PhD scheme

Information about our PhD scheme, how to apply, and details of our current students.

Supporting postgraduates is a key part of the Euan MacDonald Centre’s mission. We are passionate about encouraging, training and equipping the MND researchers of the future.

The Centre has an active community of postgraduate students and post-doctoral researchers who benefit from sharing knowledge with other MND researchers and people living with MND by attending Centre events and MND-related conferences.

Euan MacDonald Centre funded PhDs

Through the generosity of our donors and fundraisers, the Centre normally funds one or two non-clinical PhD studentship per year.

Applications for Centre-funded PhDs open in the Autumn of each year for programmes starting the following September.

A range of projects is offered by Centre Principal Investigators, based at a University in Scotland. Project choices usually include basic (laboratory), clinical and social science.

The best student is chosen on the basis of application, interview and references, and then chooses the project he or she is most interested in.

What does the studentship include?

RCUK stipend for three years
UK/EU University fees
travel and consumables
oversight by a second supervisor and thesis committee
access to all training and support available to postgraduates at the chosen University

An enriched experience

Because Euan MacDonald Centre funded students become part of our wide-ranging network, we are able to offer additional experiences and training that include opportunities to:

shadow an MND Nurse Specialist, meet people with MND, and attend an MND clinic and/or home visit
undertake a short placement with a Euan MacDonald Centre Principal Investigator of a different specialty
attend and present at six-monthly seminar afternoons featuring a wide range of Centre research
obtain bursaries to present data at national and international MND-related meetings
gain experience in public engagement by participating in open days and MND Awareness events.
access the Centre’s communications pipeline to promote the student’s research

Sample projects

These projects were offered for 2019 entry. The competition is now closed.

1st supervisor	Second Supervisor	Location	Project title
Tom Gillingwater	Simon Parson	Edinburgh	Developing the next generation of therapies for the childhood motor neuron disease, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
Simon Parson	Tom Gillingwater	Aberdeen	Does human systemic cardiovascular pathology negatively affect treatment outcomes in SMA patients?
Gillian Hunter	Tom Gillingwater	Glasgow Caledonian	Investigating the role of histone ubiquitination in spinal muscular atrophy
Chris Henstridge	Tara Spires-Jones	Dundee	Synaptic localisation and transfer of TDP-43 in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Sharon Abrahams	Sharon Mulhern	Edinburgh	Cognitive impairment, decision making and mental capacity in Motor Neurone Disease
Lyndsay Murray	Tom Gillingwater	Edinburgh	Investigating modifiers transcripts in models of motor neuron disease
Martyn Pickersgill	Sarah Cunningham-Burley	Edinburgh	Why (not) participate? An international comparative study of people with MND’s experiences of, and perspectives on, participating in research

How to apply and deadlines

Applications for Sept 2019 entry are now closed.

For future rounds, project details are listed, and applications taken, on the EdNeuro.PhD gateway .

If you have any questions please Contact us.

Alumni destinations

Name	Studentship dates	Destination upon completion
Hannah Shorrock	2014-2017	postdoc on SCA8 at Centre for NeuroGenetics, University of Florida
Chris Crockford	2014-2017	Management/research support in the third sector

Other training opportunities

PhDs for clinicians: please see the Edinburgh Clinical Academic Track (ECAT) and the Rowling Scholars clinical academic training scheme

Masters / Certificate courses: please refer to the listings on your chosen University’s website. Of particular interest might be the University of Edinburgh online distance learning course Stem Cells and Translational Neurology.