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 2026 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 30th 2025. 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 2025 with expected start date of October 2026. For the majority of successful proposals, we plan to offer Industrial Doctoral Landscape Awards (IDLAs in partnership with the EPSRC for fully funded PhDs.) We may also offer part top up funding which can be used, together with university EPSRC funds, to build a studentship. 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 2025
Dr Nicholas Mitchell	University of Nottingham	Traceless chemoenzymatic peptide synthesis
Professor Peter O’Connor	University of Warwick	New approaches to mass spectrometry analysis of cyclic and bicyclic peptides
Professor Frank Sobott	University of Leeds	Novel mass spectrometry tools for higher-order structure of siRNA and sgRNA
Dr Ashwin Rajagopalan	University of Manchester	Smart Crystals: Computer Vision and Machine Learning Assisted Industrial Crystallization Modeling and Control
Professor Joe Harrity	University of Sheffield	VAsymmetric Atropisomer Synthesis via Dynamic Resolution of Boronic Esters
Professor Darren Dixon	University of Oxford	New Cross Coupling Reactions of Alcohols
Professor Robert Phipps	University of Cambridge	Catalytic Enantioselective Hydrogen Abstraction
Professor Zoltan Takats	Imperial College London	Prediction of tandem mass spectra of linker-payloads for acceleration of antibody-drug conjugate discovery and development
Professor Huiyu Zhau	University of Leicester	Unravelling Organoid Heterogeneity and Drug Response with a Novel Foundation Model
Dr Jennifer Garden	University of Edinburgh	Na/Fe Cooperativity for C-H Functionalisation of Alkenes and Arenes
Professor Thomas Chamberlain	University of Nottingham	Digitally directed optimisation of mixed metal oxide catalysts for hydrogenations of heteroaromatics and downstream functionalisation

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.

Awarded in 2021
Dr Robert Phipps	University of Cambridge	Chiral cation strategies in asymmetric transition metal catalysis
Dr Richard Bourne	University of Leeds	Microscale and Segmented Processes Towards A Carbon Neutral Vision of Process Optimisation
Prof Fernanda Duarte	University of Oxford	Accurate prediction of chemical reactions in solution
Prof David Procter	University of Manchester	Sulfonium salts in transition metal-free cross-couplings
Prof Peter O’Brien	University of York	Stereospecific Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling of Saturated Heterocyclic Boronates
Dr Rachel Smith	University of Sheffield	Drying of Pharmaceutical Compounds - Predicting and Reducing Undesired Agglomeration
Dr Dimitrios Gerogiorgis	University of Edinburgh	Technoeconomically Optimal & Environmentally Benign Pharmaceutical Manufacturing at High Process Mass Intensity (PMI)
Dr Ali Salehi-Reyhani	Imperial College London	Measuring drug uptake and engagement in single cells to determine the drug susceptibility of metastatic breast cancer
Dr Julien Michel	University of Edinburgh	A hybrid molecular simulation/machine-learning framework for rapid and accurate computation of absolute binding free energies of lead-like molecules
Dr Stephen Thomas	University of Edinburgh	Manganese-catalysed C-H Functionalisation
Prof Ian Fairlamb	University of York	Fit for Process: Pd Catalyst Control in Problematic Csp3-CSp2 Suzuki Miyaura Cross-Couplings
Dr Michael Hall	Newcastle University	A combined statistical and high-throughput experimental approach for the predictive crystallisation of small molecules
Prof Andrew Smith	University of St Andrews	Catalytic Enantioselective Phosphoryl Transfer and Dynamic Control of P(V)-Stereogenicity
Dr James Bull	Imperial College London	Dual Catalytic C–H Alkylation: An Automated Approach to Reaction Discovery
Dr Louis Morrill	Cardiff University	New Opportunities in Enantioselective Catalysis Using Lewis Acidic Boranes
Prof Frank Marken/Dr Alex Cresswell	University of Bath	Translating Photoredox Reactions into Scalable Electrochemical Processes
Dr Jackie Mosely	Teeside University	Cyclic ion mobility separation mass spectrometry combined with tandem mass spectrometry for revolutionising the structural elucidation of small and medium sized molecules
Prof Julie Macpherson	University of Warwick	Electrochemical Techniques for Sustainable Platinum Group Metal Catalyst Removal and Recovery
Prof Sven Schroeder	University of Leeds	Towards Development of Realistic Crystallisation Digital Twins