MPhil in Stem Cell Medicine (taught course)

Application is now open for our *new* 1 year (full-time) 'MPhil in Stem Cell Medicine' taught course, which will provide training and research in the area of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine.  The majority of the course will consist of hands-on experience on a specific research project, in the lab. Lectures will be given by experts in the field, mostly consisting of Stem Cell Institute Principal Investigator's.

The course aims to:

• give students with relevant experience at a first-degree level, the opportunity to carry out focused research in the discipline under close supervision
• give students the opportunity to acquire or develop skills and expertise relevant to their research interests.

Taught material:

This will comprise a mixture of transferable skills training and course-specific teaching. Transferable skills training (~30 hours), will be based on modules offered by the Postgraduate Researcher Development Programme and the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics initiative from the Cambridge Centre for Data-Driven Discovery. Course-specific teaching includes approximately 60 hours of lectures and tutorials covering fundamental theory, state- of-the-art hot topics, and technical seminars, together with a selection of guest lectures.

Teaching will be delivered primarily by the course team comprising UTOs, research fellows, early career researchers (ECR) and senior technical staff. Lectures and general skills training will be front-loaded into the first 4 weeks of Michaelmas Term before the students start their research projects, with the remaining material delivered as a series of weekly lectures and seminars over the rest of the year.

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Thesis / Dissertation

This course will be partly assessed on a dissertation based on the research project, not exceeding 10,000 words in length.

Essays

The taught material will be assessed via a biostatistics written test towards the end of the first term and a written essay question set in the lent term based on lecture material.

Other

An oral presentation based on a topic of the student’s choice distinct from the Research Project e.g. a laboratory/analytical method, a public engagement activity, a separate piece of research work or a mini-grant proposal will be assessed by the academic leadership team.

• This PhD is self-funded, so candidates will be required to source their own funding. Applicants are advised to tick the box in the application form to "be considered for University funding" if you'd like to be considered for various University funding possibilities - https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/funding/how-to-apply. Note these are very competitive so it's also advised to seek out your own external scholarships. 

Application for October 2025 entry is now open!  All applications must be made via the Applicant Portal.

Applicants are not required to identify a supervisor at application stage. Research projects/supervisors will be chosen once the course has started.

Annual Recruitment Timeline (for Michaelmas Term starters)

  * Students from the U.S. wanting to apply for Gates funding, may have an earlier funding application deadline