Programme Structure and Funding
This is a full-time PhD programme: direct entry from bachelor’s degree with a full scholarship, jointly delivered by the New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science and the NYU Neuroscience Center. Duration: 5 years. Study locations: New York, USA and Shanghai, China. Autumn entry, with applications closing on 1 December of the preceding year. Special admission note: students will study at NYU for one and a half years, then join a Shanghai laboratory for thesis research while continuing coursework. Scholarship: the GSAS PhD Scholarship Programme, also known as the Henry Mitchell MacCracken Programme — philosophy professor MacCracken served as the sixth president of NYU. The scholarship programme provides 4–5 years of full funding for GSAS doctoral students, including full tuition, registration, service fees and health insurance premiums. A nine-month living stipend per academic year, plus a one-off Dean’s Scholarship of USD 1,000. Additional pay is available for work as a research assistant or teaching assistant.
Entry Requirements
· Academic background: a bachelor’s or master’s degree from a recognised institution. No GRE score required. GPA (no specific requirement). · Language requirements: IELTS/TOEFL language scores must be submitted, but there is no minimum score requirement. Language score exemption: a bachelor’s or master’s degree obtained from an institution where English is the sole language of instruction.
Application Materials
- Academic CV 2) Applicant statement (including academic plan, research field, goals and plans, and listing 1–5 NYU laboratories to explain research interests) 3) Personal statement (including personal background and specific research interests) 4) Official transcripts and degree certificates (if not in English, a certified English translation must be submitted) 5) TOEFL or IELTS score report 6) 3 letters of recommendation
Application Period
1 December 2025
Career Prospects
Under systematic training with their supervisor, neuroscience PhD students will gain an in-depth command of core theories and research methods in molecular and cellular neuroscience, systems and computational neuroscience, cognitive and behavioural neuroscience, and neuroimaging and neurotechnology, and will receive systematic training in key research skills such as electrophysiological recording, optical and multimodal imaging, behavioural experiment design, neural data analysis, computational modelling and machine learning, developing comprehensive research capabilities spanning the life sciences, psychology, computational science, engineering technology and data science.
Graduates have broad development prospects in the following areas: ● Universities and research institutions: engaging in research and teaching in neuroscience, life sciences, psychology, cognitive science, biomedical engineering and related fields, and developing into lecturers, assistant professors or independent research scholars at research universities. ● Research institutions and laboratories: engaging in basic research on neural mechanisms, neurotechnology development, brain function analysis and methodological innovation at national or international brain science research centres, neuroscience institutes, and biomedical and interdisciplinary laboratories.
● Biomedicine and neurotechnology industry: engaging in research on the mechanisms of neurological disease, neuroimaging and neural signal analysis, development of neuromodulation technology and translation of research outcomes in biopharmaceutical companies, brain science and neurotechnology companies, and the medical devices and digital health industries. ● Data science and artificial intelligence: engaging in large-scale neural data modelling, algorithm development, brain signal analysis and intelligent model design in roles related to neural data science, computational neuroscience, brain-inspired intelligence, machine learning and intelligent systems.
Through systematic doctoral academic training and interdisciplinary research practice, graduates will develop a solid theoretical foundation in neuroscience and experimental and computational capabilities, cultivate independent research ability, innovative thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration skills, and lay a solid foundation for long-term development in academic research, frontier technology and high-end industry.
