StudyQA — PhD: Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences

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The Division of Diabetes & Nutritional Sciences brings together basic scientists, clinicians and public health practitioners in the two disciplines to develop evidence based strategies for the prevention of diet related and metabolic diseases.

Diabetes Research has as its remit the improvement of outcomes in diabetes care from the bench through the bedside to the community. The science of nutrition is concerned with understanding the effects of food on the body in both health and disease. Both subjects require a multidisciplinary approach, and researchers within the Division interact with each other, and with researchers across the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, to develop a focus on understanding Type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, especially of the gastrointestinal tract. The aim is to apply this knowledge to new preventive and therapeutic interventions.

The Division's activity centres on four major groups:

Diabetes Research
Diet and Cardiovascular Health
Diet and Gastrointestinal Health
Metal Metabolism

The Diabetes Research group is present on both the Guy's and Denmark Hill campuses, with extensive laboratory space in the Hodgkin Building at Guy's housing research in islet physiology and development and in the application of nanotechnology to both cell therapy and to glucose sensing/insulin delivery. Administrative offices, a human cell isolation laboratory and a satellite islet research laboratory specialising in islet growth and culture, together with a laboratory for thyroid autoimmunity are present on the Denmark Hill site.

Nutritional Sciences Research is based in the Franklin-Wilkins Building at Waterloo and has access to first-class research facilities across the College, and at Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College Hospitals. Within the Franklin-Wilkins Building we have well-equipped laboratories with specialised facilities and analytical equipment, including 5-channel FACS, GCMS, GC, confocal microscope imaging, cell culture, HPLC, a ballistic bomb calorimeter, DIGE electrophoresis and spot picker and an ILAB 650 chemistry analyser. Members of the Division use the Mass Spectrometry and the Genomics Centres within the Franklin-Wilkins Building, and also have access to the College's NMR and Electron Microscopy core facilities. A clinical pathology accredited (CPA) laboratory is available at King's College Hospital.

Facilities for conducting research on human subjects are provided on three sites: we have a purpose-built Metabolic Research Unit in the Franklin-Wilkins building and Clinical Research Facilities at both St Thomas' and King's College Hospitals, that provide state-of-the-art facilities for performing studies of in vivo metabolism (including use of insulin clamp and stable isotope infusion technologies) and measuring vascular function, exercise, visual function, body composition and cognitive function.

There is extensive external collaboration both at national (MRC-HNR Cambridge, Cancer Research UK Oxford, University of Reading, University of Surrey, University of Southampton, UCL, ICL) and at international level (NIFES Bergen, EU projects, University of Maastricht Netherlands, University Wageningen Netherlands, Caribbean, Ghana, Malaysia, Japan and USA), with the food and pharmaceutical industries (e.g. Unilever, Nestle, Premier Foods, Vifor, Glaxo Smith Kline, Archer Daniel Mills) and with the public sector (in particular with the Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency).

Course study environment

Students work alongside staff researchers, supervised by two members of academic staff and overseen by the Divisional Postgraduate Research Co-ordinators. Students' progress is monitored closely and reported on every six months.

Postgraduate training

All staff undergo regular training in research supervision and each student is allocated a first and second supervisor. The College has a Graduate School that provides opportunities for students to broaden their horizons and acquire transferable skills. All PhD students are first enrolled on an MPhil and are expected to complete a transfer to PhD within the first year. Postgraduate tutors are in place to support and monitor PhD/ MD Res student progress and to ensure reports are signed off in a timely basis using a College based reporting system. Individual research groups organise journal clubs and peer review protocol development and data analysis plans. Clinical research fellows funded by the BRC/ NIHR are supported by a STEMC cluster training programme which includes advice on fellowship applications. There are weekly research seminar programmes organised by Diabetes & Nutritional Sciences Division as well as by the Biomedical Forum and a programme of lectures organised by the KCL/GSTTBRC with outstanding external lecturers. Students participate in an annual postgraduate research symposium and are encouraged to present their research at meetings of Diabetes UK, the Biochemical Society, the Physiological Society and the Nutrition Society. All students are regularly notified about skills development opportunities through a monthly Postgraduate Research Newsletter. There are also opportunities to participate in the European Nutrition Leadership Programme.

A Diploma Magistra with high grades will be considered for programmes requiring a UK Master's degree.
Short-listed applicants will be interviewed by at least two academics. Proposed research projects must be approved by the Head of Division and Research Degree Co-ordinator before an offer can be made.
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A personal statement which outlines the candidate's motivation to undertake a postgraduate research degree and their relevant qualifications, skills and experience is required for all applications. Unless applying for an advertised studentship, candidates should also list, in order of preference, up to three supervisors with which they would like to study. We strongly advise candidates to approach prospective supervisors before applying, as this speeds up the application process.
Full transcripts for all degrees you have undertaken are required. The transcript for each degree should list all modules taken and the grades achieved. Applicants who are still enrolled on a course should supply partial transcripts of the modules taken and grades achieved so far, as well as a list of the modules that are currently being taken and the date when results are expected.
Please also list A-level subjects and the grades achieved, and provide details of any voluntary work or relevant experience.