Postgraduate Research in Biology
With an international research reputation and support and training structures to help you develop your skills and enhance your employability, the University of Leicester is the natural choice for the next generation of world-class researchers.
Study for a PhD or MPhil
- PhD and MPhil in Biology
- Other PhD and MPhil Degrees
- Studentships and Funding
- Advice for Applicants
- Postgraduate Research at Leicester
Recent PhD and MPhil Projects
- Promotor Trapping in Arabidopsis thaliana: Characterization of T-DNA Tagged Lines
- Genomic Interactions in Wheat-Rye Hybrids: Nuclear Dominance, DNA Methylation, and Chromatin Topology
- Plasticity of Aimed Limb Movements in Locusts
- Origin and Evolution of Japanese Knotweed sensu lato
- Resolution of Conflicts of Interest between Freshwater Fish Species
Learn more about Research in the Department of Biology.
Training for Postgraduate Researchers
Each postgraduate researcher is assigned an academic supervisor who has overall responsibility for management of the research project and for the development of project-related skills.
Your progress is monitored and assessed by your supervisor, plus two independent assessors. You are required annually to produce and defend reports on your work, and to present departmental seminars in each year of your course. There is also a postgraduate tutor who oversees delivery of the training programme and provides pastoral care.
Under the aegis of the College and the Graduate School the Department operates an integrated research training programme, which provides for the acquisition of broad, science-related knowledge outside the immediate project area, and the acquisition of key transferable skills.
Facilities for Postgraduate Researchers
Departmental research facilities are comprehensive. For plant studies there are excellent growth facilities including many controlled environment chambers and greenhouses. For animal studies there are a range of freshwater tank rooms and numerous controlled environment insect rooms. There are state of the art facilities for behavioural and electrophysiological studies, including patch clamp and multielectrode array recording, and video-based movement analysis.
The Department has photobiological facilities of the highest order and state-of-the-art facilities for transgenic plant production and culture. Within the Department there are light and fluorescence microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy facilities allowing real-time and 3D image analysis of subcellular structure and real-time protein-protein interactions in living cells. There is a departmental vehicle and a wide range of equipment for use in both terrestrial and aquatic field studies. There is also an herbarium with an important reference library and an associated Botanic Garden with experimental greenhouses, controlled environment facilities and a research laboratory.
Within the Adrian Building there is a well-equipped electron microscopy laboratory and in the adjacent Maurice Shock building is an advanced confocal light microscope facility, including a multiphoton microscope for in vivo neuroscience. Further joint facilities include a Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry laboratory offering excellent state-of-the-art biomolecular resource services. Extensive computing and IT facilities are available at departmental level and through the University network.
