PhD Scholarships in Computer Science

The School invests heavily in the funding of postgraduate research students and expects to be able to offer funding to students on both variants of our PhD programme:

1. 4 Year CDT Programme
   In 2011 the School launched a new 4-year PhD programme to be delivered through the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Computer Science. The centre has been supported by significant research council funding and studentships are available for both home and EU students Please see details here.
2. Traditional 3 Year PhD
   In parallel to the programmes offered through our new Centre for Doctoral Training the School continues to offer a traditional three year PhD programme. The guidelines below detail the funding we expect to be available to students who wish to pursue the standard three year programme.

PhD Scholarships in Computer Science for UK/EU applicants in 2012/13

The School of Computer Science may have PhD Scholarships to offer to UK and EU nationals who wish to start a PhD from September 2012 or, in some cases, earlier. The studentships pay all tuition fees and a stipend award for 3 years. Applicants must be eligible to pay ‘home fees’. There will normally be opportunities (or, in some cases, requirements) to undertake some teaching, in the form of laboratory demonstration.

Research Areas

The studentships can cover research on any Computer Science topic. Visit: Research Groups for an overview of the research activities of the School. There is one scholarship available that is specifically related to research in areas of interest to the Medical Research Council.

How to Apply

You may either contact potential supervisors to negotiate a possible PhD topic or select a PhD research topic from the list in Research Projects. A list of members of the academic staff with their research interests is available on the page: People in Computer Science.
You may submit an application without specifically mentioning a supervisor, but you must, instead, specify which research group you wish to join.

To submit an application, follow the instructions available from the Apply page. You will be asked to complete an application form which requires you to propose a Research Supervisor, enter a Research Title and enter 'Details' of the research you wish to become engaged in.
You should attach a 'research proposal' and a 'personal statement' ('statement of purpose') as separate sheets. The research proposal should be based on an original idea or a PhD project selected from our list. It should present the applicant's perspective of the proposed project, why it is important and worth studying and a methodology that may be adopted. The personal statement should include any other information you consider relevant, including your reasons and motivation for applying. We would be very interested to know about any publications you have produced or are in the process of producing. These two documents will be assessed by the School funding panel.

Advice on writing a research proposal may be found here.

Each application will be processed in two phases:

1. In the first phase, your application and qualifications will be considered by the School and prospective supervisor(s). If your application is successful, you will receive an offer for a place in our PhD programme.
2. In the second phase, if you wish to be considered for funding, your application will be presented to the School's funding panel which meets from April. Decisions will be conveyed as soon as possible after each meeting. The criteria are academic qualifications, supporting statements from referees familiar with the demands of academic research and the quality of a 'research proposal'.

Applications received after final the deadline will be considered if there are scholarships remaining or if extra funding becomes available.

Further Information

If you are interested, you are encouraged to approach potential supervisors and suggest a possible PhD topic or browse through a list of suggested PhD projects available from: Research Projects
A list of members of the academic staff with their research interests is available from: People in Computer Science.

Funding for the Centre for Doctoral Training

Please also note the School has recently launched an EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Computer Science. This CDT has many scholarships for UK and EU students starting in September 2012. These scholarships pay all tuition fees and a stipend award for 4 years.  For further details see the CDT funding page.