Why do a 4-year PhD, when it can normally be done in 3 years?

The classical route to choosing a PhD project is that a student becomes enthused with a particular subject and then seeks out a lab that is active in that area. There can be different reasons, some more valid than others, for this bout of enthusiasm, such as a particularly good course from a stimulating lecturer, or an exciting review article. Often this route to a PhD works, but sometimes it doesn't work very well, and sometimes it doesn't work at all. For example, it is not unknown for the student to find that the topic isn't really that exciting after all, or to find that the laboratory doesn't quite fit with expectations. Sometimes, nature being what it is, the student and supervisor simply don't get on.

Much better then to try out the research area, the lab and the supervisor first. That is what the 4-year Programme offers, by running a separate first year in which the student chooses a number of Laboratory Placements, and receives theoretical training. Towards the end of the year, the student is then properly equipped to choose a PhD project rationally.

And there are other benefits too. The first year allows us to involve the student in suggesting possible PhD projects. It also spawns much interdisciplinary research, merging areas that would not normally sit side-by-side in an undergraduate course. It provides the student experience in laboratory work and scientific writing, so that the PhD project gets off to a flying start. This allows students to quickly accumulate data for their thesis - which must be submitted within the funded 4-year period. There is no writing up the thesis at home with no funding, and the students are ready to start their postdoc on the 1st October four years after they started.