

Professor Graham Cooke, Vice Dean (Research) at Imperial’s Faculty of Medicine said: “These awards will allow students to benefit from Imperial's exciting health innovation ecosystem, centered around the Hammersmith Hospital and White City Innovation District. In time, we hope that they will become the innovators and entrepreneurs we need to maximise the impact of current advances in medicine.” 

HealthBRIDGE students will carry out cutting-edge research across sectors and disciplines in line with the MRC’s remit and priorities. This broad scope will help them develop as trans-disciplinary researchers who can drive fundamental discovery science through the translational pipeline and deliver clinical benefits. 

The HealthBRIDGE MRC Doctoral Landscape Award is a 1+3 year programme. In the first year, students will undertake research rotations and design their PhD projects in collaboration with prospective supervisors. Core training during this Foundation Year will be delivered in collaboration with teaching teams from Imperial’s Biomedical Research, Bioscience Futures, and Computational Biomedicine postgraduate programmes. Students will then undertake their 3-year PhD projects, with HealthBRIDGE cohort training providing them with additional support and development activities throughout their studies.

An online information session for those interested in applying to the programme will take place from 14.00-15.00 BST on Wednesday 14 October.

Beyond academia  

As part of their PhDs, researchers will work with businesses, NHS organisations, charities and public sector partners through placements, collaborative projects, and specialist training. 

These experiences will give them first-hand insight into how research is carried out in different settings and prepare them for a range of careers. 

A key element of HealthBRIDGE is its partnership with the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC). Through this, every student will have the opportunity to be partnered with a medical research charity whose interests align with the disease or health issue their research project aims to address. Working directly with their partner, students will co-create mutually beneficial activities and be supported to design and disseminate research that prioritises patient needs. 

Chris Macdonald, AMRC Director of Research and Impact, said: “Medical research charities bring unique expertise and insight to research, rooted in the needs and experiences of patients and the communities they support. We’re pleased to be partnering with HealthBRIDGE to give students the opportunity to learn from our members and build meaningful connections with the sector.” 

Dr Joanna Robinson, Director of Research Talent, Skills and Careers at MRC, said: "Medical research depends on talented people. These awards will support doctoral researchers to develop deep scientific expertise alongside the broader capabilities needed for successful and rewarding careers across research, healthcare, industry and policy.  

“By investing in researchers at the start of their careers, we are helping to strengthen the UK's medical research workforce and enable discoveries that improve lives."  

The 14 MRC Doctoral Landscape Awards are: 

• Imperial College London
• Cardiff University with University of Bath, University of Bristol, University of Exeter
• Kings College London
• Queen’s University Belfast with University of Ulster
• University of Aberdeen
• University of Birmingham with University of Leicester, University of Nottingham
• University College London with Birkbeck, University of London
• University of Dundee
• University of East Anglia
• University of Edinburgh with University of Glasgow
• UK Human Functional Genomics Initiative: University of Exeter with Edinburgh University, Imperial College London, King's College London, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford
• University of Manchester with University of Liverpool
• University of Sheffield with Durham University, Newcastle University, University of Leeds, University of York 
• University of Warwick