PhD Max+

Explore where your research could take you next. Over eight weeks, you'll take part in a series of interactive workshops and hear directly from startup founders who were once PhD students themselves. This is a low-commitment way to test the waters with no prior business experience needed, just curiosity about where your research could go outside of academia.

You'll learn how to communicate your research in commercial language, understand the basics of market research and build your pitching skills, with the chance to pitch your own idea by the end of the programme. Along the way, you'll also join a community of fellow research students from across the university interested in creating real world impact. 

You'll get:

• Skills to communicate the impact of your research
• A community of PhD and MScR students from across the University of Edinburgh
• The chance to meet and learn from real PhD student founders
• Learn more about key topics such intellectual property and market research
• The opportunity to pitch your early-stage idea 

Format: An eight-week programme, with weekly two-hour workshops.

Sessions are TBC but will cover topics such as market research, pitching your ideas, intellectual property, and more. 

• Session one: Welcome to PhD Max+ - Introduction to the programme, Founder Talk, meet the cohort
• Session two: What even is a startup idea? - Intro to finding an idea, what a startup is, founder talk 
• Session three: Who could benefit from my work/research? - A session on customer discovery & market research, mapping customer segments different uses of tech, founder talk with someone who’s tech has multiple areas of application (e.g. Touchlabs?)
• Pitching Workshop 
• Communi

Who’s it for? Any PhD or Masters by Research student/ alumni who wants to explore and experiment, whatever your course, background or experience level. No experience is needed, just curiosity, creativity and a willingness to get stuck in. 

PhD Max+ will return in 2027 and applications will open in September 2026.