The MRC DTP: what it means for you

John KirbyAlison Tyson-Capper

History

• In the past the MRC allocated students to Newcastle in proportion to our grant income

• We have been receiving 3 studentships per year– Doubled to 6 using local money

• These students treated as a small “cohort”– MRC Mission days (with all MRC PhD students)– Additional funding

The MRC’s 2015 training review

• Universities have been divided into 3 categories on the basis of MRC income:– Group A (10 members)– Group B (20 members)– the rest…

• Newcastle lies towards the top of Group B

The consequence for studentships

• Group A are large enough to go it alone• Group B universities must form strategic

partnerships to generate meaningful MRC student cohorts– If the partnership is too small it may not be funded– If too large, any student allocation may be stretched

too thin for any individual member to benefit• We formed a partnership with Sheffield, Leeds

and Liverpool– All the Group B within the N8 “powerhouse”

Strength of our partnership

• The MRC requires each DTP to focus on:– 3 or 4 areas of demonstrable research strength– Excellent training provision aligned with• Institution strengths• MRC/BBSRC priority skills areas

• Our DTP is called “Discovery Medicine North”

Discovery Medicine North (DiMeN)Doctoral Training Partnership in

Discovery Medicine over the Lifecourse.

NewcastleLiverpoolSheffield

Leeds

MRC/ARUK Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing

(CIMA)

White Rose studentship networks

• 4th Largest MRC funding allocation in UK • 6th Largest Wellcome funding allocation in UK

• Most MRC CASE studentships in UK (Joint with UCL)• 1000+ academics in combined doctoral academy

• MRC/BBSRC Centre for Ageing and Vitality

• NIHR BRC in Ageing and Chronic Disease

• MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases

• MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science

• Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine

• MRC/NERC Centre for Genomic Research

• Bateson Centre for Lifecourse Biology

• MRC Centre for Medical Bioinformatics

BBSRC DTP

Our (broad) research foci

• Two main scientific themes:– Genetic influences on health– Ageing and disease

• Cross-cutting theme:– The best treatment for every patient

• Stratified medicine• Precision diagnostics and molecular pathology• Whole body imaging

• 63% of Partnership MRC income maps within these areas (80% of Newcastle income).

LeedsQS BioinformaticsID Molecular Imaging

NewcastleID Human ImagingQS Genomic MedicineWP Applying the 3RsWP/QS Molecular Pathology

SheffieldQS Image processing

WP Model OrganismsID In silico medicine

LiverpoolQS Genome research

ID in vivo imaging

HarwellWP Mouse GeneticsID Molecular Imaging

MRC Strategic SkillsWP =Whole Organism PhysID = Interdisciplinary SkillsQS = Quantitative Skills

Strong training in MRC Priority Skills

Stephen RenshawAdministrative Lead

Strategy BoardJohn Kirby

Samantha AspinallGraham Kemp

Management BoardStudent representative from each RO

PGR leads from each ROTraining Lead from each RO

External Advisory

Board

Local PGR committees

DTP management

The outcome

• The MRC has awarded our DTP 12 x 42 month studentships per year for 3 years

• Doubled using local money to 24 per year– All studentships will carry the MRC brand

• There is no pre-determined allocation of students to each institution– All studentships are held centrally by the Partnership– Students will be allocated using a 2-step competition

• we know this works well for our BBSRC DTP.

The competition

• Stage 1– Supervisory teams form• Existing MRC support is not a requirement• We estimate 20% will be cross partner in year 1

– Supervisors propose projects• In future we will hold sand pit(s); no time in 2015• There is a web-based pro forma to guide you through

the process– https://

docs.google.com/forms/d/1HHs0nYoPoa9fqxafmZE_KfsKYtUzf9bF1JaWMqEMx1Y/viewform?usp=send_form

• Deadline: 27th November.

Screenshots

If you are an early career academic, please use this box to indicate how the studentship will help you toestablish your group

Project selection

• Project proposals will be scored centrally by the DTP for:

• Scientific excellence and novelty• How will this studentship add value to the partnership?• How will the project address MRC strategic skills priorities?• How will the project address MRC priority areas?• Quality and engagement of the supervisory team with DTP

objectives

• All projects above a quality threshold are supportable and will be advertised– We will advertise more projects than we can finance

• Students will apply directly to supervisors.

Student selection

• Stage 2– Supervisors draw up shortlist and proceed to interview

• Interview is attended by a DTP representative for uniformity• The best applicant is scored using a pro forma• Important: supervisors do not offer the studentship

– Details are fed back to the DTP Management Board– A final list of successful students is agreed– Supervisors are informed that their project/student

combination has been successful– Successful students register using the normal university portal

• Become students of the lead supervisor’s institution• At Newcastle, they will be hosted by a Research Institute and our

Graduate School as normal.

The cost

• Total cost per studentship ≈ £82,000• Established supervisors:– MRC will pay 50%– Faculty will pay 25%– Supervisor/institute responsible for 25%

• Early career academics (NURFs, Fellows, etc):– MRC will pay 50%– Faculty will pay 50%.

The benefit

• A prestigious MRC studentship• Consumables budget (≈ £4K per year)• Opportunity to build scientific collaborations• Access to scientific facilities at 4 leading universities• Enhanced student training activities• Access additional MRC “flexible funding” to support:– High cost courses, laboratory and industry visits, etc– High cost experiments (in vivo skills, facility access charges,

etc)– Career development (bridge to first post-doc).