Help fund the next generation of MND researchers
Finding a cure for MND is likely to take many years and will most likely be found, not by the scientists of today, but by the scientists of tomorrow. Our PhD studentships encourage promising young students to develop a career in MND research.
The grants of approximately £100,000 over three years are awarded to established senior researchers, based at UK institutes, who have demonstrable experience of postgraduate student supervision. The senior researcher will recruit a student who holds a first or upper second-class honours degree. The PhD students are asked to submit annual reports as well as a final report at the end of the grant period.
"I’ve been interested in science my whole life. Fundamentally, I think I just like knowing how things work. After an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science I did an MSc in Neuroscience at the University of Sheffield, where I spent some time working on a very rare, very severe form of MND called LCCS1. I then worked as a research technician for two years in the MRC London Brain Bank at Kings College London.
"Sheffield and Kings both have world-class MND research centres, and after learning a huge amount from leading scientists at both institutes, I knew that this was what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing.
"In 2015 I was lucky enough to be offered an MND Association-funded PhD position at the University of Oxford. Studying at Oxford was the experience of a lifetime, and one I’ll always be grateful for.
"Since finishing my PhD, I’m continuing to work on MND as a post-doctoral researcher in Dr Coltilde Lagier-Tourenne’s lab at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School.
"My work at MGH is quite different from my PhD, but ultimately has the same goal – to gain insight into the disease and develop new treatments to improve the lives of patients.
"I truly believe that in time we’ll reach this goal, and hope that in a small way, I can contribute.”
Matthew Nolan
Get in touch
Contact us to find out more about our current PhD studentships and how your donation could make a difference.
- Call us: 01604 611853
- Email us: trusts@mndassociation.org