Medical Biology PhD Program

Students are valued members of our research groups.

PhD students are guided by at least two supervisors at WEHI (at least one must be a faculty member). Within their research group, students receive training, guidance and teaching within an intensive research laboratory environment that includes other faculty, postdoctoral researchers, research assistants and technical support staff.

Our students receive further support and mentoring through regular meetings with a PhD advisory committee. This is made up of WEHI faculty, postdoctoral researchers and external researchers, ensuring the committee has diverse expertise that compliments the research project.

PhD students are supported by peer mentoring upon commencement, by being matched with a senior PhD student. Recently submitted PhD students volunteer to guide junior students through candidature processes.

The majority of our PhD students are lead authors on papers in peer-reviewed journals, and have opportunities to present at national and international conferences.

To graduate, a student must submit a thesis that is passed by external examiners, and make an oral presentation of their findings. WEHI awards Corcoran Prizes annually to the top two completing PhD students (based on thesis assessments and research impact), and our PhD students are also eligible for the University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD Thesis.

Our students have an excellent track record of obtaining early career fellowships post-PhD to support their research career.

Our multidisciplinary PhD program offers students the opportunity to develop skills in diverse subsets of medical research.

In-depth training is available in fields including

• Bioinformatics and computational biology
• Cancer biology
• Cell death
• Chemical biology and drug development
• Clinical translation
• Epidemiology and population health
• Genetics, genomics and epigenetics
• Immunology and immune disorders
• Infectious disease
• Inflammation
• Personalised medicine
• Proteomics
• Stem cells and developmental biology
• Structural biology

PhD students are encouraged to broaden their understanding of medical research by attending seminars within their own and other research divisions, as well as weekly WEHI seminars and seminars at our research neighbours in the Parkville precinct.

Our PhD students have opportunities to develop broader skills that will benefit their future careers.

Our students develop wider skills through advanced activities including:

WEHI offers our PhD program as the Department of Medical Biology in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

Founded in 1853, the University of Melbourne is one of Australia’s leading ‘Group of Eight’ Universities with more than 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students. It is been internationally recognised by many international rankings including:

• Number 1 university in Australia and 13th in the world in the area of clinical, pre-clinical and health in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2017
• Number 1 university in Australia and 40th in the world in the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2016

Enrolment through the University of Melbourne provides our students with many advantages including:

• Access to wider networks of leading research teams, within WEHI as well as in Melbourne’s Parkville biomedical research precinct
• Eligibility for University of Melbourne scholarships, awards and recognition
• Access to student career, health, fitness, cultural, housing (including residential colleges) and support services
• Membership of a large and diverse student body of almost 20,000 postgraduate students, almost half of whom are international
• Access to affiliated PhD Programs which may offer additional enhancement opportunities
• Upon graduation, affiliation with the University of Melbourne’s alumni program, as well as WEHI’s alumni network