LIGHT PhD opportunities: How to apply

If you have any questions, please contact PGR@lstmed.ac.uk. Please bear in mind that the team receives a high volume of queries, therefore please ensure that you submit any questions or highlight any issues with your application as far in advance of the deadline for submission as possible.

If you have not previously applied for an LSTM programme or registered for MyLSTM you will first need to register.

• Once your registration is complete, please login and select the tab ‘Click here to start a new application’
• From the section ‘Choose your programme/course’, select ‘Research Programme’ from the drop-down menu
• The option ‘LIGHT Consortium – PhD Programme 20/21’ will appear in the ‘Results’ section below
• Select the ‘Apply’ button to the right of the screen

1. Welcome

Please indicate how you heard about this programme / course.

2. Personal Details

Please give your name exactly in the format that it appears in your passport. If you have ever held any previous names, please also indicate this.

You should also complete all fields related to contact details, country of birth, and nationality.

You will be required to upload a scanned copy of a current, valid passport, or alternative identification.

3. Address Details

Although most of our correspondence with you will be via email, we may, on occasion, be required to send something via post.

Please provide details of your permanent home address, which is the address where you usually live. If you prefer correspondence to be sent to a different address, then please also complete the Correspondence Address section. If your correspondence address changes, please contact us immediately.

The address details you provide will form part of the criteria that we will use to determine your eligibility with regards to the residency requirements linked to this studentship. 

4. Study & Research

Applicants may select up to three projects from the list provided on this page. This should be done in consultation with the PhD Opportunities page.

You must select at least one project in order to progress your application, however it should be noted that this is merely an expression of your area of interest and does not secure a particular project to your application or admission.

Please take note of the project(s) that you select before you submit your application as you will not be able to review project selections after submission.

5. Academic Qualifications

It is the policy of LSTM to consider only applicants that hold a first class, or high upper second-class Honours degree (or equivalent) in an area relevant to the available projects for the LIGHT Consortium PhD Programme.

Where an applicant does not meet this requirement (e.g. they hold a lower second class undergraduate degree), they may be eligible to apply if they also hold a master's degree with an awarded distinction or equivalent (in an area relevant to their proposed PhD) and are able to provide an award certificate and transcript for both qualifications. Unfortunately, we are unable to consider masters qualifications that have not yet been awarded.

Please provide full details of any relevant academic qualifications that you hold and upload both award certificate and transcript. If you do not have a transcript, you should request this from the awarding institution. As a minimum, you must have uploaded or submitted to pgr@lstmed.ac.uk at least an award certificate by the deadline of 10^th December. You will be expected to produce a transcript by 7^th January otherwise your application will not be considered.

To upload a certificate AND a transcript for the same award, you must add TWO qualification records to the application form. You must complete ‘Name of College/University’, ‘Country’, ‘Start Date’, ‘Qualification’, ‘Actual or Expected Class/Grade’ and then attach your Certificate or Transcript under ‘Associated Certificate or Transcript’. You should then ‘Add Another Academic Qualification’, replicate the information in the fields above, and attach the other document.

If predicted grades are not available for Bachelor studies which are still in progress, a partial transcript providing details of years 1 and 2 can be provided instead.

Studentships awarded based on predicted grades will be conditional upon final results.

6. Professional Qualifications

Completion of this section is not mandatory for the purpose of admission, however, please feel free to provide details of any relevant professional or other qualifications that you hold and, where applicable, upload copies of your award certificates and/or transcripts.

7. Experience/Employment

Please attach your anonymised Curriculum Vitae to this section. If your CV contains details of any of the following, you must remove:

• Photo
• Name
• Age
• Gender
• Religion
• Ethnicity

 A CV is sufficient for the purposes of completion of this section however please feel free to expand upon any relevant employment experience using the fields available.

8. English Language

In order to ensure that candidates are equipped with the skills to successfully pursue your studies and to enable you to participate in all aspects of academic life, you must meet the minimum English language entry requirements which are available via the English Language Requirements page. Please provide relevant evidence where required.

9. Personal Statement

This section gives you the opportunity to explain broadly:

• Why have you chosen this programme?
• Why do you want to study at LSTM?
• What do you hope to gain from your studies?
• How does this application fit with your career plans?
• What skills and/or experience would you bring to the PhD community?
• What long-term benefits do you envisage?

You are able to upload a personal statement to this section rather than completing the provided fields, and it is preferred that you use the upload facility.  If you upload a personal statement, you must ensure that your statement provides responses to each of the questions within this section.

10. Fees and Funding

Please select ‘Fully Sponsored’ from the drop-down menu.

Under ‘What is the status of your application for sponsorship/funding?’ select ‘I have applied for sponsorship/funding for my chosen programme of study and my application is pending’, and then under ‘Please state source(s) of funding, amount(s) requested and expected date(s) of decision? Input ‘LIGHT Consortium Studentship

11. References

Please provide the names and contact details of 2 suitable referees who have indicated that they are willing to be approached to provide a reference for you. Please ensure that you select ‘Add Another Referee’ in order to add details of a second referee before submitting your application.

Referees should be senior academic and/or professional persons who are currently or have recently been responsible for supervising you and must also have an institutional email address (i.e. not gmail, hotmail etc). Friends and family are not acceptable. If you upload details of a referee with a non-institutional email address, this will not be considered.

When applying to the LIGHT Consortium PhD Programme you are not required to upload reference letters. If you do have references at hand which you feel are relevant to this programme, are dated within the past two years, then you are able to upload these, if they meet the above requirements.

At least one reference must be received by the deadline of 10^th December otherwise your application will not be considered. Merely inputting details of a referee, without LSTM having received the reference by this date will lead to your application being withdrawn.

12. Visa and Immigration

Please select the relevant option from the drop-down menu when/if presented.

13. Equal Opportunities

Please complete as fully as possible.

Your data will not be disclosed for other purposes outside of LSTM's Student Data Privacy Statement

14. Declaration

You can save and return to your application if you do not intend to complete it in one sitting.

If you feel that you have completed all mandatory fields of the application, and attached all required documentation and are happy for your application to be reviewed you should see a button in the bottom right corner of the screen that invites you to ‘SUBMIT’.

Please ensure that you have attached all required documentation to your application before you submit as you will be unable to review attachments after submission.

Until you have selected ‘Submit’ your application will remain in ‘Draft’ format and will not be reviewed

Recruitment timeline:

Opening date:                        12^th November 2020

This is when the application portal via LSTM will be made available and you can begin your application.

Closing date:                         10^th December 2020

Your application must be Submitted 12:00 noon GMT. You must’ve completed and submitted all of the information indicated above to be considered for shortlisting. Please take care to ensure that you have:

• Uploaded or submitted all available academic qualification documentation. As a minimum you must’ve uploaded or submitted an award certificate for your highest level completed academic qualification.
• Uploaded an anonymised Curriculum Vitae
• Uploaded a personal statement
• Uploaded or arranged submission of at least one eligible reference. If we have not received a full reference by the deadline your application will not be considered. Adding details of a referee is not sufficient for the purposes of fulfilling this condition.
• Uploaded evidence that you meet LSTM’s English Language Requirements

Shortlisting:               Week commencing 11^th January 2021

Complete, eligible applications will be subject to an initial review procedure overseen by the LIGHT leadership team. Successful applicants will be invited to interview shortly afterwards. Unsuccessful applicants will be informed of the outcome – unfortunately feedback on your application is not available at this stage.

Interviews:                 Week commencing 25^th January 2021

Applicants invited to interview will need to prepare a short presentation based on a related research topic that will be provided 10 days in advance. This will be followed by competency-based questions from a panel including all supervisors and senior programme personnel. It is expected that interviews will last approximately one hour.

Notification date:      Week commencing 1^st February 2021

Successful candidates will receive notification of the outcome of their application and will be asked to commit to join the programme by 8^th February 2021. Candidates that choose to join the programme will then be guided through the PhD admission process with a proposed start date in early May 2021.

Proposed start date: May 2021