Wessex One Health Doctoral Landscape Award Scholarships 2026

Source: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/fees-funding/phd-funding/view/1866-Wessex-One-Health-BBSRC-Doctoral-Landscape-Award-scholarships Parent: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/fees-funding/phd-funding/browse

Wessex One Health BBSRC Doctoral Landscape Award scholarships (2026)

Our doctoral programme funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC) trains postgraduate researcher in interdisciplinary approaches to Infection Biosciences across all classes of pathogens. Researchers aim to combat existing and future disease threats to human and animal health, including emerging infections, vector-borne diseases, antimicrobial resistance and food insecurity.

What you get

PhD studentships cover four years of UK or International PhD fees and a tax free maintenance allowance (currently £20,780 in 2025-6) plus some research and travel costs.

Type of award

PhD scholarship

PhD project

About Wessex One Health (WOH)

Our Wessex One Health Doctoral Landscape Award programme brings together the expertise of our three university partners and four major UK institutes with national capability for working on high consequence pathogens, to provide a broad training and research experience for students, with the following highlights:

Wide range of research projects on offer
Cross-institutional supervisory teams
Opportunities to train at high containment
Cohort training in genomics, bioinformatics, applied AI
Cohort-building activities across all partners
Opportunities for studentships working with industry partners
Wide range of short industrial placement opportunities.

WOH Partners

University of Surrey (Guildford)
University of Sussex, Including Brighton and Sussex Medical School(Brighton)
University of Exeter, MRC Centre for Medical Mycology
The Pirbright Institute (Woking, Surrey)
Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) (Weybridge, Surrey),
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) (Porton Down, Wiltshire or Colindale, London)
Defence Science Technology Laboratory (Dstl) (Porton Down, Wiltshire)

Sussex supervisors are offering the following projects for September 2026:

Eligibility

Who we are looking for

You will have the ambition, motivation and scientific curiosity to research new approaches to combatting infectious diseases in the themes of:

Detection, prevention and intervention
Microbial evolution and drug resistance
Understanding disease spread
Infection and cellular biology.

You will have or expect to have an MSc, and/or a first or upper second honours degree in a relevant subject. We welcome applications from graduates of all universities, and from candidates already in work, or returning after a career break.

Note: Lab experience is desirable but not essential as all successful applicants will be trained in basic lab skills where applicable.

The Scholarships are open to both UK and International applicants but 70% of each cohort of students must be UK and some of the host laboratories have further nationality or residency requirements for their researchers, so bear this in mind when selecting your four project preferences.

In order to be eligible to apply for the necessary security clearance, applicants for projects with Dstl must be a UK national, currently resident in the UK, and have resided in the UK continuously for the past five year. Applicants for projects including laboratory work at APHA, UKHSA or Pirbright Institute must be currently resident in the UK and have at least three years continuous UK residency. Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) clearance is required prior to commencing work at all the above laboratories. Please contact the supervisors of your chosen project if you have any questions.

The University Admissions team will check your application in detail but in general you count as a UK student if you are

a UK national who has been living in the UK or EU for the three years prior to starting your course;
an EU national with Settled Status;
an EU national with Pre-Settled status who has been living in the UK or the EU for 3 years prior to starting your course;
a student with Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK;
an Irish National (due to a reciprocal agreement with the UK)

All other students (e.g. EU nationals moving to the UK to start their PhD) will count as Overseas students.

Number of scholarships available

17 PhD studentships are available for October 2026 start across the consortium.

Deadline

23 January 2026 23:59

How to apply

Applicants should submit an application form and complete our EDI survey by the deadline - January 23rd 2026

Prospective students are asked to select up to four projects from those available. The Sussex projects are listed in Section 14 of the application form.

Shorlisted applicants will be invited to an online interview where you will record your responses. If you are invited for interview you should contact your preferred supervisor/s if you have not already done so before applying.

Contact us

For Sussex-specific enquiries contact pgr-scholarships@sussex.ac.uk

For information on our Sussesx projects contact our Sussex supervisors named in the project descriptions.

For further information on the programme or application process, email WOH@surrey.ac.uk.

You might also be interested in

You can see further information about the Wessex One Health programme here.

Timetable

The timetable is as follows:

Submission deadline: January 23rd 2026
Online interviews: w/c March 3rd 2026

Availability

At level(s):\ PG (research)

Application deadline:\ 23 January 2026 23:59 (GMT) \ the deadline has now expired

Countries

The award is available to people from these specific countries:

Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia-Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Channel Islands not otherwise specified Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of the Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curacao Cyprus (European Union) Cyprus (Non-European Union) Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guam (USA) Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China) [Hong Kong] Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan) Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea Northern Ireland Northern Mariana Islands Norway Not Known Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Island Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russian Federation Rwanda S. Georgia and S. Sandwich Isls. Saint Barthelemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Anguilla Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French Part) Saint Tome (Sao Tome) and Principe Saint Vincent and Grenadines Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Scotland Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch Part) Slovak Republic Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Stateless Sudan Suriname Swaziland (Eswatini) Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United Kingdom, not otherwise specified United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City (Holy See) Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (British) Wales Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe