Tamil Nadu born Nobel laureate Dr Venki Ramakrishnan on Monday extended his support to a new GBP 48 million programme enabling fully funded PhDs by Trinity College and the University of Cambridge.

The University of Cambridge said the Trinity Cambridge Research Studentships (TCRS) have been created to respond to declining funding opportunities for PhD research, both in the sciences and the humanities.

Dr Ramakrishnan, Fellow of Trinity College who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 for his work on ribosomal structure, hailed the new programme as a means to attract the best brains to Cambridge from around the world.

“PhD students are the lifeblood of new research, making breakthroughs in all areas of science, and it is very important that we be able to attract the best brains to Cambridge wherever they may be from. The Trinity Cambridge Research Studentships Programme will greatly facilitate that goal,” he said.

In the next decade, the programme is designed to support up to 300 fully funded PhD studentships, depending on the breakdown between home and international students. The first students funded by the new programme will begin in October 2025 and anyone applying to join a PhD programme in 2025-26 will be considered for this funding.

“If the UK is to continue to be world leading in research, it is important to support the next generation of PhD students,” said Bhaskar Vira, Cambridge University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education Professor.

“We are grateful for the funding provided to postgraduate research students through the UK government’s investments in science and research, but also aware of worrying pressures on budgets. We work closely with many external partners and benefactors who allow us to continue to invest in this future research capacity, for the wider benefit of society,” he said, welcoming the support of Trinity College for the new scheme to ensure more students are able to pursue their research careers in Cambridge.

According to a university release, the PhD awards will be highly competitive and seek students with the potential to be the Nobel laureates of the future and help increase Cambridge University’s GBP 30 billion contribution to the UK economy.

“We are committed to using our resources to support the next generation of world-class researchers whose work will improve the lives of many and help tackle some of the toughest problems the world faces,” said Professor Catherine Barnard, Senior Tutor at Trinity College, Cambridge.

“Trinity’s five living Nobel laureates show that being able to change the world begins with your PhD. Whether you want to create new life-saving drugs, discover new planets or new understandings of the relationship between economics and ethics, Cambridge is the place to realise your ambitions – and change the world,” she said.

With the first year of the TCRS programme fully funded by Trinity College and the University of Cambridge, matched funding is sought to unlock resources and achieve the programme’s 10-year goal of GBP 48 million in new funding for PhDs.