Postgraduate community
Here at the Centre for Health and Life Sciences, we have a vibrant post graduate student community to whom we provide an exciting and supportive environment to pursue graduate studies. You will benefit from access to a world-class, health and life sciences laboratory environment with industry standard research and teaching facilities. You will become a part of a multi-professional team of renowned academics, researchers and clinicians.
Current students
| Name | Thesis Title | Director of Studies |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Griffin | Modelling activation of the CGRP receptor | Professor Christopher Reynolds |
| David Mutigwa | Cardiac injury miRNA profile in cancer patients treated with radiotherapy | Dr Hardip Sandhu |
| Kayleigh Orchard | The molecular basis of human tendon pathologies: Studying both epigenetic and global gene expression profiles | Dr Stu Raleigh |
| Michael Fishwick | A study into improving virus-load measurement and preventing false negative in detection | Professor Sebastien Farnaud |
| Jarod Zvartau Hind | Effect of Hypoxia on Macrophage Responses to Coronaviruses | Dr Bernard Burke |
| Ludovico Pipito | Molecular modelling of SARS-CoV-2 – ACE2 interactions and drug discovery of potential disruptor | Dr Giuseppe Deganutti |
| Mushidur Rahman | Novel echocardiography methods to quantify cardiac structural and functional implications of Covid-19 | Professor Djordje Jakovljevic |
| Roxana Rujan | Molecular Dynamics Applied To G Protein Coupled Receptors | Professor Christopher Reynolds |
| Sophie Russell | Cardiovascular implications and physical activity in middle-age and older people with a history of Covid-19 | Professor Djordje Jakovljevic |
| Andrei Sandu | Virucidal activity of novel Nano-Engineered impregnated filters | Dr Phillip Gould |
| Tal Weizmann | Novel approaches to the structure, allostery and drug binding of proteins relevant to SARS-Cov2 infection | Professor Christopher Reynolds |
| Rory Williams | Novel Therapeutics to treat Covid-19 | Dr Phillip Gould |
We support a range of co-funded PhD studentships for business. They provide financial support for collaborative projects by contributing matching funds for a research studentship, which covers the fees and living costs for the student and contributes to research costs.
The project is developed by the business with support from the University. The industrial partner will have a highly motivated and qualified graduate student to undertake research that they, in collaboration with the supervising scientist, can direct to ensure all research goals are met.
| Clara Ferreira (part-time) | The Role of Somatostatin Receptors in the Treatment of Neuroendocrine Tumours | Professor Derek Renshaw | Abcam |
| Alex Edward Georgiou (part-time) | Synovial fluid and its effects of mesenchymal stem cells | Dr Phillip Gould | Cell Therapy Sciences (CTS) |
| Matthew Lamaudiere | Active Gut Microbiota; the missing link in treating colon cancer | Dr Igor Morozov | University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) |
| Adam Linekar | Understanding the excitation contraction coupling of human myocardium using the work loop assay | Professor Helen Maddock | InoCardia |
| Daniel Ray | Bioleaching of Metals from Waste Printed Circuit Boards for Precious Metal Recovery and Reduced Toxicity | Dr Sebastien Farnaud | Network 2 Supplies Ltd (N2S) |
| Patrick Tran | Optimisation and validation of inotropic afterload and preload responses of the human myocardium | Professor Helen Maddock | University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) |
The Centre has been successful in several Trailblazer Studentships which are co-funded from the doctoral college for CU researchers to undertake transformative, cross-disciplinary, cross-national, and cross-sector research.
The calls are aligned to the University’s Research Strategy, the Global Challenges Research Fund, the Industrial Strategy, Stern and Dowling Reviews, and UK Research and Innovation’s Strategic Prospectus. The scheme supports Early-Career Researchers develop their research practice and work together as teams.
| Name | Thesis Title | Director of Studies |
|---|---|---|
| Ahmed Abdelmageed Saad Elwakeel | The Role of NF-kBin Tumour-Associated Dendritic Cells | Dr James Bennett |
| Jayini Thakore | The failure of oncometabolites to adapt the type 2 diabetic heart and kidneys to hypoxia | Dr Mike Dodd |
Coventry University have a number of Cotutelle PhD programmes with international universities.
One of these is with Deakin University (Australia) which offer research students with an unparalleled international experience, working alongside world-class researchers across two continents. Cotutelle students start the programme at either Coventry or Deakin Universities depending on their chose project and spend one year at the partner institution. As a result, they gain unique exposure to different cultural and scientific environments and substantially increase their employability after graduation.
| Name | Thesis Title | Director of Studies |
|---|---|---|
| Persefoni Andreou |
Enhancing Metabolism by Targeting The Skeletal Muscle Epigenome In Metabolic Disease |
Dr Mark Turner |
The University also has a Cotutelle arrangement with Stellenbosch University in South Africa and the Centre currently supporting two PhD students through this scheme:
| Name | Thesis Title | Director of Studies |
|---|---|---|
| Gestel Kuyler | Polymers for G-Protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR) isolation and investigation | Professor Mark Wheatley |
| Rebecca Murray | Using lipid nano-particles to study G-protein-coupled receptors | Professor Mark Wheatley |
Coventry University has been working with the Indonesian government to develop a programme to recruit PhD candidates who are funded by the Ministry of Research, Technology and HE (MoRTHE or often known as DIKTI in Bahasa) and Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA).
The candidates are lecturers at colleges and universities across Indonesia, who are looking to upgrade their qualifications to doctoral level. This is part of a strategic drive to improve the Higher Education sector as a key enabler for human capital development. The Centre has been successful in securing one of the fully funded scholarships:
| Name | Thesis Title | Director of Studies |
|---|---|---|
| Ratna Yuliani | Isolation and Characterisation of Active Antimicrobial Compounds from Longan Leaves (Dimocarpus longan) and in-vivo Studies of Their Antimicrobial Activity | Professor Sebastien Farnaud |
Doctoral Training Alliance (DTA) Studentships
Coventry is one of 15 universities in the UK to receive EU-funding as part of University Alliance’s Doctoral Training Alliance (DTA). The Centre has been successful is securing two of these prestigious awards.
The DTA is the UK’s largest doctoral training programme of its kind, was launched in 2015 to create a new model closely aligned to industrial strategy and priority challenges, producing industry-ready graduates. The training aims to produce independent, highly-employable researchers with expertise and skills in strategically-important research areas:
| Name | Thesis Title | Director of Studies |
|---|---|---|
| Ayesha Judge | Investigating the multi-organ protective role of the incretin hormones | Dr Mike Dodd |
| Saffron Peck | Identification and characterisation of vesicular and non-vesicular secretory proteins which lead to altered cell polarity dynamics | Dr Chris Mee |
In addition, the Centre has been awarded a prestigious DTA3/COFUND PhD Studentship which extends the existing doctoral training initiatives in Applied Biosciences for Health, Energy and Social Policy internationally, with the support of a grant from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Fellowship programme.
| Name | Thesis Title | Director of Studies |
|---|---|---|
| Caroline Lozahic | CUAB02 - Adaptive mRNA processing mechanisms in the heart | Dr Hardip Sandhu |
