Closing date: 23 June 2025
Open to: UK applicants only
Funding provider: The St Davids Medical Foundation-sponsored Berridge PhD Scholarships
The subject areas: Health Data Science
The project start date: 1st October 2025
Supervisors: Dr Vesna Vuksanovic & Dr Owain Howell
Aligned programme of study: PhD degree in Population and Health Data Science
Mode of study: Full-Time
Project Background: Why some people with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience faster changes in brain structures (neurodegeneration) than others? What genetic associations with brain regional characteristics might explain these differences? MS is a complex disease, with damage to the brain and nervous system that varies widely between individuals. This PhD project offers an opportunity to investigate the genetic factors influencing changes in brain structures, using brain imaging, computational and statistical methods of network science.
Project Aim: The aim of the project is to uncover the complex relationship between brain structure, myelin distribution and genetic factors in MS.
Research Focus: Recently, computational pipelines have been developed to integrate genetic and imaging databases for characterising genetic basis of neurodegeneration. Additionally, our research group works on developing novel computational methods for extraction of cortical morphometric features from clinical brain scans and network analysis of interactions between these features. These pipelines and computational tools will be used to integrate imaging and genetic data, and maps of myelin distribution in the cortical grey matter to analyse patterns of neurodegeneration in MS from a large-scale study in these patients.
Research environment and benefit: The successful candidate will join the new research group in the Health Data Science in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Science at Swansea University, in addition to interacting with the research group in the Life Science department. The candidate will receive extensive training in computational and analytical methods, gaining skills highly valued in both academic and industry research.
Qualifications: A strong background in qualitative sciences: biomedical engineering, medical physics, image analysis, computational neuroscience or quantitative psychology is desirable.
If you would like to work on a PhD project about biological understanding of human diseases and if you are interested in applying cutting-age computational approaches to real-world datasets, we encourage you to apply.
For more details please see here: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarships/research/medical-stdavids-medical-foundation-rs835.php
Scholarship open to UK fee eligible applicants only.
Due to funding restrictions, this scholarship is open to applicants eligible to pay tuition fees at the UK rate only, as defined by UKCISA.
Applicants for PhD must hold a degree of a UK 2.1 and a Masters degree with Merit in any of the following disciplines: Medical Physics, Biophysics, Physics, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Bioinformatics, Neuroinformatics. Evidence of publishable standard projects is also desirable. Applicants with international qualifications please see: Country Specific Entry Requirements - Swansea University
English Language: IELTS 6.5 Overall (with no individual component below 6.5) or Swansea University recognised equivalent. For further information, please see the Swansea University English Language Entry Policy.
If you have any questions regarding your academic or fee eligibility based on the above, please email pgrscholarships@swansea.ac.uk with the web-link to the scholarship you're interested in.
Funding
This scholarship covers the full cost of tuition fees and an annual stipend at UKRI rate (currently £20,780 for 2025/26).
To apply, please complete the entire application form:
In order to be considered for this scholarship award the following steps are also required.
1) In section ‘Programme Related Information’ please input the relevant RS Code for the scholarship award i.e. RS835
2) In section ‘Research’ you will see ‘Proposed project title/studentship title’* (Mandatory)
3) In section ‘Funding information’ please choose the option ‘Scholarship Funding’ only. Please ensure no other options are selected.
*It is the responsibility of the applicant to list the above information accurately when applying, please note that applications received without the above information listed will not be considered for the scholarship award.
One application is required per individual Swansea University led research scholarship award; applications cannot be considered listing multiple Swansea University led research scholarship awards.
NOTE: Applicants for PhD/EngD/ProfD/EdD - to support our commitment to providing an environment free of discrimination and celebrating diversity at Swansea University you are required to complete an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Monitoring Form in addition to your programme application form.
Please note that completion of the EDI Monitoring Form is mandatory; your application may not progress if this information is not submitted.
As part of your online application, you MUST upload the following documents (please do not send these via email):
Informal enquiries are welcome; please contact: Vesna Vuksanovic Vesna.Vuksanovic@Swansea.ac.uk
*External Partner Application Data Sharing – Please note that as part of the scholarship application selection process, application data sharing may occur with external partners outside of the University, when joint/co- funding of a scholarship project is applicable.
Open to: UK applicants only
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