Application Routes and Funding

The routes by which candidates can apply to undertake postgraduate studies in the Department of Pathology are:

Research Council and Departmental Studentships

You can apply for specific studentships advertised by the Department of Pathology with a named supervisor – see our Fully-funded Departmental studentships page for more details. These studentships are advertised in autumn usually for entry in October of the following academic year.

Applications should be made via the Applicant Portal and are available to UK nationals and EU students.

Sabastine Arthur (PhD Student)

“As part of the application process, I selected the Cambridge-Africa Scholarship among other funding sources. These scholarships have their own application process which are built into the overall application. This Scholarship was not known to me until my to-be-supervisor suggested it, via the manager of the scholarship. I’m now researching host pathways involved in the human norovirus replication.

Based on my experience, my advice to prospective applicants would be to communicate well with their potential supervisors, the department to which they wish to apply and the international student’s office, not forgetting to contact current or past students.” 

Sabastine Arthur

3- and 4-year PhD Programmes

The Department participates in numerous PhD Programmes:

  • Cambridge Cancer Centre (3 year PhD) applications open to UK, EU and Non-EU students.
  • Cambridge MRC Doctoral Training Programme (3 year PhD) full funding for UK National and UK Residents and partial funding for Other European Economic Area (EEA) Applicants
  • Gates Cambridgeprovides scholarships to outstanding applicants from outside the UK to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree (PhD and MPhil scholarships available)
  • NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program is an accelerated, individualised doctoral training program for outstanding science students committed to biomedical research careers, open to US citizens.

These programmes should be applied to directly.

"My PhD program was funded by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK (CSC). The Commonwealth Scholarships are distributed in different countries by nationwide screening program and are highly competitive.

Beside PhDs, CSC also offers split-site PhD and Master's scholarships, and they also have shared scholarship program for students from lower middle income Commonwealth countries, for full-time Master’s study." 

Firoz Ahmed

Firoz Ahmed

Other Studentships

Available by contacting a potential supervisor from the Research Group Leaders list with a view to undertaking a research project. This route requires the student to either fund themselves for the duration of the research, or to obtain studentships/scholarships from other funding sources. More information on funding support for postgraduate students can be found on the Postgraduate Admissions website, including the Postgraduate Funding Competition.

Cambridge Commonwealth, European & International Trust is the largest provider of funding for international students at Cambridge. Working with partners worldwide, the Trust awards approximately 500 scholarships annually, and supports between 1100 and 1400 students in residence each year. Use the Trust's Scholarship search to see the range of scholarships for which you are eligible.

There may also be funding opportunities from your home country.

You must identify a supervisor who will support your application prior to applying. Applications should be made via the Applicant Portal.

Helena Teague

“I am a PhD student in Brian Ferguson's lab in the Immunology division in the Department of Pathology working on innate immune sensing of RNA viruses. My funding is from the Wellcome Trust as I am a student on the Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD Programme in Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, consisting of a 1 year research masters with 3 rotations in different labs and a PhD in a lab of your choice. I found out about this through the Wellcome Trust website and findaphd.com”

Helena Teague

Funding Search

There are several external websites or publications providing a ‘funding search’. Some of the most prominent are listed below: