Applications for 2027-28 entry are now open

Shortlisted applicants will be notified in [late January / early February 2027].  

Interviews will take place in February 2027 at the Generative Biology Institute in Oxford. Interviews are normally held in person, and all reasonable travel and accommodation expenses will be covered by the programme.

Applicants may be asked about their research experience to date and the projects they are interested in working on in the future.  

Applicants who are shortlisted but are unable to travel to Oxford will be offered the opportunity to interview remotely, including a panel interview and meetings with prospective supervisors. 

Before submitting your application, you should review the list of available projects for 2027–28 entry.

We strongly encourage prospective applicants to make informal contact with the supervisors of projects they are interested in before applying. These conversations provide an opportunity to discuss the project, ask questions, and determine whether it is a good fit for your research interests.

Applicants are also encouraged to submit an original research proposal as part of their application.  If appropriate, this may be further developed with the appointed supervisor during the DPhil.

We particularly welcome proposals that align with the vision and research priorities of the Generative Biology Institute (GBI). Relevant areas include:

• Molecular and cellular design and evolution
• Enzyme design
• Design of molecular assemblies and machines
• Experimental accelerated evolution
• Robotics, automation and autonomous laboratories
• Genome mining and informatics-based discovery
• Computational AI approaches to sequence-to-function prediction
• Expanding chemistry in biology
• Scalable, error-free DNA and genome synthesis
• Microbial genome synthesis and design
• Gigabase-scale genome synthesis for plants, human cells, and animals
• Combinatorial synthetic genomics
• DNA delivery technologies
• Synthetic approaches to compartmentalized function and endosymbiosis
• Predictive models of DNA sequence-to-function at the scale of genes and genomes
• Human health applications and delivery mechanisms 

Offers are expected to be issued by mid-March 2027. 

Applicants to the Generative Biology EIT DTP may also be nominated for consideration for the highly competitive Graduate Ellison Scholars programme. Nominations are made for applicants who meet the programme’s selection criteria and demonstrate an exceptional profile. Graduate Ellison Scholars will be confirmed in April 2027.  

For full details of the admissions requirements and application process, please refer to the programme's official admissions page on the University of Oxford website here.

The Generative Biology EIT DTP welcomes applications from talented individuals of all races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, disabilities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive research environment in which everyone can thrive.

Please find additional information on graduate admissions directly on the University of Oxford website here.

The University of Oxford Graduate Admissions page is the definitive source of information on entry requirements, application procedures and admissions policies.