Available Projects

Do you want a PhD project that will:

• help underpin the sustainability of public water provision?

• help protect the public and environment from disease and pollution?

• provide unique insights into the £88 Billion water industry

• embed you in a cohort of students and leaders from the academic, industrial and regulatory sector focused on driving real change?

• give you transferable skills that will kick start a successful career in the academic, public, private or third sector?

If so, Bio-Boost is the doctoral training programme for you.

Bio-Boost is a brand-new UKRI-BBSRC Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award (IDLA) that unites research excellence at the University of York and Newcastle University with UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR), the Environment Agency, Oxford Nanopore Technology, and Waters Chromatography. This major new graduate programme will create a vibrant, immersive and diverse doctoral training environment. Bio-Boost PhD candidates will receive a unique training experience that develops the entrepreneurial mindset, vision and skills they need to make positive change across the public, private, and third sectors. The training and innovation proposition of Bio-Boost is aligned to three research themes, each delivered within a dedicated cohort:

• Delivery of an integrated understanding of health via innovative approaches to (eco)epidemiology that maximise the detection and removal of communicable diseases to enhance health security and pandemic preparedness (2026 entry)

•  Protection of aquatic environments through enhanced biological removal of chemical pollutants, and ensuring the biotechnological resilience of wastewater treatment in the face of climate change (2027 entry)

• Creating renewable bioresources for clean and sustainable industry growth to improve energy security, and adopting circular innovative solutions and new revenue streams (2028 entry)

In 2026, Bio-Boost is conducting a cohort-level recruitment process for candidates interested in exploring the “Integrated Understanding of Public and Environmental Health” theme, including:

• The role that wastewater and drinking water treatment systems play in the dynamics and removal of human-derived pathogens

• How changes in population demographics and climate will impact the burden and public health exposure to emerging communicable diseases. 

Up to 7 PhD Projects will be available for a September 2026 start. Successful candidates will complete projects that have been co-designed by scientists at the University of York, Newcastle University, UKWIR, the Environment Agency, Oxford Nanopore Technology and Waters Chromatography.  Projects will be available at the University of York and Newcastle University; each project will have a supervisory team comprising academics from York, Newcastle and at least one project partner. Example project areas include:

• Integrated approaches to (eco)epidemiology,

• Novel sensing and processing technologies to detect and quantify the presence of pathogens of concern (bacteria, viruses, protozoa, harmful algal blooms) in wastewaters and drinking waters to protect public and environmental health,

• Development of strategies to remove pathogens from wastewaters,

• Understanding the dynamics transmission and persistence of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs to bacteria and fungi) in wastewater treatment, together with strategies to enhance their removal, to enhance water quality

Recruitment will proceed in two stages. Selected Stage 1 applicants will be asked to submit a Stage 2 application.  Interviews will be held in late February 2026.  At this stage applicants will be able to align to specific projects that have been co-developed by the Bio-Boost partners; applicants will be able to meet the supervisory teams before making their final top three project selections.

The deadline for Stage 1 Application is 1700 on Wednesday 14th January 2026. 

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