PhD Studentship: Engineering Gene Drives for Pest Insect Suppression
Overview
The University of East Anglia, through the School of Biological Sciences, offers a four-year PhD research project titled Engineering Gene Drives for Pest Insect Suppression. The project focuses on the Mediterranean fruitfly, a global agricultural pest that threatens food security and causes billion-dollar annual losses. Participants will build, test, and optimise critical components required to advance CRISPR-based gene drive technologies toward field readiness as sustainable alternatives to pesticides. The position is based on site in the United Kingdom and begins on 1 October 2027.
Who can apply
Candidates must hold at least a UK equivalence Bachelors Honours 2:1 degree. Applicants must also meet the English Language requirement equivalent to the Faculty of Science standard of IELTS 6.5 overall with 6 in each category. Selection for admission is conducted without regard to gender, marital or civil partnership status, disability, race, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, age, or social background. Bespoke templates for applicant Personal and Research statements must be used for those sections of the application form to support accessibility for underrepresented groups.
What you get
The studentship is awarded as part of the Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership and is fully funded for four years. The award covers tuition fees paid directly to the university, a living expenses stipend set at the 2026/27 rate of £21,805 per annum, and a Research Training Support Grant of £5,000 per year. Participants also receive interdisciplinary training, take part in placements at Keele and Imperial College, and complete a mandatory three-month professional internship placement during the course of the studies.
Requirements
The work involves developing and applying a split-drive optimisation pipeline by separating Cas9 and gRNA components to determine performance parameters. Focus areas include isolating promoters, guides, and targets to improve homing while suppressing efficiency-degrading factors like resistance alleles and shadow drive. Candidates will concentrate initially on component optimisation and phenotyping protocol establishment before progressing to target selection for field-deployability testing.
How to apply
Applications must incorporate the bespoke templates for the Personal and Research statements available on the Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Programme website. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to interviews scheduled for 2, 3, and 4 February 2027.
Key dates
The closing date for applications is 30 November 2026. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed on 2, 3, and 4 February 2027. The start date for the studentship is 1 October 2027.