PhD Studentship: Research Studentship in Control and Engineering Biology

University of Oxford; Oxford; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 23,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Oxford invites applications for a 3.5-year D.Phil. studentship in Synthetic Biology for fundamental science and application scale-up.

Supervisors are Prof Harrison Steel and Prof Antonis Papachristodoulou, and the project spans Synthetic Biology, Control Engineering, AI and Robotics to address global biotechnological challenges. UK students receive full award (home fees + stipend); international applicants may be considered.

Qualifications

• First class or strong 2:1 degree in any of Engineering, Materials Science, Computer Science, Physics, Biology/Biotechnology, Chemistry/Biochemistry or Mathematics.
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop synthetic biology, control engineering or AI methods to design reliable biotechnologies.
• Build robotic measurement and control platforms to automate experiments.
• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team across academia and industry.

Skills

Excellent English communication

Programming / Software Engineering

Robotics prototyping

Education

First class or strong 2:1 degree in Engineering/CS/Physics/Biology/Math

Tools

Biological lab skills

AI/Control theory knowledge

Job description

3.5-year D.Phil. studentship

Project: Synthetic Biology for fundamental science and application scale-up.

Supervisors: Prof Harrison Steel and Prof Antonis Papachristodoulou

This project will focus on solving challenges at the interface of Synthetic Biology, Control Engineering, AI, and Robotics, and their application to global challenges across biotechnology. The approaches taken will depend on the candidate’s skills and interests, but may include genetically engineering microbes to change form and function, developing theory and AI methods that advance our ability to design reliable, engineered biosystems, or building new robotic measurement and control platforms that automated experimental work and discovery. Potential project extensions include applying these skills to sub-disciplines of Engineering Biology such as directed evolution, protein engineering, or biomedical and environmental applications with a particular focus on scale-up.

The project will enable candidates to build a broad skillset in the design, engineering, and application of new biotechnologies, providing an ideal foundation for future careers in academia, the bioscience industry, or entrepreneurship/start-ups. The studentship will integrate with work across the EPSRC Programme Grant “EEBio: Efficient engineering and control of predictable and reliable biotechnologies”; as such the candidate will be supported by a multidisciplinary team of academic and industrial experts with experience in related areas of biotechnology and have opportunities to collaborate with industrial and academic partners nationally and internationally.

Eligibility

This studentship is open to UK students (full award – home fees plus stipend).

There may be flexibility to support international students. If you are an international student and want to apply for this studentship please contact the supervisor to see whether the flexibility might be available for you.

Award Value

Course fees are covered at the level set for UK students (at least £10940 p.a.). The stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) is at least c. £21805 p.a. for the first year, and at least this amount for a further two and a half years.

Candidate Requirements

Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• A first class (or strong 2:1) degree in any of Engineering, Materials Science, Computer Science, Physics, Biology/Biotechnology, Chemistry/Biochemistry or Mathematics.
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills.

It is desirable that candidates possess expertise in some (but not all, or even most) of the following areas:

• Microbiology, Bacteriology, Synthetic Biology
• Applied Mathematics, Computer Science/AI, or Control Engineering
• Biological laboratory skills
• Programming / Software Engineering
• Electrical Engineering and robotics prototyping

Application Procedure

Informal enquiries are encouraged and should be addressed to Prof Harrison Steel and Prof Antonis Papachristodoulou ([e-mail], [e-mail]).

Candidates must submit a graduate application form and are expected to meet the graduate admissions criteria. Details are available on our website via the above 'Apply' button.

Please quote 27ENGCO_HS in all correspondence and in your graduate application.

Application deadline: noon on Tuesday 2nd December 2026 (In line with the December admissions deadline, set by the University)

Start date: October 2027