PhD position

There is a vacancy for a PhD Research Fellow in Real-time cortisol and aldosterone assay (DC8) at Imperial College London, UK. The position is funded by the European Commission through the MSCA Doctoral Network Endotrain (Grant No: 101227148) and coordinated by the University of Bergen, Norway.

Supervisors: Prof. Danny O’Hare and Prof. Tony Cass 

Location: Imperial College London, UK

Duration: 3 years 

Start date: August 2026 at latest

The students will be enrolled in the structured PhD programme in the Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/bioengineering/admin/research/doctoral/ 

About the project/work tasks:

This position is part of:

19 PhD Fellowships available in Digital Endocrinology in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (ENDOTRAIN).Join Europe’s first doctoral network in digital endocrinology – integrating AI, sensor technology, omics, and clinical medicine to transform diagnosis and treatment of adrenal diseases. Digital medicine is entering a new era where human “digital twins” and sensor-based monitoring allow personalised diagnosis and treatment. ENDOTRAIN will train a new generation of interdisciplinary experts who merge clinical endocrinology, AI, data science, engineering, ethics and law into an integrated field of digital endocrinology. The programme focuses on adrenal disorders as a case study for advancing digital health in Europe.

About the PhD position:This project is part of Work Package 2: Technologies for Multimodal Data of ENDOTRAIN. The project is focussed on the development of a wearable sensor for the minimally-invasive measurement of cortisol and aldosterone in humans. Current technology lacks the needed temporal resolution to detect abnormal hormone patterns partly due to the number of samples required to gain adequate resolution. 

We aim to adapt two distinct non-invasive or minimally invasive technologies for the measurement of cortisol and other adrenal hormones: 
• solid microneedle biosensors measuring continuously in interstitial fluid 
• exhaled condensed breath as a novel non-invasive sample matrix. 

The project is part of an international doctoral training network with academic and industrial partners, and provides and excellent opportunity for networking and multi-disciplinary collaboration in a clinically important field.  

Expected results: Improved minimally and non-invasive sensors for cortisol to measure temporal and dynamic relationships between plasma levels and target analytes in exhaled condensed breath and in interstitial fluid. 

Research field: wearable technology, biosensors, electroanalysis, hormonal monitoring 

Secondments planned: • Designworks (Windsor UK): 2 months to develop the U-Cort sampler.
• University of Bergen (Norway): 1 month to test sensor in patients and healthy subjects.
• University of Bristol (UK): 1 month to test sensor in patients and healthy subjects. 

Qualifications and personal qualities:

Essential requirements 
• Good qualifications (first class or upper second class honours bachelor’s degree or equivalent) in chemistry, chemical engineering, bioengineering, biomedical engineering or related subject.
• A master’s degree in a relevant subject (analytical chemistry, electrochemistry, bioinstrumentation) - OR an integrated masters (MEng, MSci or equivalent) in a relevant subject (chemistry, chemical engineering, bioengineering or biomedical engineering).
• Hands-on experience in the unit operations of wet chemistry, biochemistry or related technical skills.
• Hands-on experience in electroanalytical chemistry and instrumental analytical chemistry (liquid chromatography, spectroscopy, LC-MS, GC-MS etc.).
• Excellent interpersonal skills- there will be interactions with project partners, clinicians, healthy volunteers and potentially with patients.
• Experience in open-ended research projects.
• A keen interest in the development of wearable technology and willingness to contribute to design and execution of the project.
• A willingness and ability to engage in multidisciplinary collaborations. 

Desirable skills 
• Laboratory-based internships in either industrial, academic or research institutes.
• Digital signal processing, denoising, time series analysis.
• Microfabrication
• Analogue electronics design and build. 

 

For further details, please visit our webpages: Real-time cortisol and aldosterone assay (DC8) and the programme webpage: Endotrain Doctoral Training Network | UiB

Salary and Benefts

Salary £44,284.07- £48,796.89 

Imperial College London: Frequently rated as one of the top 10 universities in the world, Imperial College London is a science, engineering, medicine and business-oriented university based on several campuses in central and west London. It has 12,000 undergraduate, 4,500 taught and 4,500 research postgraduate students (2022/2023). Imperial’s research income in 2022-3 was £383.1m. As well as traditional subject based departments, the College hosts many cross-disciplinary centres and networks of excellence as well as global challenges institutes which cut across discipline boundaries. 

Application procedure

All applications must be submitted via the Jobbnorge portal Your application must include the mandatory attachments from the ENDOTRAIN webpages - including "1. Application form" - "2. CV" - "3. Mobility declaration" - "4. Motivation Letter"

Eligibility (MSCA Doctoral Network rules)• Applicants can be of any nationality. 
• Must not have resided or carried out a main activity in the host country for more than 12 months in the past 36 months before start of the PhD.
• Must hold a master’s degree (or equivalent) enabling doctoral studies.
• Must not already hold a doctoral degree.
• English proficiency required - transcripts of diplomas in English must be uploaded in Jobbnorge. 

In the "Jobbnorge-CV": Only fill in the basics of your 1) personal details, 2) short information about your degrees (in the field "Education / academic qualifications") - in order to minimise repetition with the CV attachment.

It is a condition of employment that the master's degree has been awarded (documentation must be provided). If you have not yet completed your master's degree, you can apply provided completion of the final master exam before the position start date. Please submit a statement from your institution confirming the expected date of award of your master's degree. 

For HR related questions contact the host institutions for the position you are applying 

General information:

ContactFor questions about the project, please contact the supervisors Prof. Danny O'Hare: d.ohare@imperial.ac.uk and Prof. Tony Cass: t.cass@imperial.ac.uk

For questions about the ENDOTRAIN programme, please contact Programme Manager Elizabeth Farmer (elizabeth.farmer@uib.no) 

For HR-related questions, please contact HR-adviser Selina Hausberg (selina.hausberg@uib.no)

Diversity and InclusionMSCA -Endotrain has a gender equality plan where gender balance among employees is therefore a goal. We encourage women to apply. If multiple applicants have approximately equivalent qualifications, the rules pertaining to moderate gender quotas shall apply. It is also a goal to recruit people with immigrant backgrounds. People with immigrant backgrounds and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply for the position. 

Information about applicants may be made public even if the applicant has asked not to be named on the list of persons who have applied. The applicant must be notified if the request to be omitted is not met. 

About MSCA Doctoral Networks

The MSCA Doctoral Networks aim to train creative, entrepreneurial, innovative and resilient doctoral candidates, able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit. The MSCA Doctoral Networks raise the attractiveness and excellence of doctoral training in Europe. Read More about the MSCA Doctoral Networks.