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AstraZeneca
co-funded PhD Collaborations

Now accepting applications

AstraZeneca has been a strong supporter and sponsor of UK-based collaborative PhD studentships for many years. We have a significant portfolio of collaborations, which provide great benefits for the company, academics and students. You can access the general objectives and scope for the 2025 call here.

You are restricted to the submission of one proposal per individual academic as a PI. However, we would like to encourage collaboration between academic staff at the same or different universities, so we very much welcome proposals with joint supervisory support, so a PI for one proposal can be a secondary contributor on additional proposals.

Proposals should be a maximum three pages in length. Proposals should provide a brief background to the area, any preliminary results (if relevant) and highlight research novelty. Of significant consideration to reviewers of proposals (in addition to novel and interesting science), is that the project should provide good research training to a prospective student and an expectation that publication(s) should arise. A brief statement summarising training benefit and potential publications should be included.

This year's deadline for submission is September 27th 2024. Proposals will be shared and reviewed across AstraZeneca UK science functions as part of AstraZeneca's internal review process. Offers of sponsored studentships will be made known in November 2024 with expected start date of October 2025. In common with previous years we will have two levels of support including a number EPSRC Industrial Doctoral Landscape Awards (IDLAs) as well as studentships where a level of matched funding would be expected to be found by the host university. When you are ready, click the "Submit a proposal" button above

To increase transparency of the process we have listed the proposals we supported in previous calls below.

Awarded in 2024
Dr Roly Armstrong University of Newcastle A modular approach for the stereoselective synthesis of bioinspired C–N atropisomeric molecules
Dr Louis Morrill University of Bath Electrochemical aromatic C-H heterofunctionalization
Dr Paul Dingwall Queens University Belfast Mechanistic investigation of Cu-catalysed C-N coupling using high throughput kinetic experimentation
Professor Bao Nguyen University of Leeds Organic synthesis in water with bended surfactants
Dr Maximilian Besenhard University College London Versatile reactor and process analytic platform overcoming current limitations of flow chemistry and unravelling reaction dynamics
Professor Aurora Cruz Cabeza University of Durham Conformational evolution and amorphisation/crystallisation tendencies
Dr John Ward University of Liverpool Development of heterogeneous photocatalysts and reactors for production-scale photoredox catalysis
Dr Gregory Perry University of Southampton Dual-function reagents: an enabling strategy for late-stage isotope labelling
Professor Anna Croft University of Loughborough Automated high throughput machine learning-guided condition optimisation for biocatalysis
Dr William Unsworth University of York Modular Synthesis of Medicinally Relevant Macrocycles via Cascade Ring Expansion Reactions
Dr Mattia Silvi University of Nottingham A skeletal editing strategy for saturated N-heterocycles
Dr Daniele Castagnolo University College London Characterization and development of nitrile reductase (NiRED) enzymes as biocatalysts for the sustainable synthesis of primary amines


Awarded in 2023
Dr David Nelson University of Strathclyde Understanding Nickel (Pre-)Catalyst Activation, Speciation, and Inhibition
Dr Matthew Grayson University of Bath Machine learning transition state geometries
Dr Liam Ball University of Nottingham Design, Synthesis and Optimisation of Ligand Systems for Cross-Coupling
Dr Michael James The University of Manchester Nucleophilic amination with an azanide surrogate
Prof Gavin Miller University of Keele Harnessing flow biocatalysis as an enabling technology for manufacturing oligonucleotide therapeutics
Prof Allan Watson University of St Andrews Enabling the use of aryl chlorides in Sonogashira couplings
Prof Stuart James Queen's University Belfast Toward low-carbon API manufacturing through greater understanding of synthesis by extrusion
Dr Bao Nguyen University of Leeds Fluorination with Simple Fluoride Salts in Water
Prof Chris Price University of Strathclyde Enhancing sustainability in crystallization and isolation by recovery of API from mother liquors
Prof Craig Butts University of Bristol IMPRESSION+GAMES - A Generative Machine Learning System to Elucidate Chemical Structures
Dr John Bower University of Liverpool Asymmetric α-Alkylation of Carbonyl Compounds via Directed Enolization
Prof Stephen Thomas University of Edinburgh Boron catalysis for new routes to amines
Dr Megan Wright University of Leeds A small molecule approach to spatial and temporal control of covalent inhibition in cells
Dr Charlotte Willans University of York Electrochemical Synthesis and screening of base metal catalysis in flow: towards sustainable manufacturing
Prof Zoltan Takats The Rosalind Franklin Institute/Imperial College Structural elucidation of small molecules using tandem mass spectrometry and accurately predicted fragmentation patterns
Prof Alastair Florence University of Strathclyde AZ-CMAC research in amorphous systems: Framework for Rational Amorphous API Development
Prof Kylie Vincent University of Oxford More sustainable biocatalytic imine reductions to chiral amines with hydrogen-driven NADPH recycling, operated in batch and continuous flow


Awarded in 2022
Dr Ashwin Kumar Rajagopalan University of Manchester Engineering Downstream Processes to Enhance Processability of Crystallized Products
Dr Silvia Diez-Gonzalez Imperial College London Unlocking the Full Potential of Deep Eutectic Solvents in Synthesis
Dr Mattia Silvi University of Nottingham Late-stage functionalisation through polarity mismatched radical reactions
Prof Tim Donohoe University of Oxford Catalytic dearomatisation reactions of N-heteroarenes
Dr Bao Nguyen University of Leeds Electrochemical Flow Processes for Ni-Catalysed Coupling Reactions
Prof Andrew Livingston Queen Mary University of London Membrane Separation in API Manufacture – Scoping and Performance Prediction
Prof Jerry Heng Imperial College London Crystallisation of Large Molecules with Nanotemplates and Advanced Modelling Tools
Dr Liam Ball University of Nottingham A General Approach to the Cross-Coupling of Aryl, Heteroaryl and Alkyl Nucleophiles
Dr Katharina Edkins University of Manchester Exploiting microheterogeneity in solvent systems for form and particle control
Dr Alex Cresswell University of Bath New Strategies for Cyclopropane Synthesis
Dr Rebecca Beveridge University of Strathclyde Development of innovative label-free methods to investigate the binding properties and degradation efficiencies of PROTACs
Prof Jon Essex University of Southampton Enhancing Protein and Ligand Sampling in Molecular Simulations by Fully Adaptive Simulated Tempering (FAST)
Dr John Ward University of Liverpool A Mobile Robotic Chemist for Reaction Optimisation
Dr Milan Antonijevic University of Greenwich Application of Thermally Stimulated Current (TSC) Spectroscopy for Qualitative and Quantitative Characterisation of Amorphous Pharmaceutical Systems.