PhD Studentship: The Podium Institute Studentship 2026

3.5-year D.Phil. studentship 

Potential Supervisors: Prof. Thomas Okell, Prof. Johannes Weickenmeier, Prof. Constantin Coussios, Prof Liang He, Prof. Mauricio Villarroel, Prof. Robin Cleveland, Prof. Tim Denison, Prof. Antoine Jerusalem, Prof João Henriques, Dr Christian Rupprecht, Prof. Mark Thompson, Prof. Amy Zavatsky, Prof. David Clifton, Prof. Holly Bridge, Dr Robert Hepach

Launched in 2021 and based within the University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering (Department of Engineering Science), The Podium Institute for Sports Medicine and Technology shifts the traditional emphasis of research into sports injury - which is predominantly adult-centric and based upon treatment – by concentrating on younger, community and female athletes, and focuses on prevention rather than cure. The institute develops new technologies to monitor and analyse the individual factors that lead to youth sports injuries and offers practical solutions for safer sports practices, focusing on safety rather than performance. A hallmark of the Institute is the development and validation of new technologies for sport injury detection and prevention. Where appropriate, projects can be supervised or co-supervised by academics in the Medical Sciences Division with relevant expertise.

Eligibility

This studentship is open to both UK and Overseas students (full award – fees plus stipend).

Award Value

University course fees are covered at the level set for UK students (£10,470 in 2026-27 academic year) and Overseas students (£34,700 in 2026-27 academic year). The stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) will be c. £22,780 (amount in 2024-25 academic year) for the first year, and at least this amount for a further three years.

Candidate Requirements

Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in an engineering, physical sciences or medical sciences discipline relevant to the proposed area of research;
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills;
• Strong interest and enthusiasm for the field of sport medicine and technology.

The following skills are desirable but not essential:

• Experience of experimental or computational research in the field of sports medicine and technology, as demonstrated by a publication at an international conference, journal or first-class final year project report;
• Ability to program in MATLAB or Python.

Application Procedure

Informal enquiries are encouraged and should be addressed to Elizabeth Hempstead (podiuminstitute@admin.ox.ac.uk).

Candidates must submit a graduate application form and are expected to meet the graduate admissions criteria. Details are available on the course page of the University website.

Candidates are expected to submit a research proposal which should relate to one or more of the following priority areas within the Podium Institute for Sports Medicine and Technology:

• Multiphysics and data-driven constitutive modelling of traumatic brain injury and its long-term impact on health
• Physics-informed image registration approaches to infer injury mechanisms from longitudinal image data
• Experimental characterization of the mechanical properties and damage behaviour in soft biological materials
• Modelling, monitoring and prevention of injury in sport, including concussion, cardiac and other catastrophic injuries
• The development of novel computer-vision-based techniques for contactless detection, quantification, and prevention of sport injury
• The development of robotic humanoid simulator and benchmarking methods for testing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in sports.
• The design and development of functional materials, novel structures, and data-driven optimisation methods for impact absorption.
• The development of soft robotic and wearable assistive robotic technologies for health monitoring, injury prevention and rehabilitation.
• The development of haptic interface in Virtual Reality and “AI coach” for assisted skill learning.
• Use of Big Data to understand and predict youth sport injury
• New wearable or implantable technology to prevent exercise-induced cardiac adaptations that result in cardiac arrest
• Development of new biochemical and physical markers to prevent overuse injuries • Wearable sensors to quantify of the impact and benefit of sleep on the recovery, performance and overall wellbeing of athletes
• Using big data and machine learning methods to identify robust imaging markers of anxiety, depression and pain, and how these relate to sports injuries
• The development of highly sensitive MRI acquisition methods to non-invasively assess the brain’s response to pain after injury and during recovery
• Investigating novel MRI approaches to assess microvascular damage and blood-brain barrier disruption after mild traumatic brain injury

 

Please quote 26ENGBI_CC in all correspondence and in your graduate application.

Application deadline: 12:00 midday UK time on:

Tuesday 2 December 2025 - Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships

Tuesday 3 March 2026 - Applications may remain open after this deadline if places are still available

Start date: October 2026