PhD/MPhil Plant Science / Programme details

Our PhD/MPhil Plant Science programme enables you to undertake a research project that will improve understanding of Plant Science.

Food security and a healthy diet within the context of a growing global population and climate change has become major challenges of our time, particularly if this is coupled with the need to find more sustainable and renewable sources of biofuels and chemicals.

Research in Manchester addresses both these issues, firstly by engineering plant development to generate plants that have a higher yield, improved nutrition and are also more resistant to external stress and, secondly, by exploiting plants and microalgae to generate renewable and sustainable biofuels, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Well-characterised model plants such as Arabidopsis, as well as crops and natural species, are used in interdisciplinary approaches that entail interactions between groups across the University.

A range of funding agencies, as well as industrial sponsors, support our research projects. After graduation, our students go on to have successful careers in plant sciences, industry or academia.

Three major themes run through our plant sciences research:

• manipulating plant development to increase yield and stress resilience;
• biochemistry and genetics of plastids and their use as cell factories;
• optimising plant defence at the cellular level.

Training and development

All of our postgraduate researchers attend the Doctoral Academy Training Programme delivered by the Researcher Development team . The programme provides key transferable skills and equips our postgraduate researchers with the tools to progress beyond their research degree into influential positions within academia, industry and consultancy. The emphasis is on enhancing skills critical to developing early-stage researchers and professionals, whether they relate to effective communication, disseminating research findings and project management skills.

PhD/MPhil programmes are based on individual research projects that last three to four years (PhD) or one to two years (MPhil), working with a specific Primary Supervisor and Co-Supervisor(s).

Applicants are specifically matched with a Primary Supervisor and individual project based on their research interests and background.

International applicants interested in this research area can also consider our PhD programme with integrated teaching certificate .

This unique programme will enable you to gain a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning, whilst also carrying out independent research on your chosen project.

Find out more about what it's like to undertake a postgraduate research degree at Manchester on the Doctoral Academy Blog and the support available through our Faculty Doctoral Academy.

You will have access to a range of  research and learning facilities  across the University and at some of our partner organisations.