Cookson Scholar - international collaboration “exciting…a privilege”
05 Aug 2026
Our Manchester-Melbourne Dual Award (Cookson Scholarships) 2026/27 is open for jointly awarded PhD projects – how teams can apply.
“Working on an international collaboration is a privilege and one of my favourite parts of my PhD research,” says Cookson Scholar, Hannah Ryan.
Hannah is working with Professor Andrew Munro and Professor Craig Hutton to investigate enzymes from the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), characterise their functions and exploit these proteins as novel drug targets.
She was awarded Manchester-Melbourne Dual Award (The Cookson Scholarship) having completed her MSc (Hons) in Chemistry at the University of Melbourne.
“My work has been with peptide chemistry but with our Manchester collaboration I will have the opportunity to work in biochemistry and take the molecules I make and test them on bacteria,” she explains.
“The chance to work on a project in which I have the opportunity to learn about new fields of science and follow through on my research into experiments that I wouldn’t normally be able perform myself is very exciting.”
The Manchester-Melbourne Dual Award (The Cookson Scholars) is just one of the ways we are endeavouring the deliver our Manchester 2035 strategy, supporting the Leaps, A university to partner with and Accelerating research excellence to impact.
It is now open for applications for jointly awarded PhD Projects to commence in 2026/27.
The deadline is Friday, 9 October 2026 (7am BST in Manchester and 5pm AEDT in Melbourne).
Established in 2019, the Award is named after pioneering Australian palaeobotanist, Dr Isabel Clifton Cookson (1893-1973). She received her first-class honours in biology and zoology from the University of Melbourne and later travelled to England to work alongside Professor Lang, a specialist in fossil plants at the University of Manchester. During her 58-year career she authored and co-authored 93 scientific publications, and her papers on fossil plants are said to have helped to shape theories of early plant evolution.
The annual calls for joint PhD project proposals have provided funding for many supervisory teams to recruit talented candidates across the humanities and sciences: The Cookson Scholars
Our 2026/27 call
The University of Melbourne and the University of Manchester are calling for project proposals to establish pairs of jointly awarded/dual PhD research projects. Each successful team of collaborating Principal Investigators (PIs) will receive funding for two jointly awarded/dual PhD candidates, one based in Manchester and one based in Melbourne.
Project proposals are open to all research areas at Melbourne and two faculties at Manchester: Faculty of Science and Engineering and Faculty of Humanities.
At Manchester, please note the Faculty of Science and Engineering particularly encourages applications in AI, Health, Sustainability, Quantum and Digital, Advanced Materials and Discovery Science, and Engineering, and the Faculty of Humanities particularly encourages applications in Sustainable Futures Creativity (including Creative Health and Creative Economy) Digital and AI, Inequalities, Adaptive Societies (including resilient neighbourhoods).
Applications are strongly encouraged from research groups that involve Early Career Researchers (ECRs) as either Principal Investigators or Co-investigators.
Submissions are by a single, jointly prepared application via the University of Melbourne’s Smarty Grants Portal. The deadline is Friday, 9 October 2026 (7am BST in Manchester and 5pm AEDT in Melbourne.
Further information
Full guidance and information to support project proposals can be found at:
If you have any questions, please contact: