Collaborative and Industrial PhDs
Aside from traditional PhD studentships based solely in academia, collaborative and industrial PhDs exist which involve an industry partner.PhD studentships
A PhD, also known as a doctoral degree, is a level 8 qualification, meaning it is the highest level of education that a student can complete. Usually, PhDs are 3-4 years in length and are completed within an academic institution.
PhD studentships can be in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry.
This can provide extra funding and networking opportunities as well as facilities, equipment and building a relationship between industry and a particular academic institution.
PhD Studentship numbers and duration
Figure 1. Total number and duration of PhD studentships. Responses from 13 companies including nil returns.
Overall the number of PhDs has remained consistent, around a total of 600 studentships, since 2015.
The most common length of a PhD remains 4 years with 73.6% reported to be that length. The number of PhD studentships >4 years in length remains a similar percentage which is likely due to students working part-time towards their PhD whilst maintaining their job in the pharmaceutical industry.
Almost 3 in 4 PhDs are 4 years in length
Academic institutes supporting PhD studentships
The University of Cambridge and the University of Strathclyde continue to be the leading universities delivering collaborative studentships.
Figure 2. Top 10 academic institutes to host a PhD studentship.
Figure 3. Academic institutes hosting PhD students across the UK
University of Cambridge
I’m delighted that Cambridge continues to be the top university in the UK for hosting collaborative PhDs funded by pharmaceutical companies. Industry-funded PhDs are a fantastic way of developing research talent. They enable students to combine scientific excellence with a first-hand understanding of how research can translate into drug discovery, developing their capabilities and broadening their career options. We are particularly proud of our flagship programme with AstraZeneca which is funding 55 Cambridge PhDs. With AstraZeneca on our doorstep and each PhD jointly supervised by Cambridge and AstraZeneca, the programme not only enriches the students’ experience, it also increases the porosity between our two organisations, transferring knowledge and creating new opportunities for collaboration. Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Innovation, University of Cambridge
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde has a distinct institutional ethos and strategy that drives and promotes external research engagement and partnerships; thus, based on the most recent ABPI data analysis, we are delighted to be placed as one of the top two academic institutions hosting PhD studentships with pharmaceutical collaborators. Our rich-array of pharma-aligned postgraduate studentships has resulted from the establishment of reciprocally beneficial relationships and sustained commitment from our industrial partners, all based on a drive for collaborative research and training excellence. By engaging in internationally-leading, industry-relevant programmes, directed by thoroughly committed and leading Strathclyde academics in direct partnership with key industrial experts, these approaches are delivering a pipeline of academia- and industry-ready scientific talent for engagement in the global pharmaceutically-aligned scientific sectors. Billy Kerr, 1919 Professor of Organic Chemistry, and Director of the Strathclyde-GSK Collaborative PhD Programmes, University of Strathclyde
Case study: Collaboration between the University of Strathclyde and GSK
My name is Kirsty and I'm in my third year of the collaborative PhD scheme between the University of Strathclyde and GSK. Prior to this I completed an integrated MChem degree also at the University of Stracthclyde, before moving on to work in industry in the pharmaceutical sector, for Chembricks, a drug discovery company, specializing in small molecule contract development. My role within the company was to analyze the active and pharmaceutical ingredients of key intermediates and synthetic precursors of early stage and clinical phase drug compounds. Following this I went back to the University of Strathclyde and completed a one-year postgraduate MPhil degree within the medicinal chemistry and chemical biology department, with the aim of my project was to synthesize novel minor groove binding compounds for the treatment of multi-drug resistant Gram-negative infections.
My PhD project is within the Jamieson's group, also at Strathclyde University and the chemical biology and medicinal chemistry department, where we're focusing on machine-learning led design and development of novel bromine d-4 for small molecule inhibitors. So the bromine domain and extra terminal family of bromine domain containing proteins, are important regulators of the epigenome and are involved in various cellular processes. As a result these are associated in numerous downstream signal paths involved in diverse range of diseases, such as inflammation, cancer and central nervous system disorders and making this a highly attractive therapeutic target. My work within the project is mainly synthesis-based, but this is in close collaboration with synthetic and computational chemists from Strathclyde and Nottingham University. Computational chemists have designed an active search enable platform, as well as a series of machine learning models, to evaluate and design new drug compounds for bromine domain 4. These are then evaluated further and synthesised by synthetic chemists, such as myself and other chemists on the project, before they are ultimately sent for biological evaluation at GSK.
Well carrying out a collaborative PhD project with an industrial partner I feel is a fantastic opportunity, and for me has been an invaluable experience being able to communicate and learn from the knowledge and experience of both academics and commercially minded scientists definitely helps you to develop as a more well-rounded researcher. Also having the access to state-of-the-art industrial equipment, that you wouldn't typically have at University alone, has been an amazing resource and allowed the project to progress much quicker and it's ultimately allowed the research to have a much wider impact.
So, after finishing my degree, I hope and plan to continue working in drug discovery research, as that is ultimately where my interests and experience are. Whether that be in academia through a post-doc position or an industrial setting in the biopharmaceutical sector.
Kirsty Hamill tells us about her experience as a third-year student in the collaborative PhD scheme at the University of Strathclyde and GSK and the opportunities this scheme offers.
Hi, I'm Rebecca, and I'm in the final few months of my PhD, on the GSK University of Strathclyde PhD programme.
I'm originally from the southwest of England and I completed an integrated master's degree in chemistry at the University of Bristol in 2021. As part of my undergraduate course, I carried out an industrial placement within drug discovery at a company called Evotech, based near Oxford. I really thoroughly enjoyed this experience, I had a great supervisor and he encouraged me to do a PhD.
When I was looking into PhD courses in my final year of University, a friend highlighted me to the GSK Strathclyde programme and after really enjoying my time at industry the year before, I was really drawn into this unique program where I get to spend most of my PhD in the industrial Labs at GSK and also be co-supervised by the University of trite. After speaking to some of the current students I just felt that it would be a really good fit for me and now that I'm approaching the end of my time on the program I'm really pleased that I made the choice to join three years ago. I've been able to carry out highly relevant and industry-applicable research whilst also learning about the state of the art of the drug discovery field. I've had support from supervisors and colleagues on both the industrial and the academic sides of the program and this has really pushed me to be the best scientist that I can be. I've had opportunities that I really never thought possible 3 years ago, for example the facilities in industry enabled me to rapidly generate results in my first year and start presenting my science externally, really early on. I learned a huge amount of science from these conferences but I also made a lot of contacts in the field, and as a result, I'm currently carrying out a placement at the University of California in Los Angeles for the last three months of my time in the lab.
For my PhD I'm working within medicinal Chemistry. So drug discovery is an incredibly challenging task and medicinal chemists typically make and test thousands of compounds before they find the best one or two to put forward to clinical trials. But my PhD project aims to accelerate a part of that process by making and testing compounds 10 to 1,000 fold faster in the early stages of a project so that we can quickly eliminate molecules that aren't optimal. We achieved this by using automated technologies and miniaturised chemistry that are integrated with biological assays, so making compounds and testing them directly, avoiding a bottleneck that uh we typically do in terms of purification. However, significant optimization is required to ensure that these processes are robust, and this is what my research has been focusing on.
So, I'm still working out exactly which direction I'd like to go in following my PhD but I've had a lot of really great mentors over the course of my PhD, from the GSK Stratchclyde program and they're all fantastic scientists and really inspire me to be ambitious in my choices for what next. I'm constantly enthused by learning exciting new science and I really want to continue working at the Forefront of new medicine Discovery. Practically speaking, I'm also confident that after having several years at industry experience and developing a really wide network through the opportunities on this program are really help me um in my job search moving forwards as well.
Rebecca Stevens tells us about her experience as a final-year student in the collaborative PhD scheme at the University of Strathclyde and GSK and the opportunities this scheme offers.
Hi, I'm Tina, and I'm currently a second-year PhD student on the collaborative program between the University of Strathclyde and GSK. I completed my secondary education in Bulgaria after which I studied Medicinal Chemistry at UCL. At UCL modules on drug discovery and pharmacology encouraged me to understand how small molecules can be used to explore the human biology, this motivated me to pursue a PhD within the GSK University of Strathclyde program where currently I'm based in the chemical biology department at GSK.
My PhD project is aligned with the goal of the department to develop small molecules that help us study novel proteins or pathways that are linked to disease. This is important because in order to produce a medicine for a certain disease, we need to be confident that we are affecting the correct pathway in the body, in a way that will lead to a therapeutically beneficial outcome for the patients. Unfortunately we lack small molecules to interrogate most of those pathways. My project therefore focuses on developing a technology that will accelerate the discovery of such molecules for the pathways that have remained untargeted by current pharmacology efforts. This will then enable us to deliver novel treatments for the corresponding diseases in a timely manner which is of crucial importance to the patients.
When I was first looking at PhD options I was motivated to choose a project linked to industry because of the prospect of positively impacting millions of people through the contribution to like very timely pharmaceutical discovery. What I particularly like about this collaborative program is that we are able to experience research both in industry at GSK where we're based ,and in academia as part of our placement at the University of Strathclyde. This allows us to work on different side projects and also collaborate, not only with the different departments at GSK, but also with the research groups of the University. I feel that this would be very important for me personally to improve both my interpersonal skills and research skills, as well as help me with future career opportunities.
Following my PhD I would be particularly keen to continue working in an industrial setting where I will be driven by the impact of my work within the pharmaceutical area. However, I'm also very open to new challenges and I'm looking forward to my placement at the University of Strathclyde after which I may get inspired pursue a postdoc to deepen my scientific research skills and gain greater expertise within the chosen subject.
Tina Burova tells us about her experience as a second-year student in the collaborative PhD scheme at the University of Strathclyde and GSK and the opportunities this scheme offers.
Hello everyone, I'm James, I'm a final year PhD student on the GSK University of Strathclyde industrial PhD program. Before I started my PhD I studied chemistry at Imperial College London, graduating in 2020. After I graduated I actually spent a year working as a secondary school teacher teaching chemistry and math to a bunch of teenagers , but I quickly came to the conclusion that this wasn't the career for me, and so, in October 2021 I found myself starting a PhD in the chemical biology department at GSK science, Stevenage, in association with the chemistry department at the University of Strathclyde.
Before I can outline my PhD project to you, I need to introduce the field of chemical biology. So in chemical biology, our goal is to develop small molecules that we call chemical tools. We use these to investigate the causes of human disease and in doing so, inform the design of new medicines. One of the challenges we currently face in the field, though is the current methods that we have for identifying new tools from collections of small molecules, suffer from some limitations they tend to be either low throughput, meaning essentially that they're slow or they lack biological relevance, meaning that any molecules we find we can't be sure that they'll actually be useful as chemical tools. So for the duration of my PhD I've been developing a new method to overcome these limitations and enable chemical tool discovery that is both high throughput, so fast while also having biological relevance.
I chose the GSK Strathclyde industrial PhD program because it's allowed me to see how scientific research is conducted in both an academic and an industrial environment and its impact. I can view my work uh in an industrial context and think you know you know what impact am I having a GSK? How am I improving the efficiency of chemical tool discovery? But I can also see work in an academic light and think you know. How has this technology that I've developed contributed to scientific knowledge and how can we apply it to continue contributing to scientific knowledge? This perspective has proven really valuable to me recently as well as I start to think about the future and decide where I want to take my career.
Following my PhD I intend to continue working in the field of chemical biology. Throughout both my Master's and PhD project I've worked in this field and I've very much enjoyed working at the interface of these two disciplines of chemistry and biology. My background is in chemistry and so being able to apply my knowledge and skills to a new context to investigate biological problems is been really, really fun. It's also allowed me to continue learning new skills and new knowledge in molecular and cell biology, which is beyond the scope of an undergraduate chemistry degree. I'm also fascinated by drug discovery, particularly the early stages of drug discovery, which is of course where chemical biology fits in, contributing to our understanding of human disease while also beginning to design new medicines is a really rewarding area of science to work in. The last thing I'd like to say is that before choosing to undertake a PhD I worked as a teacher. I was drawn to this profession by the prospect of passing my knowledge and skills onto a younger generation and while I decided ultimately to leave this profession behind to pursue a PhD, I'm still really to involve myself in training the next generation of scientists.
James Rowley tells us about his experience as a third-year student in the collaborative PhD scheme at the University of Strathclyde and GSK and the opportunities this scheme offers.
Case study: PhD student (PIPS) placement at the ABPI
Melissa Hampson, an ABPI intern through a professional internship for PhD students (PIPS) placement, speaks about her role in co-ordinating the ABPI Industry-Academic Links Report 2024.
Hi, I'm Melissa, and I am a PhD student at the University of Warick. I am on the MIBTP program, which is a doctoral training program and is funded by the BBSRC. I completed my undergraduate degree also at the University of Warwick in 2023 and this was an integrated master's degree in biomedical science. I really enjoyed my Master's project being able to work in the lab and having my own project and that was really important science and therefore I decided to continue with the PHD project.
So, as part of my doctoral training programme, I have to complete a professional internship for PhD students, also known as a PIPS. So I decided to take this opportunity to explore science outside of university and academia and therefore I applied to the ABPI. Whilst here, my role has been to look at the Industry-Academic Links Survey and so this has involved analysing data from the responses as well as designing the web pages, networking and arranging meetings to collect quotes and videos to also include on the web page, as well as getting to grips with different kinds of software to create the summary videos at the top of each page. Whilst at the ABPI, I have also had the opportunity to attend various different events that have been hosted by the ABPI, this has included smaller round table events and as well as larger summit events and this has given me many opportunities and again more experience in the field. Overall I have really enjoyed my time here at the ABPI.
So, my PhD project is focused on protein trafficking.,which is how proteins and important molecules can move around the cell. The Royal Lab, which is the lab that I complete my PhD project in, discovered these intracellular neovesicles, which are really small vesicles and they are involved in moving proteins along several different pathways. These intracellular nanovesicles are characterised by having the protein TPD54. and TPD54 belongs to TPD52 like-proteins, which are found to be highly expressed in various different types of cancer. Often where the TDP52 like-proteins are overexpressed, unfortunately, the cancer patient does have a poor prognosis. My current research is focused on changing the structure of TPD54 by creating different mutants, I've then been using different techniques to see how this changes the behaviour of the intracellular nanovesicles.
Funding
Figure 4. Funding of PhD studentships from the 2024 survey. Responses from 13 companies including nil returns.
PhD Studentships can be funded in various ways including research councils, universities, or industrial partners as well as co-funding (using multiple sources).
The 2024 survey data shows EPSRC and MRC provided the largest proportion of funding for PhD studentships, similar to the 2022 survey data.
Last modified: 23 December 2024
Last reviewed: 23 December 2024