Research Projects
Research in the Department of Zoology is broadly based around six themes, which span all levels of the study of animal life. A number of projects that are offered by the Department in 2025-26 are listed below, by theme. The list of projects is not exhaustive, and applicants are encouraged to approach any of our supervisors with their own project ideas.
To read more about our current research themes, identify a potential supervisor, and find supervisor contact details, please visit our Research Pages.
NERC DLA (NERC-funded PhD Studentships)
The Cambridge Research Experience and Advanced Training for Environmental Scientists (CREATES) is the proposed programme of PhD studentships under the NERC Doctoral Landscape Awards scheme. If funded, the University hopes to offer at least 12 3.5 year NERC-funded PhD studentships for the first cohort in October 2025. Various departments of the University of Cambridge, including the Department of Zoology, are eligible as hosts for students.
More funding and eligibility information can be found on the Cambridge NERC Doctoral Landscape Awards website here.
Cambridge Biosciences DTP
You may wish to apply to the Cambridge Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership in parallel to a specific PhD project. For more information have a look at the Cambridge biosciences DTP website here.
Departmental studentships and other funding
For further information about funding, including departmental studentships, see our Funding page here.
Applying for a project
Please contact a potential supervisor to discuss a project before you submit your application. For course information and details of how to apply see our Postgraduate study page here.
Find a project by theme:
Projects:
- Flow and compartmentalisation across the social circulatory system in honeypots
Supervisor: Dr Adria LeBeouf
- Sexual selection and the role of host plant
Supervisor: Professor Christine Miller
- Mouthpart length and host choice in leaf-footed bugs
Supervisor: Professor Christine Miller
Click here to learn more about our research in the Behavioural Ecology theme or identify a potential supervisor.
Projects:
- Lifespan impacts of metabolic division of labour
Supervisor: Dr Adria LeBeouf
- Aging and nutritional stress impacts on cellular processes
Supervisor: Professor Tim Weil
- Global content and functional analysis of in vivo macromolecular complexes
Supervisor: Professor Tim Weil
- Translational regulation via bimolecular condensates
Supervisor: Professor Tim Weil
Click here to learn more about our research in the Cell and Development Biology theme or identify a potential supervisor.
Projects:
Supervisor: Professor Lynn Dicks
- How effective are current conservation policies at reversing insect decline?
Supervisor: Professor Lynn Dicks
- Conserving the diversity of wild bees in farmland
Supervisor: Professor Lynn Dicks
- Movement and connectivity conservation for biodiversity
Supervisor; Professor Robert Fletcher
- Community dynamics of soft and hard coral reefs
Supervisor: Dr Emily Mitchell
- The impacts of riparian within oil palm insect movement and behaviour
Supervisor: Prof Edgar Turner
Click here to learn more about our research in the Conservation Science theme or identify a potential supervisor.
Projects:
- Evolution's pharmacology: Deep orthology of socially transferred proteins
Supervisor: Dr Adria LeBeouf
- Repeated adaption to altitude in Andean butterflies
Supervisor: Professor Chris Jiggins
- Population genomics of invasive Helicoverpa crop pests
Supervisor: Professor Chris Jiggins
- Gene family diversification in the black soldier fly
Supervisor: Professor Chris Jiggins
- Predicting the Evolution of Influenza and SARS-CoV-2 Viruses
Supervisor: Prof Derek Smith
- Tracking the past to predict the future
Supervisor: Prof Andrea Manica
Supervisor: Prof Edgar Turner
Click here to learn more about our research in the Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics theme or identify a potential supervisor.
Projects:
- Characterising newly discovered neurotransmitter receptors
Supervisor: Dr Iris Hardege
- Identifying and characterising novel invertebrate ion channel receptors
Supervisor: Dr Iris Hardege
- Metabolic regulation of brain development
Supervisor: Professor Matthias Landgraf
- Epigenetic mechanisms of critical period-plasticity in nervous system development
Supervisor: Professor Matthias Landgraf
- Regulation of dendritic and synaptic plasticity by metabolic reactive oxygen species
Supervisor: Professor Matthias Landgraf
- The effects of nutrition on the insect skeleton and implications for biopesticide use
Supervisor: Professor Christine Miller
Click here to learn more about our research in the Neurobiology, Biomechanics and Behaviour theme or identify a potential supervisor.
Projects:
- Eco-evolutionary dynamics of early animals
Supervisor: Dr Emily Mitchell
Click here to learn more about our research in the Palaeobiology theme or identify a potential supervisor.