EIT PhD Projects
EIT-Funded PhD Project Areas
There will be many opportunities for graduate students to work at the Institute. The projects of our incoming students span multiple domains, are collaborations between the University of Oxford and EIT and represent valuable connection points between the two organisations.
We are currently planning for 2026 entry and will be recruiting students across the below domains and to work with University and EIT supervisors. Specific project proposals will be released shortly. In the meantime, you can register your interest here, telling us about your areas of interest.
Generative Biology
The vision of the GBI is to lay the foundations for engineering biology and unlock its potential for good. To achieve this, we must overcome two key challenges. First, we need the ability to write in the natural language of biology, enabling the rapid and scalable synthesis of entire genomes with precision. Second, we must understand what to write in DNA, determining which DNA sequences will generate biological systems that perform the desired functions. Addressing these challenges will allow us to harness the full power of biology to create transformative solutions across health, agriculture, clean energy and more. GBI is focused on solving the two critical challenges in making biology engineerable and applying the solutions to addressing the global challenges encapsulated in EIT’s humane endeavours.
Pathogen Detection
The GPAS Pathogen Project is building a global pathogen monitoring ecosystem using frontier approaches such as metagenomics, federated data infrastructures, and AI.
Economics of Longevity
Economics is a powerful tool for impact: it can quantify societal benefit in order to identify the most impactful solutions, set targets and understand trade-offs. It’s also the language of government and business, making it crucial to delivering systems level change. The Economics platform aims to do just that, enabling a future where ideas lead to innovation, and innovation delivers global societal benefit. Our team of economics experts and researchers will develop the economic case for transformative solutions, and shape EIT’s programs throughout their life cycle – from initial ideation to business planning and scaling. One of the areas we’ll explore is the policies, institutions and economic thinking needed for a world where we don’t just live longer – but stay healthy and productive for longer. A transformation from an ageing society to a ‘longevity society’ would deliver a three-dimensional dividend.
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
We’re combining foundation models with the latest robotic hardware to drive high-speed, AI-guided experiments to help shorten the research cycle from idea to result. We collaborate across disciplines and borders, building tools, systems and programs that harness the immense powers of rigorous minds and data technology to create a better future. This connectivity between stakeholders and sectors supercharges outcomes.
We are building a world-class AI team across seven synergistic pillars: AI Research; ML Applied; Data Engineering; Infrastructure; AI Talent & Engagement; AI Operations; Robotics Research.
Materials & Devices for Life Sciences
Materials & Devices for Life Sciences at EIT is focused on developing nanopore sensing and sequencing to transform clinical and personal diagnostics with powerful new devices that could be used at home or in point-of-care settings, and the scalable development of personalised therapeutics through the exploration of both synthetic tissue-like materials and living tissues prepared by three-dimensional printing.
Plant Biology
As the demands on our global food system continue to grow, our programs within the Plant Biology Institute will work to enable every farm across the globe to produce more food with less land and fewer resources. The green revolution in the 20th century radically increased food production, enabled by new technologies, fertilisers and knowledge. Since then, improvements in productivity have not kept pace with the dramatic increase in demand of our food system. To feed a growing population and support better health outcomes, we need a second green revolution. We need the technologies, data, and policy frameworks to produce more food, while reducing impacts on our planet’s climate and biodiversity. We are exploring every facet of this complex challenge landscape, to identify the most impactful market-based solutions ranging from data to plant sciences, as well as the policy and economic frameworks needed.
Correlates of Immunity
The purpose of this programme is to re-imagine how we design and develop vaccines by combining cutting-edge immunology with new artificial intelligence to understand human immunity and predict what protects us from serious infections. To achieve this, we are using advanced human immunological and genetic tools - alongside experimental medicine studies including human pathogen challenge - to decode the mechanisms of protective human immunity against key pathogens. This work will unlock a new world of understanding of human biology to conquer some of the difficult challenges in infectious diseases.