Completing your 2024 Application

Before applying please read our available project abstracts, Group Leaders research pages in conjunction with the Research and About the PhD Programme pages.  Please submit your application using the online application portal.  

Eligibility Criteria

We invite talented, hard working and motivated students or graduates to apply for our PhD programme.  Applications are invited from graduates or final year undergraduates who have, or expect to obtain, a first or minimum upper second class honours degree or equivalent from any recognised University worldwide. Previous laboratory research experience is not a requirement for acceptance to the PhD programme, however, such research experience in cancer will give a realistic insight into academic research.  A Master-level degree is not a condition for making a PhD application.

Completing the Online Application Form

Please complete the online application portal and submit once only. Applications in other formats ie. CVs/transcripts will not be accepted as a formal application.

You will need to register an account on the online recruitment system using your current email and chosen password before you can make an application.  You can save your application form and return to complete later but please ensure you save your progress at the end of each section of the application to be able to view/edit.  If you forget your password, press "reset password" button at the login stage and you will receive an email asking you to reset your password.  Please check your application carefully, upon submission you will be unable to recall to make any changes/edits.

The information you provide on your education, results, skills and experience are essential deciding factors on whether you are shortlisted for interview.  Please be concise but include sufficient information about yourself to allow us to build up a picture of who you are, and what inspires you to want to do a research degree.

• Personal details.  Please give current (term time) and permanent (home) address contact details if differ
• Project selection. If we have more than one project advertised on our website, please list your top three projects of interest in preferencial order from first to last (1-3).
• Citizenship, Residence & Fee Assessment. Please complete this section if you are a UK, EU or international applicant
• English language qualification.  Applicants from outside the UK will often need to meet specific English language requirements in order to be able to study at The University of Manchester. We do not require documentation relating to your English Language skills during the application process and is not a pre-requisite for making your initial application. However, if you are successful and are offered a studentship, you will be required to provide such documentation in advance of University registration and receiving an unconditional offer.  For further information on your country's specific English language requirements, please click here.  If you are an International student and have completed or about to complete your undergraduate or Master's degree in a predominantly English speaking country, then an IELTS certificate is not required for University registration.
• Academic Qualifications.  Please complete this section with your qualifications from age of 16 onwards, current highest degree gained or expected grade.  Non-UK applicants should give subjects and grades for their country's education and examination system. If you have grade equivalences to UK education, please use these in your application.  We want to know what your main subjects currently are or were, and how well you did in them. We are particularly interested in your overall end of year marks, your research experience, and how this has affected your thinking.  If a section on the form is not relevant please indicate this on the form.   If you have not yet completed your undergraduate degree, please give grades to date and indicate your end of course date on the form with your predicted graduation grade.  Postgraduate qualification only needs to be completed by those having completed or are currently studying for a postgraduate degree eg. Masters.   The "Highest Qualification" means your "Overall" Highest Academic Qualification you have gained or expected to gain, NOT individual subject; e.g. if you have 11 GCSEs, 3 A levels, a BSc and an MPhil then you only need to mark the M.Phil as the "highest Qualification".  If you are predicted a First or 2:1 in an undergraduate degree or a Distinction/Merit at Master's level then this will be your current highest qualification.
• Any other information.  Other details relevant to your academic history
• Work experience - this is only relevant if you have held any positions outside of your academic studies.  This could be full or part time paid work, or any voluntary/charity work.  
• Non-academic interests.  Please tell us how you like to spend your spare time, non-academic hobbies/interests and details of any activities or social memberships etc.
• Personal statement - we are looking for a concise summary (no more than 500 words) on your academic interests and career aspirations.  You may want include a short constructed description of a completed or ongoing current undergraduate or postgraduate project/or any industrial placement information taken as part of your course.  Please pay particularly attention to this section and tell us why you want to do a PhD, and why in particular you are applying to the CRUK Manchester Institute to support your application.
• References - automated emails will be sent to your referees at the point of your application submission.  Therefore, please ensure you have listed and transcribed email addresses correctly, you will be unable to edit your form once submitted.  One of your referees must be your current or most recent enployer/supervisor and at least one must be able to comment on your university academic record or should have directly supervised your academic work and be able to comment on your academic record or previous research experience.   We require details for a minimum of two and maximum of three referees.  References will aid the shortlisting process - referees will continue to have access to upload references up until a few weeks after the interview date.
• Checking your application is complete - please check you have provided all necessary information before submitting your application and all email addresses are correct.  You will be unable to recall or edit submitted applications.
• How did you find out about our PhD Studentships - this is important information - please complete this section on how you heard about our studentships, selecting all that apply.  This is not a trivial question and plays an important indicator for our future advertising therefore your co-operation in completing this section is appreciated.
• Equal Opportunities Form (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion).  We collect equal opportunities monitoring data on all PhD applicants to monitor our progress in promoting and implementing any changes required to our Equality and Diversity policies, practices and services.  All personal information will be treated in the strictest confidence and in accordance with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 and Equality Act 2010.  The data used for statistical monitoring will be anonymised and published in a way that does not allow individuals to be identified.  Your equal opportunities information will not be shared and will not form any part of the selection process or divulged to members of the selection, recruiting or interview panels.  Completion of the form is mandatory and your application will not be accepted without an EDI.  However, you will have the option to 'prefer not say' on any of the questions.