Postgraduate study

Our PhD students are registered at universities throughout the UK

With more than 500 staff and 124 registered PhD students, the James Hutton Institute is one of the biggest research centres in the UK and the first of its type in Europe.

Our thriving Postgraduate School is testament to our commitment to providing the highest standard of training opportunities to UK and international students. Undertaking postgraduate studies at the James Hutton Institute provides students with valuable experience of working in a professional environment.

Studying for a PhD at the James Hutton Institute

[1]Our Postgraduate Student Liaison Team and your PhD supervisors will ensure you receive support and mentoring throughout your studies to enable you to achieve your full potential. Your studies will enable you to enter the employment market with a comprehensive range of scientific, as well as transferable, skills demanded by a highly competitive employment market.

Our annual Student Competition provides a valuable opportunity and learning experience for you to communicate your work to the wider scientific community. The winners of the oral competition represent the Institute at the annual SEFARI [2] Postgraduate Student Competition.

You can view a list of our current PhD students [3] (PDF, 261 KB) as well as a list of students who have recently passed their viva examinations [4] (PDF, 179 KB).

Applications

Joint PhD Studentship 2020 Opportunities

Opportunities for PhD projects from the James Hutton Institute's annual competitive joint-studentship programme will be advertised on FindAPhD.com [5] in November 2019.

All advertised PhD projects are funded jointly between the Institute and participating universities and opportunities are offered from all our Science Groups covering many aspects of our work.

At the James Hutton Institute, we value the important contribution students make to the development of our scientific excellence and the expertise, talent and knowledge graduates bring to our research community. The Institute provides a research environment where technical and intellectual competency can flourish.

The support and mentoring PhD students receive throughout their studies from their Institute supervisors and our Postgraduate Student Liaison Team ensure students achieve a high degree of intellectual freedom, whilst equipping students with the comprehensive range of scientific and transferable skills demanded of today's scientists.

Externally funded PhD Opportunities

Current PhD opportunities are being advertised on FindAPhD.com [5]

Integrated Management of Lettuce Downy Mildew: Supervisory Team; Dr A Lees and Dr David Cooke, James Hutton Institute, Dr T Pettitt, University of Worcester, and Prof J Jones, University of St Andrews. Study period of 3 years, fully funded by AHDB.

Plant Breeder either in Barley Breeding, Soft Fruit Breeding or Potato Breeding: One PhD position will be available from the choice of three projects regarding breeding. This position will be fully funded by the Mylnefield Trust (MT) who recognise the need to foster skills in contemporary plant breeding and enable a career path for future leaders in genetics and breeding. They will initially fund one trainee plant breeder to study for a PhD at the James Hutton Institute from one of the following projects:

• Barley Breeder: Understanding the Traits and Genetic Control Associated with Superior Micronutrient Deficiency Tolerance in Bere Barley.
  Supervisors: Dr Luke Ramsay, Dr Tim George and Dr Mark Looseley.
• Soft Fruit Breeder: Studying the Mechanisms and Genetics of Dormancy Release in Raspberry.
  Supervisors: Dr Julie Graham, Dr Rob Hancock and Prof Derek Stewart.
• Potato Breeder: Advancing Genomic Selection for Key Processing Traits in Potato.
  Supervisors: Dr Sanjeev Sharma, Dr Xinwei Chen and Dr Ingo Hein.

One studentship will be funded this year by the Mylnefield Trust for a maximum 4-year study. Please indicate your preferred project when applying.