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School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences

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  1. School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences
  2. Postgraduate
  3. PhD programmes
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Cognition in Insects

  • Primary Supervisor: Prof Lars Chittka
  • Co-supervisor(s):  
  • Studentship Funding: Awaiting CSC Funding Decision
  • Application Deadline: 28th January 2026
  • PhD Programme: PhD Biological Sciences


Project Overview 

Any project in the areas of competence of supervisor Lars Chittka is possible  - please email him directly to discuss your ideas. Possible areas include insect cognition, social learning, communication, vision, neural computation, insect emotions, the study of consciousness and its welfare implications, and pollination biology. We study how the insect brain, with only the size of a pinhead, delivers highly accurate long-distance navigation, collision avoidance, face recognition, concept learning, numerical skills, tool use and high memory capacities for visual landmarks and objects. Leveraging the principles of energy-efficient computing in miniature brains will revolutionise computer science and AI and this is therefore a highly topical project. We study both “bottom up” (stimulus or event driven) attentional processes as well as “top down” processes, by which the central nervous system controls which visual targets are being sought and identified. We also use neural-computational modelling to understand the neural underpinnings of visual information processing in bees.

Research Environment

Supervisor Chittka is an international research leader in insect cognition; he has over 270 publications, many in Nature and Science.  The lab is furnished with cutting-edge technology and computing equipment. The student will be trained in advanced automated behavioural monitoring methods, psychological analyses, statistics, and manuscript writing for top international journals. The supervisor has trained 30 PhD students (including four CSC students), many of whom are now full professors at top international universities, since they receive outstanding training and have often published in leading international journals as part of their PhDs. Our team provides a lively international research environment, with currently 5 postdocs, 3 PhD students and a research technician. Lab web pages: http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.html

Find out more about the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences on our website.

Keywords: cognition, consciousness, insects, intelligence, learning, memory

Funding & Eligibility

Queen Mary University of London has partnered with the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to offer a joint scholarship programme to enable Chinese students to study for a PhD programme at Queen Mary.  Under the scheme, Queen Mary will provide scholarships to cover all tuition fees, whilst the CSC will provide living expenses and one return flight ticket to successful applicants.

Applicants must:

  • Be applying for CSC funding.
  • Be a citizen and permanent resident of the People’s Republic of China and hold a Chinese passport.
  • Satisfy all eligibility criteria set out by the CSC and must refer to the CSC website for full details.
  • Apply to QMUL by 28th January 2026. Late applications will not be considered.
  • Submit ALL required documentation, including evidence of their English Language ability ahead of the CSC application deadline.

CSC application rules differ slightly for domestic applicants (students applying from China) and overseas applicants (students applying from overseas). Therefore, ALL applicants are advised to see the CSC website for full details on eligibility and conditions on the scholarship. 

Entry Requirements

We are looking for candidates to have or expecting to receive a first or upper-second class honours degree and a Master’s degree in an area relevant to the project such as biology, neuroscience or psychology. Knowledge of behavioural experiments (especially with insects) or computational neuroscience methods would be highly advantageous but are not required.

You must meet the IELTS requirements for your course and upload evidence before CSC’s application deadline, ideally by 1st March 2026. You are therefore strongly advised to sit an approved English Language test as soon as possible, where your IELTS test must still be valid when you enrol for the programme.

Please find further details on our English Language requirements page.

How to Apply

Formal applications must be submitted through our online form by 28th January 2026 for consideration. Please identify yourself as a ‘CSC Scholar’ in the funding section of the application.

Applicants are required to submit the following documents:

  • Your CV
  • Personal Statement
  • Evidence of English Language e.g.) IELTS Certificate
  • Copies of academic transcripts and degree certificates
  • References 

Find out more about our application process on our SBBS website.

Informal enquiries about the project can be sent to Prof Lars Chittka

Admissions-related queries can be sent to sbbs-pgadmissions@qmul.ac.uk 

Shortlisted applicants will be invited for a formal interview by the supervisor. If you are successful in your QMUL application, then you will be issued an QMUL Offer Letter, conditional on securing a CSC scholarship along with academic conditions still required to meet our entry requirements.

Once applicants have obtained their QMUL Offer Letter, they should then apply to CSC for the scholarship with the support of the supervisor.

For further information, please go to the QMUL China Scholarship Council webpage.

Apply online


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