Cheney Scholarship PhD Programme
Applications are open for 2 PhD student places.
Closing date for applications is Friday 26 June, 5pm.
Interviews will be held on 9th July 2026.
The Cheney Scholarship is a prestigious 4-year PhD programme in in situ biology, designed to train the next generation of scientists to tackle the most complex challenges in biology and medicine.
Funded by Leeds alumni Peter Cheney and his wife Susan Cheney, this scholarship offers a unique opportunity to explore the molecular machinery of life, not just in isolation, but within the context of living cells and tissues.
Programme overview Find out how the programme is structured across the 4 years and read about some of the research areas.
Student stories Read about current Cheney PhD students experiences of the programme and find out what additional support is available at Leeds.
Our vision: Biology in context
In situ biology techniques can reveal molecular details of the interactions that drive fundamental biological processes (and become dysregulated in disease), the interactions between hosts and pathogens, and the mechanism of action of targeted therapies. At Leeds, we use state-of-the-art approaches, to pursue ‘in situ’ biology. From single cell spatial metabolic and immune phenotyping, and transcriptomics to subcellular resolution techniques including biomolecular NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), mass spectrometry, super-resolution light microscopy and AFM (atomic force microscopy), cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM), you will have access to state of the arti facilities to discover mechanisms of disease in molecular detail. This emerging field is fascinating and has vast potential rewards. In essence we aim to understand how inter- and intracellular functions change in time and space as healthy tissues enter disease, and what changes when we treat such diseases. The ultimate prize is to better understand biology, and discover more effective, targeted medicines with fewer side effects that can transform human health and well-being.
