Wellcome Sanger Institute 4-Year PhD Programme 2026

The Wellcome Sanger Institute runs a 4-Year PhD Programme funded by Wellcome (formerly the Wellcome Trust), one of the routes through which Wellcome supports doctoral training in genomics and related life sciences after closing its earlier, broader Doctoral Studentships scheme to general applications. The programme welcomes candidates worldwide and states that applications are considered exclusively on merit, with no nationality restriction. Around 12 fully funded studentships are awarded each year, covering research across six scientific programmes: Cellular Genomics, Generative Genomics, Human Genetics, Parasites and Microbes, Somatic Genomics, and Tree of Life, with students completing rotations across computational and experimental work within these areas before settling on a thesis project. Funding covers full university tuition fees regardless of nationality, plus a tax-free annual stipend that rises each year of the programme, from about GBP 25,649 in year one to about GBP 27,385 in year four at October 2026 rates, and international students are separately reimbursed for their visa costs and the Immigration Health Surcharge. Students with their own external funding are also welcome to apply through the same process. The application deadline for entry in autumn 2027 is 24 November 2026 at 9am GMT, with interviews held by videoconference or in person from mid-January 2027, and a main interview date of 25 January 2027.