The University of Edinburgh consists of three colleges. The EPSRC strategic areas are largely included in one of the Colleges: Science and Engineering. This consists of seven Schools (Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Engineering, GeoSciences, Informatics, Mathematics and Physics & Astromomy) which are autonomous bodies and each has its own well developed Graduate School which are responsible for admission to their programmes. There are also occasional projects available in other Schools: Edinburgh College of Art, Clinical Sciences, Biomedical Sciences and Social & Political Sciences.
We welcome applications for PhD places in almost every research area covered by EPSRC and beyond. All Schools except Physics allow the studentships to be used for all areas of research within the EPSRC portfolio. In the case of Physics they are limited to the Institute for Condensed Matter and Complex Systems (see http://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/icmcs).
We particularly welcome interest in interdisciplinary areas including those bridging funding councils. As examples, we have top Medical and Informatics Schools and so we are well placed to support projects at the cutting edge of healthcare and data science.
Applications can be made on-line and the main entry point on the web is
https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate
as well as through Findaphd.com. We welcome applications from everywhere although there is only a limited scope to fund overseas students. Overseas fee differentials will be waived.
Applications are generally made for places first and assignment of Scholarships takes place after students have been admitted on competitive grounds. The timetables for admissions varies somewhat from School to School but generally there is a deadline early in the new year and decisions are made by March. Students are advised to make contact directly with project supervisors at the earliest opportunity. Schools will know their annual allocation of EPSRC studentships in the Autumn, providing ample opportunity to plan for distribution amongst their individual research institutes. Distribution to Schools is roughly based on research grant income from EPSRC. A small number of scholarships are specifically reserved to promote CASE studentships where an industrial partner will enhance the studentship both by providing training but also additional research expenses.
All applicants for studentships will be interviewed and awards are made on merit. Students are encouraged to visit the School but interviews can be conducted by skype if this is not possible. In Schools other than Chemistry and GeoSciences, EPSRC DTP scholarships fund 3.5 years stipend and it also covers fees. In Biological Sciences projects are submitted by PIs to the Graduate School and DTP awards made on the merit of the student and the fit to EPSRC research area.
Studentships generally start in either September or October but it is possible to start at other times of the year. Many of our programmes have taught elements which cover both hard and soft skills aiming to train our students to be fit for the workplace as well as to continue as postgraduate researchers in higher education or beyond.
We welcome enquiries from research organisations who have innovative projects which would benefit from a PhD student with access to our extensive facilities. We have a large portfolio of industrial partners who co-fund or host our students: Optos Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson-Matthey, XFEL, Ecometrica, Perspectum Diagnostics, Lloyds Bank, Itaconix, Infineum, Reminova, BP, Atra-Zenica, Aquila Biomedical, AkzoNobel, Lamellar Biomedical, ARM, Microsoft, Scottish Water, MacTaggart Scott, International Paint, EMPA, Cambridge Consultants, Toshiba, AkzoNobel coatings, Mathworks, Weir Group, Network Rail, Pyreos Ltd, Astute Fire, Artemis, Blue Sky Bio, Ingenza and the National Grid.
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