Careers and
Training
With the continued growth in the older population, we see a growing need for research and training in musculoskeletal ageing and health.
Training underpins our aims of building further capacity in musculoskeletal ageing research and extending our focus to cover the role of ageing processes in disease pathogenesis to ensure we can translate laboratory science to patient benefit.
We offer a multi-layered approach to our training, with a strong PhD programme for non-clinicians, additional postgraduate and CPD-level activity for clinicians, advanced workshops and links to other doctoral training programmes.
To ensure students gain an outstanding training experience a period spent in another world-leading lab is important. CMAR Students have the opportunity to spend up to one year in a collaborating institute or selected centres of musculoskeletal ageing research excellence and industry in the UK or overseas. We also enhance the training environment by offering reciprocal exchange visits to our collaborating institutions, including CIMA, for their doctoral students.
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There is a shortage of researchers trained in multidisciplinary musculoskeletal ageing. The MRC Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research is addressing this issue through our Doctoral Training Programme with
22 PhD students.
The Centre is a key supporter of identified priority national skills needs, particularly around interdisciplinary skills but also quantitative skills. The latter focuses on the technologies available in the Centre, including human stable isotope tracer methods, metabolomics, health informatics, MR imaging and spectroscopy as applied to human musculoskeletal ageing and disease. CMAR’s unique facilities and expertise in these areas will help to meet recognised methodological skills gaps in human ageing research in the UK.
We also run courses jointly with CIMA to integrate our training capability, e.g. systems biology, animal models of musculoskeletal ageing and disease, inflammation in ageing and epigenetics.