Current PhD opportunities

PhD studentships

We have this opening for a fully funded PhD studentship in our school (ILESLA). Please see below for details on this opportunity. 

 

BBSRC-NERC funded ‘Interdisciplinary Life and Environmental Science Landscape Award’ (ILESLA) PhD studentship opportunities 

The Open University has partnered with University of Oxford (lead university), Oxford Brookes University, The Pirbright Institute, Diamond Light Source, and ISIS Neutron and Muon Source to launch the BBSRC-NERC funded Interdisciplinary Life and Environmental Science Landscape Award (ILESLA). This ambitious doctoral training programme will prepare a new generation of creative, collaborative, and entrepreneurial researchers who are equipped to meet the complex, cross-disciplinary challenges the world faces.  

The primary aim of ILESLA is to cultivate researchers capable of developing innovative solutions to challenges in and at the intersection of biological and environmental sciences, focusing on five interconnected themes: 

  • Climate and Earth; Advancing understanding of climate and earth systems.
  • Biodiversity and Sustainability; Sustainable approaches to support food, feed and energy security, manufacturing and biodiversity.
  • Animal and Human Health; Innovative approaches to understand and support animal and human health.
  • Rules of Life; Frontier science addressing fundamental questions about biological organisms and ecosystems.
  • Transformative Technologies; Development of tools and technologies underpinning biological and environmental research. 

You can view a full list of research topics within each theme here. 

This exciting award is expected to fund at least ten new PhD students at The Open University, across five intakes (2025 – 2029) and to fund students registered at the University of Oxford or Oxford Brookes University who will be co-supervised by researchers at The Open University. Recruitment will be annual.

Further details on how to apply can be found here.

To identify suitable supervisors from our School, you can consult the excel file linked below, which contains a list of LHCS supervisors, with their research webpage (when available), research themes and keywords. ILESLA_LHCS_supervisors_Dec2025.xlsx

The application deadline for October 2026 entry is Thursday, 8th January 2026 at 12:00 midday UK time.