AstraZeneca to fund 55 more PhD studentships at University of Cambridge over five years

AstraZeneca will fund 55 more PhD studentships at the University of Cambridge over five years, starting in October.

The Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company has funded more than 100 PhD students at the university over the last 20 years.

The new agreement will help students working across disciplines and sectors, while helping them hone their translational and collaboration skills.

Kathryn Chapman, deputy director of the Milner Therapeutics Institute and the university’s relationship manager for AstraZeneca, said: “Cambridge University and AstraZeneca see the future of medicine happening at the intersection of different disciplines, where biological understanding of disease processes and the chemistry of how drugs work, meets engineering and artificial intelligence.

[Read more: £3.2m deal extends MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology’s Blue Sky collaboration with AstraZeneca in Cambridge]

Prof Andy Neely, pro-vice-chancellor for enterprise and business relations, added: “Training the next generation of brilliant scientists who are able to collaborate with colleagues in different disciplines and with industry partners will be critical to getting new treatments to patients.”

Jacqui Hall, head of early careers and R&D learning, AstraZeneca, said: “This new agreement demonstrates AstraZeneca’s commitment to developing early career scientists and offers a fantastic opportunity for AstraZeneca and Cambridge University to collaborate by sharing knowledge and expertise across academia and industry.”

Each student will have both an academic and industry supervisor and benefit from access to AstraZeneca’s new Discovery Centre, home to more than 2,200 scientists on Cambridge Biomedical Campus, gaining access to all stages of the drug discovery pipeline.