Postgraduate study
Edinburgh: Extraordinary futures await.

Medical Informatics PhD

Awards: PhD

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Medical Informatics

Advances in data capture platforms in both medicine and life sciences supported by modern computing and informatics have greatly energised the overlapping fields of Medical Informatics and Data Intensive Biomedicine.

The Centre For Medical Informatics at the Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics was inaugurated at Edinburgh on 1 April 2015 (Harvard Medical School also establishing a department of Biomedical Informatics in 2015).

The combination of informatics and biomedicine is fundamental for advances towards 4P medicine (personalised, predictive, preventive, and participatory).

Current research opportunities in this area include:

  • Developing new perspectives on medicine and fundamental biology through application of quantitative approaches and data-intensive analyses to biomedical and other health related data
  • Real-time generation, analysis and interpretation of health data to foster the creation of learning health systems, which aim to enhance the quality, safety and efficiency of care
  • The development of new challenges for informatics systems (software, hardware and socio-technical) in healthcare and medicine
  • Developing and evaluating new technologies to promote health and wellbeing
  • To study and inform policy deliberations on strategies and approaches to digitising health systems and services
  • Safe and secure management and storage of digitised data in ways that enables secondary uses of these data
  • Social, ethical and legal issues of data intensive research and digitised health care

Supervisors

Research group leaders within the Centre For Medical Informatics offer projects as first PhD supervisors. In addition, group leaders from the other two Centres in the Usher Institute (the Centre for Population Health Sciences and the Centre for Global Health Research) act as either co-supervisors, or, depending on the specific topic and primary methodology of the PhD, as first supervisors.

Second (or third) supervisors from University research centres outwith Usher and other associated institutes e.g. the Farr Institute, Institute of Genetics and Cancer and Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research may also be available.

Before Applying

Before submitting an online application, prospective students should contact an academic members of staff who may act as first supervisor in order to align their research proposal with one of the Institute's main areas of research. A list of contacts for PhD supervisors can be found at:

Students will be integrated within the existing student-led approach at the Usher Institute, where structures are already in place to ensure a high-quality student experience.

The Usher Institute has a thriving PhD community with well-developed management and administrative structures.

University Quality Assurance monitoring and reporting processes will be adhered to. All supervisors will satisfy University requirements in terms of training and mentoring.

Expectations of students, including assessment guidelines, will be clearly communicated by multiple channels (e.g. at interview, during induction, in the Postgraduate Researcher handbook, by supervisors, at annual review meetings and on relevant web pages). All students will have at least two supervisors who will also give pastoral care and career advice in addition to student services provision.

Students will attend appropriate training, including transferable skills, at appropriate courses (e.g. from the Institute of Academic Development) identified in consultation with the supervisors. Students will also be able to draw on the Farr Institute's UK PhD training infrastructure.

The Centre for Medical Informatics is well placed to be a lead in Medical Informatics and Data Intensive Research, and is co-located with the Farr Institute in Bioquarter Building 9.

Scotland is in a leading position to exploit health data and is uniquely placed in having high quality linkable datasets optimised for research purposes. These data are also key to the development of commercially exploitable know how and intellectual property.

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK 2:1 honours degree and a UK masters degree, or their international equivalents. We will also consider a UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, and significant work experience in an area relevant to your research project.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

  • IELTS Academic: total 6.5 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
  • TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 92 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
  • C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 176 with at least 169 in each component.
  • Trinity ISE: ISE II with distinctions in all four components.
  • PTE Academic: total 62 with at least 59 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

Academic Technology Approval Scheme

If you are not an EU, EEA or Swiss national, you may need an Academic Technology Approval Scheme clearance certificate in order to study this programme.

Tuition fees

AwardTitleDurationStudy mode
PhDMedical Informatics3 YearsFull-timeTuition fees
PhDMedical Informatics6 YearsPart-timeTuition fees

Featured funding

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK's governments.

The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

  • your programme
  • the duration of your studies
  • your tuition fee status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

  • Usher Institute
  • Teviot Place
  • Central Campus
  • Edinburgh
  • EH8 9AG

We encourage you to apply at least one month prior to entry so that we have enough time to process your application. If you are also applying for funding or will require a visa then we strongly recommend you apply as early as possible.

You must submit two references with your application.

Before making your application, it is advisable to make contact with a potential supervisor to discuss your research proposal.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

Further information

  • Usher Institute
  • Teviot Place
  • Central Campus
  • Edinburgh
  • EH8 9AG