UK : PhD Studentship Ethnomedical Approaches to Discovering Novel Antimicrobials from England's Cultural Anglo-Saxon Heritage

University of East London - School of Health and Bioscience

Available for February 2010

Applications are invited for a PhD research studentship funded by the School of Health and Bioscience, University of East London. Our vision is to deliver excellent research and research training that makes a difference to health and wellbeing in the local, national and international context and successful applicants will become members of an active and dynamic academic community. Successful applicants will work on a research project of strategic importance and associated with established research groups within the School.

Project Title: Ethnomedical Approaches to Discovering Novel Antimicrobials from England’s Cultural Anglo-Saxon Heritage

Director of Studies: Dr. Alberto Sanchez-Medina (a.sanchezmedina@uel.ac.uk)

This PhD project will focus on the phytochemical literature to select plants from British Cultural Heritage and the bio-guided isolation of antibacterial metabolites. Six plants used as antibacterials in Anglo-Saxon Medicine, of under-reported phytochemical composition, will be tested for their antibacterial activity against representative Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Promising plants will be selected for further bio-guided isolation using chromatographic methods and structural elucidation of antibacterials will be carried out using spectroscopic methods. Valuable insights into the history of English medicine are expected outcomes.

The Award

The studentship is for a period of three years, subject to satisfactory progress and provides an annual stipend of £13,000, payment of tuition fees at the UK/EU rate and research costs. Applicants from outside the UK/EU are eligible to apply for the studentship on the understanding that the difference in the cost of tuition fee is payable by the candidate. Current full time UK/EU and International fees are £3,390 and £9,380 respectively.

Requirements

Applicants must have a good honours degree (minimum 2.1 or equivalent) or hold an MSc in an appropriate discipline relevant to the research project outlined above. Applicants should have good communication skills and a high level of written and spoken English (where English is not the applicant’s first language, a minimum IELTS Academic English score of 7.0 overall with a minimum of 6.5 in all components is required)

The holder of the studentship will be expected to:

• Complete their doctoral studies and submit their dissertation in a timely fashion
• Prepare papers for submission to peer-reviewed journals
• Participate in and contribute to research activities of the School
• Undertake up to 6 hours of academic support activity per week.

Application Procedure

Informal enquiries about the studentships should be addressed to the Director of Studies, Dr. Alberto Sanchez-Medina (a.sanchezmedina@uel.ac.uk). To apply, applicants should contact Ms. Krys Gunton (k.m.gunton@uel.ac.uk or 020 8223 4015) or Dr. Mary Cramp (m.c.cramp@uel.ac.uk) to obtain an application form.

The closing date for completed applications is 4th January 2009. Interviews will be held in the week of 18th January.