PhD Studentship - Air Pollution, Heat and Other Environmental Exposures in Relation to Cognitive Ageing: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Overview

This PhD project at the University of Exeter, based in the Department of Public Health and Sport Sciences, looks at how the environments people live in influence brain ageing. The student will use the PROTECT study, a large UK online cohort with repeated cognitive assessments, to investigate whether long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution, heat and other environmental factors is associated with cognitive decline in later life.

The work involves linking environmental exposure data to longitudinal cognitive and health outcomes, identifying vulnerable groups, and exploring how different exposure windows shape the results. Training covers exposure science, environmental epidemiology, cognitive ageing and longitudinal data analysis.

What you get

The project is one of up to 18 MRC-funded studentships offered through the GW4 BioMed3 Doctoral Landscape Programme, with a start date of October 2027. The studentships last four years. Funding covers UK tuition fees and a doctoral stipend matching the UK Research Council national minimum, which is 21,805 pounds per year for 2026/27 and is updated annually. Up to 5,000 pounds per year is also available for research training and support costs.

Who can apply

The studentships are open to UK and international students. This project competes for a place with projects across the whole MRC GW4 BioMed3 Doctoral Landscape Award, in which 18 studentships are available across the partnership.

Key dates

The closing date is 21 October 2026, and the studentship begins in October 2027.