NIHR GOSH BRC Call for PhD Project Proposals

The NIHR GOSH BRC is a collaboration between Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH). In 2022, we secured £35 million for our fourth term until 2022 - 2027.

In our fourth term of funding, the NIHR GOSH BRC has five strategic research themes: genomic medicine, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, gene, stem and cellular therapies, accelerating novel therapies and applied child health and informatics. Alongside our themes, our Central Development Hub includes our career development academy, business development and patient and public involvement and engagement activities, which support our continued efforts to translate research into patient benefits.

Essential to delivering the BRC’s strategy is also our newly created Paediatric Excellence Initiative, a partnership between the BRC, Alder Hey, Birmingham and Sheffield Children’s Hospitals.

To begin activities in the BRC’s first year of funding, our Career Development Academy is advertising a call for PhD project proposals, suitable for a three-year non-clinical BRC PhD Studentship beginning in October 2023. Successful students will be appointed and registered as UCL PhD students and will be based at GOSH and/or ICH. Projects may be collaborative and involve a Subsidiary supervisor and/or student time at our partner sites within the Paediatric Excellence Initiative (Alder Hey, Birmingham and Sheffield Children’s Hospitals). UCL CDTs in AI and i4health are also invited to submit projects, with a supervisor from within the CDT structure. In all these scenarios, a minimum of two thirds of the time of the studentship must be spent at GOSH and/or ICH and the principal supervisor must be substantively employed by GOSH or UCL (based at ICH).

We will accept project proposals where the student would be primarily based at the Francis Crick Institute, but in this scenario the principal supervisor must be substantively employed by GOSH and/ UCL (based at ICH).

We have funding for five studentships, with one to be supported within each of our research themes. Our themes have outlined a remit for PhD project proposals to align to, which can be found in the table in the guidance document. Any project proposal will need to demonstrate how it aligns with the remit of one of the themes. Please read the guidance document carefully before submitting your project proposal. BRC funding is not allowed to support basic science projects (i.e. not translational), any research using animals or clinical projects supporting phase III trials. Therefore, these types of projects are not eligible for this call.

Projects must propose a Primary and Subsidiary supervisory team that meets all UCL eligibility requirements, as defined by UCL Academic Manual: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/academic-manual/chapters/chapter-5-research-degrees-framework). Please read this document carefully before submitting your project outline to ensure you meet the eligibility criteria. Any Subsidiary supervisors from our Paediatric Excellence Initiative must also be able to demonstrate they meet UCL eligibility requirements.

• To submit a project proposal for consideration, please complete the NIHR GOSH BRC PhD Studentship - Project Outline Submission Form as a word document to brc@gosh.nhs.uk. Please also include copies of the supervisors’ CVs.
• The deadline for receipt of project proposal applications is Monday 6th March 2023.

Following submission of project proposals there will be several stages to the process of selecting projects and students:

• There will be a preliminary review of the project proposals by a shortlisting panel consisting of representatives from each BRC theme, the BRC Career Development Academy, the BRC Leadership Team, the Paediatric Excellence Initiative and the BRC Junior Faculty. The Panel will select up to three projects per research theme for inclusion in the project portfolio, which will be included in the Studentship advert. The shortlisting panel will also check suitability of the supervisors with the relevant departments to confirm they meet the requirements of being a supervisor. The selection criteria can be found in the guidance document.
• The studentship will be advertised widely, and prospective students will specify first and second choice projects as part of their applications.
• After which, a shortlisting and interview process will take place, which will involve representatives from each BRC theme, the BRC Career Development Academy, the BRC Leadership Team, the Paediatric Excellence Initiative, the BRC Junior Faculty and the relevant supervisors.
• Successful applicants will then work with the supervisor on a full PhD project proposal which will be submitted for internal peer review, and approval by the UCL/ICH Student's Thesis Committee. Full approval will only be confirmed after this review process has taken place.