Biological Sciences Doctor of Philosophy - PhD

Internationally recognised for the quality of teaching and world-leading research, the Department of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway is a dynamic and friendly place to study. We currently admit around 180 undergraduate students each year and about 50-60 postgraduate research students across a wide variety of laboratory and field-based research training courses.

As a vibrant scientific community, our research is grouped into three major areas: Biomedical Sciences, Plant Molecular Sciences, and Ecology Evolution and Behaviour. The department is also host to the Institute of Cardiovascular Research and Centre for Systems and Synthetic Biology and the Centre of Gene and Cell Therapy.

Our research is funded by Research Councils, charities, government agencies, a wide range of other commercial, environmental and research organisations. Research collaborations take place through projects right across the department. Our widely published research teams are well known for pioneering work in molecular genetics, gene and cell therapy, our research into bipolar disorder, evolutionary and conservation ecology, biodiversity, mathematical epidemiology, plant biotechnology and seed biology. Our postgraduate research students regularly report their research findings, both nationally and internationally in symposia and publications.

To learn more about the postgraduate degree opportunities offered by the Biological Sciences department, please visit the department's Postgraduate research page.

From time to time, we make changes to our courses to improve the student and learning experience. If we make a significant change to your chosen course, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.