Venture Science Doctorate: venture-creation PhD program (funded scholarship)

The Venture Science Doctorate (VSD) program, 4th cohort, starting April 2027 (full-time and primarily remote).

Applications are open ‍until 31 July 2026 (end of day, BST) and are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage early submission.

About VSD

The world’s first 3-year venture creation focused PhD program run by Deep Science Venture College at Woolf University: a globally recognised, decentralised institution widening access to higher education. Our focus is exclusively on solving global challenges in health, climate, agriculture and computation through science as the basis for designing research projects from first-principles, and creating new companies founded by candidates based on this research.

The VSD is backed by a philanthropic consortium of mission aligned Partners, including Schmidt Futures, Innovate UK and SPRIN-D (Germany), and embedded in a global R&D coalition of universities and national labs, including National Physical Laboratory, the James Hutton Institute, Imperial College, Max Planck, the University of Edinburgh, University College London, Goldsmiths, University of London, Cornell University, the Mayo Clinic, and many others.

Program outline:

The aim of year 1 is for candidates to familiarise themselves with a given industry and mapping the landscape to identify areas of opportunity for high-impact venture creation. In a process called Scoping, candidates will identify the optimal solution to a given problem and - alongside accredited courses such as experimental design - perform lab work to develop their hypotheses, and contact partner research groups for further experimentation.

Year 2 is focused on invention and further developing the initial hypotheses, working within leading research groups to prove the technology against the original hypothesis and validate it through techno-economic analysis.

The goal for year 3 is building further on the research from the previous two years to develop a scalable technology capable of product market fit. If necessary, candidates may join multiple different research groups to do this. Having validated the technology, candidates will work with experienced venture partners to build a complementary team and a rock-solid investment case before venture incorporation and spin-out.

At incorporation, all the intellectual property is transferred into the new venture, which the candidate continues to lead as a co-founder, with continuous support from DSV.

Full details of the program, including Prospectus Download and FAQs, available via the dedicated VSD page here.

We’re looking for individuals with the ambition and capability to launch a science company using advanced research, and be determined to do this in just a few years.

To be eligible, you should meet the following criteria:

• A Master’s degree (or higher) in the natural sciences, engineering or a closely related technical field. Candidates with only an undergraduate degree may also be considered, but may not be eligible for PhD accreditation.
• The ambition, determination and resilience to develop and co-found a science-based venture tackling global challenges in climate, agriculture, health or computation. All ventures are built from scratch during the program. We do not accept ideas, concepts, or IP that have already been developed and that applicants wish to develop further at VSD.
• A strong ability to think creatively from first principles, identify industry-specific commercial bottlenecks and solve technical challenges.
• Relevant prior experience in entrepreneurship, innovation, new technology development and/or solving large-scale societal challenges.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to articulate complex ideas and persuade diverse stakeholders.
• The ability to commit full-time (5 working days per week) to the program.

We actively welcome candidates from any part of the world and any walks of life to apply - our primary focus is on mission alignment and the desire to create impact through science.