Information for prospective supervisors

EastBio recruitment for an October 2027 start with begin with a call for projects opening on 10 August 2026.

EastBio runs a joint recruitment and we make every effort to provide plain and clear guidance on our recruitment process. We strongly advise that, before you submit your project, you make sure you read the relevant guidance available from 10 August:

Supervisor Eligibility

  1. Lead supervisors of existing EastBio students are not eligible to submit a project (unless thesis submission is before October 2027). In other words: you can only have one EastBio student in your lab at any one time. It would be wise to only submit a project if this is the right time for your lab to do so. This restriction does not apply to CASE projects.
  2. Lead supervisors to more than three (3) PhD students in October 2027 (not counting students who are yet to be recruited) are not eligible to submit a project. This restriction does not apply to CASE projects.
  3. Lead supervisors must be on campus.
  4. Supervisors can only propose one project as Lead supervisor.
  5. All supervisors must be up to date with supervisor training within their institution. 

How to Submit Your Project Proposal

We are asking eligible staff of the partner institutions to submit your PhD project via an online form relevant for your Institution: 

Available 10 August 2026

University of Aberdeen:  

University of Dundee:  

University of Edinburgh CMVM: 

University of Edinburgh CSE: 

University of St Andrews: 

University of Stirling: 

SRUC: 

Moredun Research Institute:

James Hutton Institute:

IBioIC: 

We recommend that you work on your responses offline before you start filling in this form. A pdf preview can be found here: EastBio Project Call August 2026 PDF Preview.pdf (179.4 KB)

If you need to edit the form after you have submitted it (before the closing date), make sure you select 'save my response' when you submit. You will then be able to access your form by going to your 'Filled forms' on Microsoft Forms. Note that we will not consider projects that are incomplete (for example, projects that lack details on the second supervisor and their involvement in the project). We cannot send individual acknowledgment of receipt. 

As part of the proposal, you will be asked to complete an anonymous EDI survey, you can find a pdf preview of the survey here: EastBio EDI Survey for Supervisors.pdf (215.23 KB)

If you are submitting a CASE project, you must also separately submit a CASE Project Support Letter (see guidance for the template), signed by the CASE partner’s representative, to your local academic lead for EastBio and to recruitment@eastscotbiodtp.ac.uk.

 

The deadline for projects is noon Monday the 21st of September 2026. 

Timeline

Announcement and online briefing session20 July
Call for projects opens10 August
Project submission deadline21 September

Projects approved (local level) 

5 October

Projects advertised by (local level) 

19 October

APPLICATIONS CLOSING 

16 November

Nominations submitted (local level) 

18 January

Shortlisting completed by (local level) 

15 February

Interview invites sent from (local level) 

22 February

Interviews held  

w/b 8 March 

Allocation meeting (EastBio Management Group) 

 w/b 15 March

Decisions communicatedw/b 22 March

Candidate Nominations

Each project supervisor is to nominate one candidate who represents the best fit for their project by submitting the EastBio Candidate Nomination Form to their local graduate school by the 18 January (the form must be signed by the lead supervisor and, when relevant, the CASE partner supervisor). No application will be considered without this form. 

Nominated candidates will be shortlisted locally aiming for two candidates per studentship award, as per the partner institutions' quotas. The selection is conducted by each partner institution according to the same EastBio guidance.  

The shortlisted candidates will be invited to an EastBio interview by one of the panels chaired by an EastBio academic lead and 3 PIs from partner institutions. 

Form to be shared by 10 August 2026

 

If you have further questions on the PhD Project Call or our recruitment, please email the EastBio academic representative at your local institution or recruitment@eastscotbiodtp.ac.uk.

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