Leverhulme Doctoral Training Programme Rhythms of Life
Biological rhythms are fundamental to life. From cellular processes to ecosystems and human societies, predictable environmental cycles lasting hours to years, shape when living things eat, move, reproduce and interact.
The Rhythms of Life Leverhulme Doctoral Training Programme brings together natural and human sciences, alongside social, cultural and health perspectives, to develop a new integrated understanding of the importance of rhythmic processes. By training researchers to work across scales and disciplines, this programme addresses urgent global challenges through a distinctive and integrative research agenda with lasting scientific, environmental and societal relevance.
About the programme
Rhythms are fundamental to life on Earth. From bacteria to humans, organisms are attuned to predictable environmental cycles that dictate when they eat, rest, move, reproduce, and communicate, shaping both ecological interactions and evolutionary trajectories. Circadian rhythms align physiology and behaviour to 24-hour rotations of the Earth. Circatidal rhythms structure coastal life around ebbs and flows of tides. Lunar cycles coordinate major life history events in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Circannual (seasonal) rhythms underpin the timing of a vast range of organismal processes including reproduction, hibernation, and migration. Light, noise and other forms of pollution, along with climate-change-driven shifts in temperature and weather patterns are desynchronising internal clocks from external cues.
In our increasingly urbanised and digitised world, the rhythms of human lives are also profoundly affected. Artificial light has rapidly altered when and how we work and rest, produce food, and interact with others. For humans, erosion of natural temporal structures has consequences ranging from sleep disruption and poor mental health to reduced agricultural productivity and food security. Understanding these rhythm disruptions and how societies and ecosystems can adapt or recover is fundamental to sustaining biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human wellbeing in a rapidly changing world.
The Rhythms of Life Leverhulme Doctoral Training Programme will build cross-scale understanding of rhythmic processes, from cellular oscillations to global activity patterns, how they operate and interact, how they are disrupted, and how they can adapt. Research will be organised across three central themes, with each PhD project spanning at least two:
1) The Foundation of Rhythms: genetic, cellular, and physiological mechanisms that underpin natural rhythms, how rhythms evolve, and the physical forces that govern them.
2) Rhythms in a Changing World: the effects of human-induced rapid environmental change on the function, resilience and adaptation of biological rhythms, across individual, population and ecosystem scales.
3) The Human Rhythmic Niche: how humans have created a unique niche that has decoupled our dependence on many of the Earth’s natural rhythms, and how this mismatch affects human behaviour, wellbeing, food security, culture, and the function of societies.
Rhythms scholarships fund up to 48 months of full-time doctoral study with a maintenance award at UKRI base levels and include £10,000 to support individual research and training needs. 8 scholarships are available each year.
We will be advertising the first Rhythms PhD projects in late 2026, for scholars to enrol in October 2027. Further details on available projects and application instructions will be made available on this website. There will be three PhD intakes in October 2027, 2028 and 2029.
We aim to recruit students on the Masters+ PhD route for enrollment onto their chosen MSc course in October 2027 and 2028. Application deadlines and instructions will be made available on this website.
Rhythms of Life combines comprehensive supervisory support with an innovative, cohort-based training model designed to develop future leaders able to work across traditional discipline boundaries within and beyond academia. Scholars will be supported by interdisciplinary supervisory teams, peer and programme mentors, and access to ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ’s well-established postgraduate research and wellbeing structures. A distinctive strength of Rhythms of Life lies in its integrated approach to training and cohort-building. We structure this around three interconnected domains: subject expertise and interdisciplinary fluency; collaboration and leadership; and professional communication with specialist and public audiences.
All scholars (including those on the Masters+ pathway) will begin their time in Bangor with a 2-day residential Welcome to Rhythms event in the Eryri National Park Dark Sky Reserve, to introduce scholars to the programme and its overarching intellectual ambitions. We will provide an overview of the comprehensive training and professional development programme they are joining. Cohort-building social activities will aim to break the ice and barriers among scholars and staff and lay the grounds for a thriving Rhythms community.
Extensive training activities include interdisciplinarity-in-action seminars, temporal data science workshops, ethical research practice, responsible use of AI, leadership and writing retreats, and targeted support for successful grant, fellowship, and academic or other job applications. Professional networking will be supported both internally (via the annual Scholars’ conference) and externally (via regular visiting speakers). Creative and inclusive social activities, and group public engagement projects reinforce cohort cohesion while developing confidence and professional identity. Together, this integrated training and community-focused model ensures that Rhythms of Life scholars graduate not only with excellent PhDs, but with the skills, networks and experience needed to shape the future of rhythms research and to be ambassadors of interdisciplinarity in any sector.
PhD Scholarships
Successful applicants will be expected to have a minimum of a 2:1 undergraduate degree in a subject relevant to their chosen project. A masters level qualification is desirable but is not an essential requirement.
Masters+ PhD Scholarships
Successful applicants will be expected to have a minimum of a 2:1 undergraduate degree in a subject relevant to their chosen MSc programme. To be eligible for Masters+ PhD scholarships, applicants must fulfil the following criteria:
- Be a UK domiciled student
- Not already hold a Master’s degree from ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ
- Be from a low-income household background as evidenced by, for example, being in receipt of a full maintenance loan or Special Support loan during their undergraduate studies.
and/or be one of the following categories of ethnicity:
- Black African
- Black Caribbean
- Black Other
- Mixed – White and Black Caribbean
- Mixed – White and Black African
- Other mixed background (including Black African, Black Caribbean and Black Other)
Over the course of the programme, up to 10 PhD scholarships may be offered to international students. These international scholarships will receive the same financial support as UK scholars. In addition, international scholarships will cover full international fees and provide support for visa and immigration costs. To contribute to efforts in decolonising research and developing equitable partnerships with international collaborators, we will aim for at least one third of international scholars to be recruited from the Global South.
Due to funding requirements, international applicants are not eligible for the Masters+ PhD route.
In addition to advertised PhD projects, we welcome candidates to work with potential supervisors to develop their own research ideas that fit within the Rhythms of Life themes. Student-led application deadlines and instructions will be made available on this website. In the first instance, please review our potential Rhythms supervisors list and reach out to relevant staff to discuss your ideas.
Meet The Rhythms Management Board
Dr Amy Ellison
Amy is co-Director of Rhythms of Life. She is a molecular biologist interested in the chronobiology of animal health and welfare.
Dr Alexander Georgiev
Alex is co-Director of Rhythms of Life. He is a primatologist investigating the impacts of anthropogenic habitat change on primate behaviour, ecology, physiology and health.
Dr Alex Sutton
Alex is Deputy Director for Recruitment, EDI & Wellbeing. He is a global change ecologist interested in understanding the drivers of differential responses to climate change.
Prof Ross Roberts
Ross is Deputy Director for Interdisciplinary Training & Cohort Building. He is a sports and exercise psychologist whose research includes the role of sleep in human performance.
Dr James Waggitt
James is Deputy Director for Professional Development, Alumni Relations & Legacy. His research focusses on understanding how behavioural and environmental factors influence the distributions of cetaceans and seabirds in space and time.
Dr Kirsty MacLeod
Kirsty studies the links between animal behaviour, life history and physiology, and how individuals interact with each other and their environment, primarily (but not exclusively!) in reptiles.
Prof Sue Niebrzydowski
Sue, Chair of Medieval Literature, is Dean of Postgraduate Research and Head of ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ's Doctoral Academy.
Prof Sam Oliver
Sam is Director of the Institute for Applied Human Physiology. His research examines how human health and performance are affected by exercise, diet, sleep, and environmental stress.
Prof Paul Mullins
Paul, Chair of Neuroimaging and Senior Physicist at the Bangor Imaging Unit, researches the temporal dynamics of neurochemistry and cerebral physiology in health and disease.
Dr Marianna Chimienti
Marianna is a quantitative ecologist focussed on animal movement processes, their responses to environmental change and their link to population dynamics and life cycle strategies.
PhD opportunities
PhD projects recruiting for the 2027 cohort will be advertised here in autumn 2026.
PhD opportunities
PhD projects recruiting for the 2027 cohort will be advertised here in autumn 2026.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates on available projects.
Six Masters+ (M+) scholarships are available to Black or low-income background UK-domiciled students over the programme. M+ scholarships offer 5 years of funding, including fees and a maintenance award for all years. Students can enrol on a number of taught Masters across ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive further information in future on how to apply.
Six Masters+ (M+) scholarships are available to Black or low-income background UK-domiciled students over the programme. M+ scholarships offer 5 years of funding, including fees and a maintenance award for all years. Students can enrol on a number of taught Masters across ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive further information in future on how to apply.
Potential Rhythms Supervisors
Explore our research interests and expertise across ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ. The following academic staff are potential supervisors for PhD projects and MSc dissertations for candidates on the Masters+ PhD route. This list is not exhaustive and if there are other staff you are interested in developing a proposal with, please do get in touch with them to discuss your interests and ideas.
Research in the School of Environmental and Natural Sciences at ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ is incredibly broad, spanning a wide range of environmental and biological sciences, from molecular biology to ecosystem processes and everything in between.
Click here to see our full list of academic staff.
Research in the School of Ocean Sciences at ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ is marked by an interdisciplinary approach, which is vital to tackle the world’s most pressing and complex challenges, including global environmental change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and unsustainable use of natural resources and energy.
Click here to see our full list of academic staff.
The School of Psychology and Sport Science brings together two of ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ’s highly performing departments: Psychology, and Sport and Exercise Sciences. Our world-leading research spans cognitive neuroscience, clinical interventions, psychological wellbeing, elite performance, physical activity, health and applied human physiology, and has significant real-world impact.
Click here to see our full list of academic staff.
The School of Psychology and Sport Science brings together two of ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ’s highly performing departments: Psychology, and Sport and Exercise Sciences. Our world-leading research spans cognitive neuroscience, clinical interventions, psychological wellbeing, elite performance, physical activity, health and applied human physiology, and has significant real-world impact.
Click here to see our full list of academic staff.
At Bangor, research underpins our teaching. You can study a wide variety of courses, at all levels, which build on the world-leading research we are doing in this field.
At Bangor, research underpins our teaching. You can study a wide variety of courses, at all levels, which build on the world-leading research we are doing in this field.
