Paterson Institute for Cancer Research
The Institute is offering the following PhD studentship projects starting in September 2008.
4 Year International Paterson International PhD Studentships
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| Characterisation of a cell cycle control kinase in fission yeast |
| Understanding tumour-promoting properties of stromal myofibroblasts in invasive human breast carcinomas |
| Molecular and cellular mechanisms of haematopoietic development |
| Regulated progression of DNA replication forks and the control of genome stability Supervisor: Karim Labib Group: Cell Cycle |
| Downstream regulators of the phosphoinositide PtdIns5P |
| Functional interactions of 5T4 oncofoetal antigen Supervisors: Peter L Stern and Tom Southgate Group: Immunology |
| Self-renewal mechanisms in leukemia stem cells |
Applying for the Paterson 4 Year PhD Studentships 2008
Please use Paterson 4Year application form only and adhere to the word limits. On the separate Project Selection form please indicate 1, 2 or maximum of 3 projects that you are interested in.
Application form 2008 - Word
Project selection form - Word
- Save your application form with your family name first name as its file name e.g. SmithJohn.doc and e-mail to Dr Graham Cowling. –link to my e-mail please
- Save your project selection form with your family name first name_selection as its file name e.g. SmithJohn_selection and attach to the same e-mail.
- CVs are not accepted
- Referees must have current working e-mail addresses. We will contact them.
- We do not acknowledge receipt but will send all applicants an e-mail informing them of the outcome of their application.
- Communication is by E-mail only (please ensure that you include active addresses)
- DEADLINE October 31st 2007
- INTERVIEWS – first 2 weeks of December 2007. All shortlisted candidates will be required to attend an interview
These are International PhD Studentships. As well as the generous stipend all other University and bench fees are paid by the Institute.
Please use the application form which can be downloaded as a Word file. Also please send a Selection form specifying 1-3 projects that interest you.
The information you will need is:
Academic achievements
200 word abstract of any research project undertaken (or to be undertaken)
The names and active email addresses of 3 referees
Please do not exceed the word limit in various sections
The application form should be emailed as a Word attachment to
gcowling@picr.man.ac.uk
Timetable
This application is for PhD programmes starting September 2008
Application deadline is 31st October 2007.
Following short listing, candidates will be invited for a 2-day interview in the first weeks of December 2007.
A Rough Guide to what happens at selection and interview
As we receive your applications, your referees are contacted by e-mail for their comments. All applications and references are assessed and short listed by the project Supervisors in the Institute. The Education Committee and Director then considers all the short listed candidates and selects those candidates to come for interview. At this stage we do not require certificates etc although they will be required later. Please do not apply directly to the University. If successful you will then be asked to apply on-line later to the University.
All students, irrespective of country or funding source, are required to attend for interview at which they will be asked to give a ten-minute presentation about a previous research experience. All reasonable travel expenses will be reimbursed by the Institute.
Using the travel information we send you, you will arrive the day before the interview and check in at a local Hotel. Please keep all travel and meal receipts and the Hotel bill has already been paid. Please arrive at the main entrance of the Paterson Institute at 8.45pm of day 1 (maps supplied) where you will be met by Dr Graham Cowling, the Postgraduate Tutor. Over coffee, you will have the opportunity to load your presentations. Following a brief introduction to the 4 year PhD programme and welcome from the Director, Professor Nic Jones, you will get the chance to give your presentations to the potential supervisors and members of the Education Committee. Please use Powerpoint on USB pen or CD and plan to talk for no more than 10 minutes. There will be 5 minutes of questions at the end of each talk.
What shall I talk about? Many of you will have done an undergraduate project, industrial placement, or postgraduate research. In our experience these prove to make the most productive talks. If this is still proves to be a problem then please contact the Postgraduate Tutor who will suggest a topic to talk about. A brief introduction, a summary of the methods you used, results you have obtained and the conclusions (if any) you have reached. Please don't worry if you either didn't get results (it happens, and we appreciate that it is difficult to stand up and talk about negative results....but can be a great judge of character!) or haven't started your project (you will need to know what you will be doing!). We are trying to assess whether you think about your science, can communicate it and if you have a passion for the subject.
The audience will be the potential Supervisors and the Education Committee. Following this session, you can relax while some of our PhD and MD students give you a tour of the Institute. Ask them anything. Following a lunch for everybody, you will be given a timetable where you will get to speak to Group leaders for around 30 minutes about their projects. Also to members of the Education Committee who will ask all candidates the same general questions about themselves. At the end of the day, everybody, including students and postdoctoral fellows, is invited to a drinks reception in the Institute followed by a meal at a local restaurant.
The next morning we invite you back to the Institute and over coffee, ask you to select the Group Leaders/projects that you would like to further talk to about their research. This takes most of the day. Drinks and lunch will be provided and you will get an opportunity to fill in your expenses forms and give the Institute written feedback of your impressions.
On the Selection form there is space to select up to 3 projects that interest you from your own reading around the subject. Please look at project summary and the Research areas of the Paterson website. Look up some of the publications. You will be issued with a second identical form at the end of the second day, it is important to fill this in with your final choices of project to allow us to fit student, project and supervisor together in a successful 4 year partnership. Our selection policy requires you to be committed to joining us and for us to believe you have the right qualities to make you a first class PhD student. If we offer you a studentship we will attempt to give you either your first or second choice of project when possible. Please note that all the projects offered have undergone a rigorous selection process with external scientific review to ensure that they will make excellent projects for you.
It is clear from previous interview rounds that even students who feel that they have a very clear idea of what project they would like to do, can become captivated with different projects after talking to group leaders/students during their visit. We therefore encourage you to keep an open mind when talking with some group leaders who may not be on your list of choices. It is also clear that it will be useful for you to consider the option of first year rotations through upto 3 different laboratories. Please seek the views of the students who have selected this route for their studies, as they all find it a positive experience
Graham CowlingAugust 2007
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