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Medicine (Graduate Course)

• Director of Studies Dr Nick Evans (Pre-Clinical Yr 1&2), Dr Thomas Pulimood (Clinical Yr 3&5) & Dr Jeremy Webb (Clinical Yr 3&4)
• Faculty Website School of Clinical Medicine

The Graduate Course in Medicine is an accelerated four-year programme. Admissions are co-ordinated across four Colleges.

Graduate Medicine at Wolfson

Wolfson offers places to students for the Graduate Course in Medicine at the University of Cambridge.

The emphasis is the acquisition of clinical skills by direct patient contact in hospital and community environments, and the integration of core medical science with clinical medicine.

You can find further information about studying Graduate Medicine on the University's course  pages . Detailed information is also available on the Clinical School's Prospective Undergraduates  page .

The Graduate Course in Medicine (A101) is open only to applicants who qualify for Home fee status.  For information about fee status, see here .

International graduates may apply for affiliated entry to the Standard Course (A100); Home fee status graduates may apply to both courses.

Please note that you must complete a separate Graduate Course in Medicine application form in addition to your UCAS application to apply for this course. The deadline to submit this additional form is 22 October.

Due to the competitive nature of the course, it is important that you make sure you meet or will meet the below pre medical requirements and that you have appropriate healthcare experience before you apply for the course.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for students who are highly motivated and enthusiastic about medicine and have the academic ability to learn very fast in a demanding course. You should have a strong scientific interest in medical sciences and a realistic view of Medicine as a career.

At the same time, we seek applicants who exhibit the human qualities of excellent clinicians, such as compassion, empathy, integrity and drive. Accordingly, the admissions process evaluates the applicants’ academic background and scientific aptitude, as well as evidence of exposure to relevant medical environments through volunteering or shadowing experiences.

Entry Requirements

There are two sets of requirements.

1. Must already be met in order for your application to be considered: 

• A Levels: A*A*A (if you graduated with a 2.1 or have yet to complete your first degree); OR
• A Levels: ABB (if you have graduated with a 1st class degree)

2. To be met before starting the course;

• A level Chemistry at grade A or above, normally passed within 7 years of entry to the course; AND
• At least one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics, at A level or AS level (no time restrictions).

We will consider qualifications equivalents to A Levels. If you took pre-degree qualifications outside of the UK please see the University website for equivalencies.

Postgraduate qualifications are not included in the entry requirements. Entry requirements are based on your first Bachelors degree.

Please consult the University's entry requirements for Graduate Medicine for further information.

Healthcare Experience

We strongly recommend obtaining some healthcare experience as a paid or volunteer worker, since we particularly value experience in a caring role. Typically, students who are made offers for this course have varied and consistent hands-on patient care experience, over a number of years. Applicants whose experience is largely based on shadowing are unlikely to be competitive. Where applicants are already qualified healthcare workers, it is essential that they have a range of experience outside of their own discipline.

Applications

Applications to study Graduate Medicine at Wolfson are submitted through UCAS and completing the separate Supplementary Application Form, which will be emailed to applicants following receipt of their UCAS application. 

A set of Applicant Instructions for 2025 Entry and an Healthcare Experience Log will be available in due course.

For more information about making an application, please visit our  application webpages .

You can also find useful information on our  Application FAQs  page. 

Financial Support

Financial support is available for students studying the four-year Graduate Course in Medicine (CGCM) details of which can be found here . 

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Cambridge Centre for AI in Medicine announces its official launch

The university of cambridge has announced a five-year agreement with astrazeneca and gsk to fund the cambridge centre for ai in medicine (ccaim). for the five-year duration, astrazeneca and gsk will support five new phd studentships per year. this programme will enable the best and brightest young minds in machine learning and bioscience to partner with leaders in industry and academia, wherever they may be in the world..

CCAIM is designed to break down the barriers between machine learning and medical science, to create a unique forum in which we can work together to truly understand the challenges, formalise the problems, and develop practical solutions that can be readily implemented in healthcare. Professor Mihaela van der Schaar

CCAIM has been set up as a cutting-edge research group. Its faculty of 10 University of Cambridge researchers – in addition to world-class PhD students, currently being recruited – have united to develop AI and machine learning (ML) technologies aiming to transform clinical trials, personalised medicine and biomedical discovery.

The centre’s Director is Professor Mihaela van der Schaar , a world leading researcher in ML, and the Co-Director is researcher-clinician Professor Andres Floto. The faculty also includes Dr Sarah Teichmann FMedSci FRS, Head of Cellular Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and founder and principal leader of the Human Cell Atlas international consortium.

Successfully bridging the gap between the disparate and complex fields of AI and medicine requires building from both sides simultaneously. CCAIM brings together a diverse coalition of leading Cambridge scientists and clinicians, with expertise in machine learning, engineering, mathematics, medicine, computer science, genetics, computational biology, biostatistics, clinical research, healthcare policy and more.

These multi-disciplinary experts from the University of Cambridge will work in close collaboration with scientists and leaders from AstraZeneca and GSK to identify critical challenges facing drug discovery and development that have the potential to be solved through cutting-edge academic research.

The Centre’s research output and the implementation of its ML tools could be transformational not only for the pharmaceutical industry – including in clinical trials and drug discovery – but also for the clinical delivery of healthcare to patients. The CCAIM team already has deep research links with the NHS, and four of the Centre’s members are NHS doctors.

Professor van der Schaar said: “Machine learning has the potential to truly revolutionise the delivery of healthcare, to the great benefit of patients, clinicians and the wider medical ecosystem. But to realise this potential requires true and deep cross-disciplinary understanding – a great challenge because we speak different languages. CCAIM is designed to break down the barriers between machine learning and medical science, to create a unique forum in which we can work together to truly understand the challenges, formalise the problems, and develop practical solutions that can be readily implemented in healthcare.”

Professor Andre Floto said: “We are thrilled that the CCAIM is taking off. From tackling the immediate threats of COVID-19 , to the long-term transformation of healthcare systems, our network of experts and incoming PhD students will bring next-level AI to bear on the most pressing medical issues of our time.”

Professor Andy Neely OBE , Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Relations, University of Cambridge, said: “The CCAIM is a terrific and timely venture that builds on the strong relationships between the University of Cambridge and global leaders in the pharmaceutical industry, AstraZeneca and GSK. The depth and diversity of the CCAIM faculty’s expertise means it is uniquely positioned to deliver and accelerate the breakthroughs in medical science and healthcare that AI has long promised. I anticipate the Centre’s impact will be nothing less than transformational.”

Jim Weatherall, Vice President, Data Science & AI, R&D, AstraZeneca, said: “We know the best science doesn’t happen in isolation which is why collaboration is essential to the way we work. This new centre combines world class academia with real-world industrial challenges and will help to develop cutting-edge AI to potentially transform the way we discover and develop medicines.”

Kim Branson, Senior Vice President and Global Head of AI/ML, GSK, said: “The new CCAIM will recruit and train the next generation of practitioners at the intersection of AI, industry and academia. The work of this institute will be critical to translating AI methods from theory to practice, so that we can keep improving our therapeutic discovery efforts and so that together we can make a tangible impact on patients, from diagnosis, to treatment and beyond.”

Biographies

Professor Mihaela van der Schaar, CCAIM Director

Mihaela van der Schaar is John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Medicine at the University of Cambridge, where she directs the Cambridge Centre for AI in Medicine and heads up the van der Schaar Lab. In 2019, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), identified Professor van der Shaar as the most-cited female AI researcher in the UK. In 2020, she was among the top 10 authors not only at ICML, but also at NeurIPS, two of the world’s most prestigious machine learning conferences. Professor van der Schaar is also a Turing Faculty Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute in London, a Chancellor’s Professor at UCLA and an IEEE Fellow. A fuller biography, including information on Professor van der Schaar’s many awards and patents, is available here .

Professor Andres Floto, CCAIM Co-Director

Andres Floto is a Professor of Respiratory Biology at the University of Cambridge, a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator, and Research Director of the Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge. Clinically, he specialises in the treatment of patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), non-CF bronchiectasis, and infections with nontuberculous mycobacteria.

Professor Floto research explores how immune cells interact with bacteria, how intracellular killing and inflammation are regulated and sometimes subverted during infection, how population-level whole-genome sequencing can be used to reveal biology of bacterial infection, and how therapeutic enhancement of cell-autonomous immunity may provide novel strategies to treat multi-drug-resistant pathogens.

Dr James Weatherall, Vice President, Data Science & AI, R&D, AstraZeneca

Since joining AstraZeneca in 2007, Dr Weatherall has held diverse roles focused on driving the application of data science, artificial intelligence, advanced analytics and related approaches to unlock the full potential of data – transforming the way medicines are discovered and developed and making a difference to patients’ lives. Dr Weatherall is an Honorary Reader in Computer Science at the University of Manchester and Vice-Chair of the Data Science Section at the Royal Statistical Society. He has contributed to and published in diverse fields such as data visualisation, cryptography, text mining, machine learning and health data science.

Dr Kim Branson, Senior Vice President and Global Head of AI/ML, GSK

Dr Kim Branson leads all GSK’s AI/ML initiatives and projects. Dr Branson has been involved in large scale machine learning and medical informatics initiatives for more than 15 years, over a range of ventures from computational drug design to disease risk prediction. 

Dr Branson received degrees from the University of Adelaide, and a PhD from the University of Melbourne. 

This article first appeared on the CCAIM website .

The text in this work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4. 0 International License . Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.  All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Registration

Monitoring progress, intermission, working away, preparation of thesis, questionnaires.

Research students are expected to be in residence in Cambridge pursuing their research between terms, except during periods of holiday agreed with their supervisor, normally up to 8 weeks in a 12 month period. Students who make time to take some holidays, or a break away from their studies, tend to do better.

PhD candidates may submit their theses after nine terms (three years) of research, and MLitt candidates after six terms (two years).  The Student Registry and the Degree Committee expect a thesis to be a piece of work which can be produced by a capable, well-qualified and diligent research student, properly supervised and supported, within those times.  It is very important that you design your project with these time-limits firmly in view. It is good both for morale and for your CV to submit your thesis within the stated times – and most PhD funding runs out after three years. 

If your PhD research is suitably related to your MPhil work, you will usually be allowed to count some or all of your three MPhil terms towards the residency requirements of the PhD, if you are ready to submit your thesis before the minimum terms of study have elapsed. This means that you may submit a PhD thesis after only six more terms, if you wish. Please see the following webpage for further information:

https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/your-course/postgraduate-study/your-student-status/allowanceexemption-research-terms

The Student Registry and the Degree Committee recognise, however, that original research is liable to unforeseen difficulties and delays, so all PhD students are allowed 4 years in which to complete and submit their thesis (3 years for the MLitt). Unless there are extenuating circumstances, which would permit a student to apply for an extension to their submission date, candidates who do not submit by these final deadlines would be asked to withdraw from the University, until such time as they are ready to submit, and apply for reinstatement .

All students accepted for the PhD are on probation for their first year. In your third term of research, the Degree Committee will decide whether to register you as a candidate for the PhD (the registration then being backdated to your date of admission). You will have a registration interview with two Faculty assessors, other than your Supervisor. Central University information on the requirements of a registration review is here:

https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/self-evaluation

In some (rare) cases, your assessors may decide that you should be registered for the MLitt degree, instead of the PhD, at this stage. This registration interview cannot be delayed without good cause (e.g., illness). With your supervisors’ help, you start working out your plan of research, and the topic or topics of your written work, as soon as possible after you arrive.

Before registering you as a PhD candidate the Degree Committee must be satisfied (i) that you have a suitable plan of work and (ii) that you have begun to write about some part of it, in a sustained way, at a standard likely to get you the degree in a reasonable time. You are therefore required to email the following documents to your two assessors and the Postgraduate Administrator by the last day of Lent full term*:

• a statement (1,000 words) of your plan of research.
• a piece of recent written work (6,000-10,000 words) on some topic within this plan; and
• an account of research already completed (1,000 words)

These submissions must be properly written up: rough drafts are not acceptable. The registration interview will take place shortly after the end of Lent Term, with your two assessors who will have read the submitted documents. The exact date of the review will be agreed on by the two assessors and the student. The requirements for registration are as outlined above. Students will be sent a copy of their review report once it has been approved by Degree Committee at their May meeting.

Prospective PhD candidates whose work does not show sufficient progress will be given the opportunity to submit an improved set of work by the last day of Easter full term*. A further interview will then take place with the two Faculty members writing independent reports for the Degree Committee in late June/early July*.

The Degree Committee will recommend that prospective PhD candidates whose resubmitted work is still deemed to be unsatisfactory either withdraw from the University or, less severely, be registered only as MLitt candidates. In the latter case they may later be re-registered as PhD candidates (with registration again backdated to the date of admission) if they submit sufficiently improved work at the same time in their second year (i.e. at their fifth term review).

The Degree Committee will recommend that prospective MLitt candidates whose resubmitted work is still deemed to be unsatisfactory withdraw from the University.

Monitoring progress

Your supervisor is required to report termly to the Student Registry and the Degree Committee on your progress. You will also be invited to submit self-evaluation reports on your progress on CamSIS. More information on the Feedback and progress reporting systems for postgraduate students is here:

In addition, there are the following reviews:

Fifth Term Review

This review takes place in the fifth term for a student who is registered for the PhD or MLitt.  For this review you need to email the following documents to your supervisor, advisor, and Postgraduate Secretary by the last day of Lent full term*:

• an account of research you have already completed (1,000 words)

These submissions must be properly written up: rough drafts are not acceptable.  The review will take place shortly after the end of Lent Term, normally with the supervisor and advisor, who will report in writing to the first meeting of the Degree Committee in the Easter Term. The exact date of the review will be agreed on by the two assessors and the student. Students will then be sent a copy of their review report once it has been approved by Degree Committee at their May meeting.

In the unlikely event that your work does not show sufficient progress you will be given the opportunity to submit an improved set of work by last day of Easter full term*. A further interview will then take place with the supervisor and advisor writing independent reports for the Degree Committee in late June/early July*.

Seventh Term Review

This review takes place in the seventh term for a student who is registered for the PhD. For this review you are required to email the same three documents as are described above, again demonstrating ongoing progress, to your supervisor and advisor by the last day of Michaelmas full term*.

The review will take place shortly after the end of Michaelmas Term, normally with the supervisor and adrvisor, who will report in writing to the first meeting of the Degree Committee in the Lent Term. The exact date of the review will be agreed on by the two assessors and the student. Students will then be sent a copy of their review report once it has been approved by Degree Committee at their January meeting.

If the supervisor and advisor are not happy with a student's progress they may recommend to the Degree Committee that a student's registration be changed from PhD to MLitt. They may also recommend that candidates who are not making satisfactory progress towards completing their theses withdraw from the University. The student will be fully consulted before any such recommendation is made. Note also that students withdraw from the University for this reason (or because they have failed to submit on time), but who manage to complete their theses on their own, may apply to be reinstated in order to submit their theses for examination. Please see:

https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/your-course/postgraduate-study/your-student-status/reinstatement

Although this monitoring may sound onerous, experience shows that most often the reviews function as useful markers of progress, and as good opportunities to take stock and to talk about useful ways forward, in a forum slightly different from that of a normal supervision.

If your work is hindered or interrupted by medical, financial or other problems you may apply for leave to intermit your research for a period of time from 2 weeks, to up to 3 terms (for full time students). Terms intermitted do not count towards the above deadlines. Consult your Supervisor and the Postgraduate Secretary if you would like to discuss this option at any point in your studies. You can also find further information here:

https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/your-course/postgraduate-study/your-student-status/medical-intermission

Working away from Cambridge

It is possible to apply for leave to work away from Cambridge for a maximum of 3 terms at a time Some PhD students find this is useful if they wish to work with a supervisor who is external to the University of Cambridge for some of their PhD study. More information on the process of how to apply for leave to work away can be found here:

https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/your-course/postgraduate-study/your-student-status/work-away

To support students working away from Cambridge, it is recommended that students apply to the University for free travel insurance: https://www.insurance.admin.cam.ac.uk/travel-insurance/travel-insurance-students

The Faculty has a small allocation of funding for fieldwork, that students can apply for via the Postgraduate Office. As part of this application process, students will also be required to complete a risk assessment: https://www.safety.admin.cam.ac.uk/risk-assessment

The Faculty can provide a template risk assessment – please ask the Postgraduate Secretary for further information.

Preparation of theses

PhD (MLitt) theses in philosophy must not be more than 80,000 (60,000) words long. The word count includes appendices and footnotes but excludes bibliography. See here for further information:

https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/your-course/examinations/graduate-exam-information/submitting-and-examination/phd-msc-mlitt/word#philos

The University’s regulations require that to qualify for the award of the PhD degree, a thesis has to be in English (apart from quotations and technical formulae), to be clearly written, to take due account of previously published work on the subject, and to represent a significant contribution to learning (for example through the discovery of new knowledge, the connection of previously unrelated facts, the development of new theory, or the revision of older views). The Degree Committee of Philosophy, in its advice to examiners, adds as an informal gloss on this that an acceptable thesis should contain some material of sufficient originality to merit publication and this material should be adequate to form the basis of, for example, at least two articles (together amounting to 15,000 - 20,000 words) or of a short monograph.

To qualify for the award of the MLitt degree, a thesis must be clearly written, take due account of previously published work on the subject, and represent a useful contribution to learning.

Candidates may get an idea of the standards expected of PhD and MLitt theses in philosophy by reading the copies of successful theses deposited in the University Library.

The detailed procedure for submitting PhD and MLitt theses for examination, which candidates should follow carefully, is at:

https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/your-course/examinations/graduate-exam-information/submitting-and-examination/phd-msc-mlitt/prepare

In what follows only a few salient points are picked out.

Candidates should apply for the appointment of examiners, through the Philosophy Postgraduate Secretary, when—but only when—their theses are nearly complete. (In particular, if they are going to submit their theses during the Long Vacation they should apply in good time for the late June/early July meeting of the Degree Committee*.) Together with the candidate, the supervisor should compete the form found here:

https://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/curr-students/postgraduates/Graduate-Forms

and submit this by e-mail to the Postgraduate Secretary. The candidate will also need to email the Postgraduate Secretary a one page summary of the thesis, to guide the Degree Committee in appointing suitable examiners. This abstract should be around 300 words in length – a candidate’s supervisor can provide further guidance on the expected content of the abstract.         

Theses are examined independently by two examiners, one of whom will normally be from outside Cambridge. Candidates are required to submit their thesis initially via Moodle, the University’s Online Teaching Platform. The Postgraduate Secretary will provide further information on the process for softbound submission. As of 1 st October 2017, once their PhD has been approved, students are also required to submit an electronic copy of their PhD thesis to the University’s repository, Apollo. At the point of upload, students are given the choice of different access options, including the choice to make their thesis available Open Access immediately or to embargo access for an initial 12 months . The upload of the thesis can be done via the upload form in Symplectic Elements .

Once the award of the degree is approved, students should submit one hard bound copy to be deposited in the University Library.  More information on the submission of electronic theses can be found on the Office of Scholarly Communication website:

http://osc.cam.ac.uk/theses

It is important that thesis examiners actually receive theses when they expect to do so; otherwise their other commitments may seriously delay the examination. In giving submission dates, candidates should therefore take care to be realistic, and not underestimate the time it takes to complete writing up, make final corrections, check references and proofs, and get their theses printed and bound.

What to expect from the viva

The examination is undertaken with two examiners, and may include an independent chair if the Degree Committee has deemed it appropriate.  There are no rules for its duration, but as an approximate guide, the examination will normally take at least 90 minutes and is likely to conclude within three hours at a maximum.

The oral examination should allow:

• The defence of your dissertation and the clarification of any matters raised by the examiners
• the examiners to probe your knowledge in the field
• the examiners to assure themselves that the work presented is your own and to clarify matters of any collaboration
• the examiners to come to a definite conclusion about the outcome of the examination

What to bring with you to the viva

• You can take a (marked up) copy of the thesis in with you.  You may want to take a tablet or notepad and pen to make notes.
• Water will be available in the room where you will be examined but you may like to take your own with you.

The default  viva  format is an in-person examination held in Cambridge, but students will have the option to choose an online  viva  if they wish.  The University has provided additional information about the online viva process, which can be found here:

https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/files/guide_to_conducting_vivas_online.pdf

Examiners write independent reports on theses for the Degree Committee, making recommendations, which may or may not be conditional on the results of the oral examination. Because it often takes a considerable time for examiners to get round to, and to complete, this assessment, candidates must expect to wait (or return) for their oral examination up to two months (but no more than four months) after submitting their theses. Examiners may allow candidates who have had to return, e.g., to America or Australasia, the option of conducting the oral examination by video conference; but they are under no obligation to do so, and candidates must not assume that they will. If a candidate would like to request adjustments to their viva on the grounds of disability, they should complete a ‘voluntary disclosure form’ and return this to the Postgraduate secretary. The form can be found here: https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/files/voluntary_disclosure_form.pdf

An examiner who thinks that a PhD or MLitt thesis fails to reach the required standard, but could do so with suitable revision, may recommend allowing the candidate to submit a revised thesis. This can only happen once; a thesis which has already been resubmitted once cannot be submitted again.

An examiner who thinks that a PhD thesis fails to reach the standard required for that degree, but does reach the standard required for the MLitt, may recommend approving the candidate for that degree. A PhD examiner who thinks both of the above may recommend giving the candidate the alternative of submitting a revised thesis or of taking the MLitt (but not both).

If the examiners’ recommendations agree, the Degree Committee will normally accept them, unless the examination has been improperly conducted in some way, in which case new examiners may have to be appointed. If the original examiners’ recommendations disagree, the Degree Committee may resolve the disagreement by appointing a third examiner.

The University’s statement on academic misconduct, including plagiarism can be found at:

http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/plagiarism/students/statement.html

We ask PhD & MLitt students to provide their feedback at regular intervals throughout their course, in the form of a questionnaire sent from the Postgraduate Office. Usually there is one questionnaire sent at the time of each review. Feedback from students is important in helping us to improve the course, and we ask that all students complete all questionnaires.

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PhD Studentships

MRC Epidemiology Unit

Phd applications.

Your first step to apply for a PhD at the MRC Epidemiology is to ensure that you meet all of the University of Cambridge entry requirements . Applicants are encouraged to contact potential supervisors to discuss their research topic.

University of Cambridge Applicant Portal

The online Applicant Portal is the common process for both formal entry to the University and for applying to a number of Cambridge funding schemes (e.g. Cambridge Trust, Gates Cambridge, the Arts & Humanities and Economic & Social Research Councils (AHRC and ESRC), and some other University awards).

Applications for PhD studies for admission in Michaelmas Term 2023 or beyond are exempt from the University application fee.

You will need to know the following information when completing the Applicant Portal process:

Research Proposal / Covering Letter / CV

Please upload a full CV , two academic references , and a covering letter detailing: i) whether you are eligible for Home or Overseas university fees, ii) which funding sources you are applying to, and iii) an outline of your research interests and, if relevant, your proposed research topic.

Proposed research title: State the title of your proposed research project (this can be your own project or one from our list of PhD Topics) or broader topic of interest.

Research Summary : Describe in up to 1500 characters your proposed research project or topic and the type(s) of methodological approach you wish to undertake. If you are choosing a project from our list of PhD Topics you should rephrase (and expand on or adapt) the summary in your own words.

Please follow the instructions on the University Postgraduate Admissions website on how to send supporting documents for your application:  Postgraduate Admissions supporting documentation guidelines

PhD in Epidemiology (3 Years)

• Course description: PhD (Probationary) in Medical Science at the MRC Epidemiology Unit
• Course Code: MDEU22
• Duration: 3 years
• Study mode: Full-time (5 years Part-time)

In order to be eligible for the different funding schemes you must ensure your University application ( Applicant Portal ) is submitted and supporting documents are received by the application funding deadlines .

Application deadlines

Closing date for US Gates applicants:  To be confirmed  (see  Gates Cambridge application timeline for full details )

Closing date for other applicants:  Thursday 4 January 2024

Provisional date for Interviews:  Thursday 25 January 2024

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Department of History and Philosophy of Science

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• Natural History in the Age of Revolutions, 1776–1848
• In the Shadow of the Tree: The Diagrammatics of Relatedness as Scientific, Scholarly and Popular Practice
• The Many Births of the Test-Tube Baby
• Culture at the Macro-Scale: Boundaries, Barriers and Endogenous Change
• Making Climate History overview
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• Histories of Artificial Intelligence: A Genealogy of Power overview
• From Collection to Cultivation: Historical Perspectives on Crop Diversity and Food Security overview
• Call for papers
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• Epsilon: A Collaborative Digital Framework for Nineteenth-Century Letters of Science
• Contingency in the History and Philosophy of Science
• Industrial Patronage and the Cold War University
• FlyBase: Communicating Drosophila Genetics on Paper and Online, 1970–2000
• The Lost Museums of Cambridge Science, 1865–1936
• From Hansa to Lufthansa: Transportation Technologies and the Mobility of Knowledge in Germanic Lands and Beyond, 1300–2018
• Medical Publishers, Obscenity Law and the Business of Sexual Knowledge in Victorian Britain
• Kinds of Intelligence
• Varieties of Social Knowledge
• The Vesalius Census
• Histories of Biodiversity and Agriculture
• Investigating Fake Scientific Instruments in the Whipple Museum Collection
• Before HIV: Homosex and Venereal Disease, c.1939–1984
• The Casebooks Project
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PhD in History and Philosophy of Science

• MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine

Students in history and philosophy of science and medicine write substantial, focused and independent theses that shape scholarship and engage audiences in many different ways. Contributing to the development of knowledge in the University of Cambridge is a rich and rewarding experience.

Expert guidance

The outstanding international reputation of our teaching staff is a key attraction.

PhD students work closely with a doctoral supervisor and advisor (usually both from the Department of History and Philosophy of Science but sometimes from other departments in the University). With the benefit of this expert guidance, students learn how to articulate, develop and present their own research. Students meet their supervisor and advisor several times a term to discuss an outline, consider research findings or go over a chapter. Consistent review and attentive feedback are integral to the supervisory relationship.

Applicants often find it helpful to contact a potential supervisor before submitting their application.

A thriving research community

Our research community offers invaluable academic and social perspectives.

With around 45 doctoral students, a strong cohort of MPhil and Part III students, postdoctoral researchers and teaching officers, the Department fosters an exceptionally active intellectual life. Thriving seminars, reading groups and workshops provide a focus, allowing students to help set the agenda and present their own work among peers. Students are supported throughout their studies, with close attention paid to methodological development, research skills and career advice.

The Department's Whipple Library is an unparalleled specialist collection for history and philosophy of science and medicine, while other libraries in Cambridge provide access to archival and documentary resources invaluable for research on the sciences. At the heart of the Department is the Whipple Museum , a world-class collection of scientific instruments and models; some students research these objects.

Valuable teaching experience

Cambridge offers PhD students unusually valuable teaching experience through the chance to give supervisions (tutorials) for undergraduates taking History and Philosophy of Science courses. PhD students are paid by the Colleges for this service. The University and the Department provide training in supervising undergraduates.

More about the PhD

• Requirements

For current PhD students

• PhD students' guide

Main image: Crocodile carving by Eric Gill on the Mond Building, where there is work space for HPS PhD students

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Topic description and stories

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Cambridge receives new funding to support PhD students in science and engineering

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Medicine, MB and BChir

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Medicine at Cambridge

Medicine at Cambridge prepares you to become one of tomorrow's doctors, reflecting the latest advances in medical sciences and practice.

Study medical sciences for the first 3 years, then apply your knowledge as a clinical student on a placement for the last 3 years.  

The key to being a great clinician is combining practical skills with an excellent grounding in the science underlying practice. This course gives you just that.  

The course lasts 6 years: 

• for the first 3 years you focus on scientific principles underlying medicine, alongside a clinical strand. You’ll also get to conduct a full-body dissection, which very few medical schools offer 
• the last 3 years you apply that knowledge to medical practice as a clinical student, spending much of your time learning directly from patients in GP surgeries and hospitals 

You’ll also have opportunities to pursue research and project work throughout the course. 

This course is for you if:  

• it’s your first undergraduate degree  
• it’s your second degree – you’ll complete the first half of the course in 2 years instead of 3. You can also  apply to study the Medicine course for graduates .  

If this is your first degree and you successfully complete the first 3 years of the course, you’ll graduate with a BA (Hons) degree.

If you successfully complete the full course, you will graduate with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB, BChir).

Teaching and facilities

Clinical teaching is delivered on the wards and in general practice. There are also additional opportunities to attend general and specialist outpatient clinics.

The course is based in Cambridge. Some of the course is also delivered in regional hospitals or practices, to take advantage of the different educational opportunities they offer.

This Cambridge Medical course embodies teaching from world experts, progressive technology and modern facilities.

Along with all other students at Cambridge, you'll also have access to:

• our impressive Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries

Course costs

When you go to university, you’ll need to consider two main costs – your tuition fees and your living costs (sometimes referred to as maintenance costs).

Your living costs will include costs related to your studies that are not covered by your tuition fees. There are some general study costs that will apply for all students – you can find details of these costs here .

Other additional course costs for Medicine are detailed below. If you have any queries these costs, please contact the Department.

To buy and maintain essential equipment for the course, the estimated cost is £60. Equipment includes:

• University approved scientific calculator
• Safety glasses
• Dissecting instruments

You will also need:

• Theatre clogs – estimated contribution £10
• Stethoscope – estimated cost £60 to £100. This is only required for the clinical part of the course (years 4 to 6)

Placements – years 1 to 3

Costs for the Preparing for Patients modules vary and are detailed below. You are expected to cover the costs detailed below, plus basic subsistence costs.

• Preparing for Patients A (year 1) – travel costs, approximately £25
• Preparing for Patients B (year 2) – one week of College accommodation, approximately £130
• Preparing for Patients D (year 3) – travel costs, approximately £25

Clinical placements – years 4 to 6

Clinical placements start from year 4 of your course and will vary from student to student. You will be on placement at hospitals across the East Anglia Region.

 The types of cost you will be expected to cover and those covered by the School of Clinical Medicine are detailed below.

• The School will pay the cost of one return journey for each clinical placement.
• Costs of accommodation near the clinical placement hospitals are covered by the School.
• You are expected to cover basic subsistence costs during your placements.

Optional study abroad – year 5

In year 5 there is an opportunity to go abroad for 7 weeks. If you do, the estimated cost is around £3,000. College and national grants may be available to help you cover these costs.

Course funding

You may be able to get funding from the NHS to help pay for your studies. Find out more about the NHS Bursary .

Becoming a doctor

As a graduate you’ll be able to get provisional registration with the General Medical Council (GMC). The GMC has certain expectations about attitudes, behaviour and performance of medical students.

Read about registering as a doctor on the General Medical Council website .

You can then go anywhere in the country to complete two years as a junior doctor. These are known as Foundation Years. At the end of these two years you can register with the GMC as a doctor.

Read about the foundation programme on the UK Foundation Programme website .

If you’re graduating from 2025 onwards, you’ll need to take the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA).

This is a test introduced by the General Medical Council to test the core knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to practise safely in the UK.

Read about the medical licensing assessment on the General Medical Council website .

Your future career

We enable students to develop the excellent communication, clinical, interpersonal and professional skills required for good medical practice.

As a graduate you’ll be ready for a range of careers across:

• general practice
• other specialities

If you’re interested in an academic research career, our MB/PhD Programme leads to the MB, BChir and PhD degrees. Read about the MB/PhD on the School of Clinical Medicine website .

The first 3 years involve lectures, practical classes that include dissections, and small-group supervisions. There are typically 20 to 25 teaching hours each week.

The last 3 years focus on learning in clinical settings: at the patients’ bedside, in outpatient clinics and in GP doctor surgeries. Teaching is supported by seminars, tutorials and discussion groups.

Your ongoing progress is reviewed each week and term by your College supervisors.

Formal assessment, which determines your ability to proceed with the course, includes written and practical examinations, coursework submission and clinical assessments.

Practical work is undertaken and assessed in all years of the degree programme.

You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams, except for professional qualifying exams.

Year 1, 2 and 3 – pre-clinical studies

Years 1 and 2.

This is the pre-clinical part of the course where you study core medical science and clinical medicine.

We’ll provide you with the scientific basis that will allow you to develop your medical career to the full.

The main areas of learning are covered by courses in:

• Functional Architecture of the Body, where you examine and dissect the human body, and includes living anatomy, and the use of modern imaging techniques
• Homeostasis, which covers the physiological systems that underpin the body's regulation of its internal environment and its responses to external threats. You also have related practical classes in experimental physiology and histology (the microscopic structure of tissues)
• Molecules in Medical Science, which examines the chemical and molecular basis of how cells and organisms work
• Biology of Disease, dealing with the nature and mechanisms of disease processes
• Mechanisms of Drug Action, which provides an understanding of the basic mechanisms of drug action at the levels of both drug-receptor interactions and the effects on body systems
• Neurobiology and Human Behaviour, covering the structure and function of the sense organs and central nervous system, the effects of drugs on brain function, and various psychological aspects
• Human Reproduction, where you look at the biology of the human reproductive system, its social context, and its influence on demographic trends
• Head and Neck Anatomy, where you learn about the structure and organisation of the human head and neck. There is a focus on the relationship of structure to function

The clinical strand of Years 1 and 2 involves:

• Foundations of Evidence-Based Practice, covering epidemiology and how it is applied in medicine
• Social and Ethical Context of Health and Illness, which is an introduction to the broader cultural aspects of healthcare and the medical profession in Britain, working with patients and colleagues, both in hospital and in the community
• Preparing for Patients involves meeting patients in general practice in the first year, in a hospital setting in second year, and through visiting community-based health-related agencies in second and third year

This is the pre-clinical part of the course where you specialise in one of a wide range of other subjects. You might see this referred to as intercalation, to qualify for the BA degree.

Options include:

• Year 3 Biological and Biomedical Sciences subject in Natural Sciences
• Year 3 Natural Sciences subject
• A subject less related to Medicine, such as Anthropology, Management Studies, History of Medicine or Philosophy

Preparing for Patients continues in your third year, regardless of the subject you choose to study. During this year, you visit community-based agencies.

For further information about the first 3 year of the course see the Faculty of Biology website .

Year 4, 5 and 6 – clinical studies

Your time on clinical placements will be shared between:

• Cambridge Biomedical Campus
• Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• other regional hospitals and GP practices throughout the East of England

Throughout your clinical studies, you will build on your biomedical science education and develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to practise clinical medicine.

Through all clinical years, the course is built around many major themes, including:

• communication skills, patient investigation and practical procedures
• therapeutics and patient management
• core clinical science, pathology and diagnostic reasoning
• evaluation and research
• professionalism and patient safety
• improving health

Following an introductory course, each of the three years has its own focus:

Year 4 is about core clinical practice.

Year 5 is about specialist clinical practice.

Year 6 is about applied clinical practice.

During clinical studies, you have weekly small-group clinical supervisions with junior doctors to develop and monitor your clinical skills.

For further information about this course see the School of Clinical Medicine website .

Changing course

It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply. 

In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.

You might also have to:

• take part in an interview
• complete an admissions test
• produce some written work
• achieve a particular grade in your current studies
• do some catch-up work
• start your new course from the beginning 

You can also apply to change to:

• Management Studies at the Judge Business School

You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed 1 year or more of your original Cambridge course.

You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.

Minimum offer level

A level: A*A*A IB:  41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level Other qualifications : Check which other qualifications we accept

You can't apply to this course if you: 

• will not be 18 years old on 1 November of year 1. This is due to national restrictions 
• have failed or been excluded from another medical school

We strongly recommend:

• that you get some work experience before you apply. This can be paid or voluntary, in a health or social care organisation
• that you look at free resources available online. See the Medical Schools Council work experience guide for more information

Subject requirements

To apply to any of our Colleges for Medicine, you will need A level/IB Higher Level or the equivalent in:

• Mathematics
• Biology or Human Biology
• Further Mathematics

You will usually need A*/7 in Chemistry and another science or mathematics subject.

These subject requirements are provisional for 2025 entry. Please check back in April 2024 for confirmed details.

If you’re studying IB, we ask for Analysis and Approaches for this course. But Applications and Interpretations will also be considered. Please contact the College you wish to apply to for advice.

Chemistry, Mathematics and Further Mathematics may not always be the best combination of subjects for this course. Candidates taking these 3 A levels only are advised to contact a College before applying.

What Medicine students have studied 

Most Medicine students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2017-19) achieved at least A*A*A*.

The majority of IB students achieved at least 44 points overall and/or grades 777 at Higher Level. 

All A level entrants had studied Chemistry and most had usually studied at least one of: 

• Mathematics 

Check our advice on choosing your high school subjects . You should also check if there are any required subjects for your course when you apply.

Offers above the minimum requirement

The minimum offer level and subject requirements outline the minimum you'll usually need to achieve to get an offer from Cambridge.

In some cases, you'll get a higher or more challenging offer. Colleges set higher offer requirements for a range of reasons. If you'd like to find out more about why we do this, check the information about offers above the minimum requirement on the entry requirements page.

Some Colleges usually make offers above the minimum offer level. Find out more on our qualifications page .

All undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the Cambridge Colleges. Please contact the relevant College admissions office if you have any queries.

Admissions test

You will need to take the University Clinical Aptitude Test .

You will need to register in advance for this test.

Visit our UCAT page for more information .

Submitted work 

You won’t need to submit any written work before your interview. You may be asked to do some reading instead, but we will let you know if this is the case.   

Extra requirements if you get offered a place 

If you get offered a place on this course we’ll need to check a few extra things with you. We’ll explain what you need to do when we send the offer letter out to you.  

Everything you tell us will be confidential. Some of the usual extra checks include: 

• a criminal record check. In the UK this is called a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check. International students will need an equivalent overseas check. Find out more about criminal record checks  
• vaccinations – you’ll need to be immunised against certain infectious diseases 
• blood test – to make sure you can safely take part in certain surgical procedures 
• occupational health assessment  
• if you have a disability, specific learning disabilities, SpLD or a long-term health condition we’ll discuss your needs with you

Declaring minor misdemeanours 

Minor misdemeanours will not necessarily prevent you from entering the medical profession. 

You should declare these in your UCAS application . We will send you the relevant forms to complete if you are offered a place. 

Selection requirements

You must be a keen scientist with a sound scientific understanding.

As selection for medical school implies selection for the medical profession, admissions decisions are informed by national guidance on what makes a good doctor. For example:

• the Medical Schools Council's Consensus Statement on the Role of the Doctor
• Guiding Principles for the Admission of Medical Students .

Professional expectations

The GMC has expectations regarding the attitudes, behaviour and performance of medical students.

Trainee doctors at Cambridge must satisfy the GMC's fitness to practise requirements, both when applying and throughout the course.

These requirements are in place to ensure the safety of patients.

If you have another undergraduate degree

If you want to study this course as your second degree you need to:

• have passes at A level (or equivalent), as listed on this page
• have at least a 2:1 at Bachelors level in any subject
• apply to study this course at Lucy Cavendish , St Edmund’s or Wolfson  Colleges

You can complete the course in 5 years, moving from the end of Year 2 to clinical studies.

Check the Second Undergraduate Degrees page for more information .

You may also be interested in the accelerated Graduate Course in Medicine (A101) .

Discover your department or faculty

• Visit the School of Clinical Medicine website - the School of Clinical Medicine website has more information about this course, facilities, people and research.

Explore our Colleges

• Find out how Colleges work - A College is where you’ll live, eat and socialise. It’s also where you’ll have teaching in a small group, known as supervisions.
• How to choose a Cambridge College thats right for you - If you think you know which course you’d like to study, it’s time to choose a College.

Visit us on an open day

• Book an open day - Get a feel for the city and the University.
• Find an event - We offer a range of events where you can find out more about Cambridge, Colleges, and your course. Many of our events have hybrid options so you can join us virtually.

Find out how to apply

• Find out how to apply and how our admissions processes work - Our admissions process is slightly different to other universities. We’ve put together a handy guide to tell you everything you need to know about applying to study at Cambridge.
• Improve your application - Supercurricular activities are a great way to engage with your chosen subject outside of school or college.

Discover Uni data

Contextual information.

Discover Uni allows you to compare information about individual courses at different higher education institutions.  This can be a useful method of considering your options and what course may suit you best.

However, please note that superficially similar courses often have very different structures and objectives, and that the teaching, support and learning environment that best suits you can only be determined by identifying your own interests, needs, expectations and goals, and comparing them with detailed institution- and course-specific information.

We recommend that you look thoroughly at the course and University information contained on these webpages and consider coming to visit us on an Open Day , rather than relying solely on statistical comparison.

You may find the following notes helpful when considering information presented by Discover Uni.

• Discover Uni relies on superficially similar courses being coded in the same way. Whilst this works on one level, it may lead to some anomalies. For example, Music courses and Music Technology courses can have exactly the same code despite being very different programmes with quite distinct educational and career outcomes. Any course which combines several disciplines (as many courses at Cambridge do) tends to be compared nationally with courses in just one of those disciplines, and in such cases the Discover Uni comparison may not be an accurate or fair reflection of the reality of either. For example, you may find that when considering a degree which embraces a range of disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry and geology (for instance, Natural Sciences at Cambridge), the comparison provided is with courses at other institutions that primarily focus on just one (or a smaller combination) of those subjects.You may therefore find that not all elements of the Cambridge degree are represented in the Discover Uni data.
• Some contextual data linked from other surveys, such as the National Student Survey (NSS) or the Destination of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE), may not be available or may be aggregated across several courses or several years due to small sample sizes.  When using the data to inform your course choice, it is important to ensure you understand how it has been processed prior to its presentation. Discover Uni offers some explanatory information about how the contextual data is collated, and how it may be used, which you can view here: https://discoveruni.gov.uk/about-our-data/ .
• Discover Uni draws on national data to provide average salaries and employment/continuation data.  Whilst starting salaries can be a useful measure, they do not give any sense of career trajectory or take account of the voluntary/low paid work that many graduates undertake initially in order to gain valuable experience necessary/advantageous for later career progression. Discover Uni is currently piloting use of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data to demonstrate possible career progression; it is important to note that this is experimental and its use may be modified as it embeds.

The above list is not exhaustive and there may be other important factors that are relevant to the choices that you are making, but we hope that this will be a useful starting point to help you delve deeper than the face value of the Discover Uni data.

Key information

All Colleges, except Hughes Hall

Additional notes

• If applying as an  affiliated student , you must apply to one of Lucy Cavendish, St Edmund's or Wolfson Colleges.
• If you apply for both the standard Medicine course (A100) and the Graduate Course in Medicine (A101) , you must apply to the same College for both courses (ie Lucy Cavendish, St Edmund's or Wolfson).
• Only 22 places are available each year for overseas fee-status applicants.

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PhD in Medical Science (MRC Epidemiology Unit)

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The MRC Epidemiology Unit is a research department in the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cambridge and investigates the causes and prevention of obesity and diabetes. 

Our PhD students have the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research under the supervision of senior scientists supported by postdoctoral researchers and a large team of fieldworkers, data managers, statisticians, study coordinators, technical and administrative staff.

Students become members of one of the University’s Colleges and are trained at the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. 

Applicants continuing to the PhD from an appropriate University of Cambridge MPhil course should pass that course.

Those who wish to continue to a PhD after completing an MPhil will be required to satisfy their potential supervisor, Head of Department and the Faculty Degree Committee that they have the skills and ability to achieve the higher degree.

The Postgraduate Virtual Open Day usually takes place at the end of October. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions to admissions staff and academics, explore the Colleges virtually, and to find out more about courses, the application process and funding opportunities. Visit the  Postgraduate Open Day  page for more details.

See further the  Postgraduate Admissions Events  pages for other events relating to Postgraduate study, including study fairs, visits and international events.

Key Information

3-4 years full-time, 4-7 years part-time, study mode : research, doctor of philosophy, mrc epidemiology unit, course - related enquiries, application - related enquiries, course on department website, dates and deadlines:, lent 2024 (closed).

Some courses can close early. See the Deadlines page for guidance on when to apply.

Easter 2024 (Closed)

Michaelmas 2024 (closed), easter 2025, funding deadlines.

These deadlines apply to applications for courses starting in Michaelmas 2024, Lent 2025 and Easter 2025.

Similar Courses

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• Biological Science (Veterinary Medicine) by thesis MPhil
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• Contact the University
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