PhD Studentships
Training the next generation of structural scientists.
We know training the next generation is vital to advance science, for this reason we sponsor a number of PhD students every year as part of our charitable mission to advance science for the public benefit.
As a partner institute of the University of Cambridge we are able to supervise PhD students together with partner universities, and collaborating institutions including companies.
Current Sponsored Students
As part of our ongoing commitment to collaboration across academia and industry The CCDC sponsors a number of PhD students each year.
Topics range across the chemical and biochemical fields, and each PhD is co-supervised by a CCDC team member, a university and in many cases an industrial partner.
Join us at our annual Science Day to learn what PhD students currently sponsored by The CCDC are working on, as they present their progress.
For supervisors worldwide, if you have a request for a co-sponsored studentship that is in-line with CCDC research aims then we would be interested to hear your project proposal. We accept proposals all year round but typically review submissions during the first few months of a calendar year. Complete the form below or speak to us at one of the events we attend worldwide to find out more.
Message us about a co-sponsored studentship:
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Emilia Prandini
Thesis title: Relating structure with surface properties of organic crystalline materials.
Collaboration with the Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT ), Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Academic supervisor Elena Simone.
Emilia Prandini is currently a third-year PhD student in Chemical Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino. Her research focuses on the surface characterization of organic crystalline materials, to deepen our understanding of molecular surface properties, an area of great relevance in pharmaceutical science. In particular, Emilia investigates how the structural features of crystals influence their surface behaviour, which can significantly affect critical properties such as solubility, bioavailability, and stability of pharmaceutical compounds.
By combining advanced experimental techniques with computational approaches—particularly particle informatics tools—she examines these surfaces at a molecular level. This integrated methodology enables the identification of robust correlations between crystal structure and surface properties, ultimately contributing to the design of more efficient and reliable drug formulations.
Harry Nash
Thesis title: Evaluating the landscape of σ-hole intermolecular interactions.
Collaboration with Sheffield University
Academic supervisors: Lee Brammer and Grant Hill.
Nathan Henessy
Thesis title: Towards Product Control by Design: Studies of the Nucleation and Crystal Growth of L-Histidine.
Collaboration with The University of Leeds
Academic supervisors: Sven Schroeder and Beth Willneff.
Paulo Nunes de Souza
Thesis title: Correlate structure-properties in Anti-hiv pharmaceutical new solid forms
Collaboration with the University of São Paulo
Academic supervisor: Javier Ellena
Paulo is a PhD candidate at the University of São Paulo (IFSC/USP) researching planning and characterization, in the solid state, of the physicochemical properties preferentially exhibited by new solid forms of antiviral drugs correlating structure-property.
Omar El-Habbak
Thesis title: Correlating Digital and Experimental Chemical Space to Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Processes
Collaboration with The University of Strathclyde CMAC.
Academic supervisor: Alastair Florence.
Industrial supervisors: Rachel Shinebaum and Helen Blade from AstraZeneca.
Omar is exploring the correlation between chemical space and downstream pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. His work uses machine and deep learning models to predict powder flowability based on particle size, shape, and crystal structure.
Omar’s interest in sustainable development has led him to engage in youth advocacy heavily. He is currently the West Asia Regional Caucus Coordinator at the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth.
His research interests lie in the use of artificial intelligence to improve translational medical treatment, from diagnostics and bedside clinical care, which was his main B.Sc. focus, all the way to pharmaceutical product development, which is his current scope as a doctoral student.
Aaron Horner
Thesis title: Developing the place and function of Crystal Sponge structures in the structural science landscape.
Collaboration with The University of Southampton.
Academic supervisor: Simon Coles.
Aaron is currently working with crystal sponges to help develop and identify ways to better describe the ‘quality’ of a given crystal structure. This is important because the scope of what can be analysed using scXRD techniques has expanded beyond the established frameworks of the periodic crystal.
Henry James Broster
Thesis title: (TBC) Enriching Docking with Machine-Learning Approaches
Collaboration with The University of Oxford.
Academic supervisor: Charlotte Deane.
Henry Holleb
Thesis title: Pharmaceutical Salts: From Structure to Hydration Propensity
Collaboration with Durham University
Academic supervisor: Aurora Cruz-Cabeza.
Alexander Lee
Thesis title: Identifying and using a subset of structures that can potentially undergo enantiomeric ripening via conglomerate formation
Collaboration with Durham University.
Academic supervisor: Matt Kitching.
William Midgley
Thesis title: PROTACS: New Computational Methods, Targets, and Empirical Validation
Collaboration with Durham University.
Academic supervisor: Ehmke Pohl.
Will Midgley is a MoSMed PhD student in Structural Biology at Durham University, researching computational methods to aid PROTAC design. He obtained an Honours degree in Applied Medical Sciences before working as a data scientist and research assistant at Swansea University using routinely collected health data. In his spare time, he enjoys exploring the local area and playing Uilleann Pipes for a local cèilidh band.
About the Programme
Over 50 PhD students sponsored since 2000.
Here Jason Cole, Senior Research Fellow, explains more about the history and structure of CCDC’s PhD programme.
