Electronics and computer science

Join over 500 researchers working with industry and government to address some of the problems facing the world today.
Join over 500 researchers working with industry and government to address some of the problems facing the world today.
Electronics and computer science (ECS) is the leading university department of its kind in the UK. We were on of the first universities to be named an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACE-CSE) by the UK government.
天发娱乐棋牌_天发娱乐APP-官网|下载 research is organised around research groups and centres. You'll join one of these groups. This means that specialist academics will always be on hand to hear your ideas and offer help and encouragement. With around 250 staff, ECS has unrivalled depth and breadth of expertise.
You'll have the freedom to run your own project and you'll be supported by a team of supervisors. Direct and regular contact with your supervisors will help you develop your scientific insight, and steer you towards creative and original thinking.
天发娱乐棋牌_天发娱乐APP-官网|下载 graduate school provides training on transferable skills, courses on research methodology, and a working framework to help you settle into a disciplined working routine. You'll also have opportunities to travel to international conferences and events to present your work.
ECS holds an annual careers fair that attracts major companies. The majority of our graduates take up roles in the technology industry or develop their research interests further. If you have a great idea our Future Worlds startup accelerator is there to nurture aspiring entrepreneurs through one-to-one support and its network of investors.
This is our standard 3-year research degree. When you apply, you'll choose one of the following:
SustAI is a multidisciplinary and inclusive doctoral training programme. The CDT will provide 70 fully funded PhD studentships over 5 cohorts. SustAI will equip students with state-of-the-art AI technical skills and a deep understanding of how these skills can be applied to address pressing environmental challenges. To register your interest, please sign-up for the newsletter here.
Contribute to the field of research in computer science and software, either in person or through distance by completing a PhD with us.
Contribute to the field of research in computer science and software, either in person or through distance learning, b
A key feature of ECS is that we are truly interdisciplinary. Many of our research groups sit at the interface between electronics and computer science, including cyber security and cyber physical systems. Areas include:
The University of 天发娱乐棋牌_天发娱乐APP-官网|下载 is pleased to announce that PGR students from EU and Horizon associated countries joining us in 2024-25 will pay the same as UK PGRs for their PhD.
You can either apply for a structured studentship or propose your own PhD idea.
Structured studentships are advertised PhD projects with a title, supervisor, remit and funding already in place. These projects have been set up through collaborations with industry, external partners or they may have been provided through one of several centres for doctoral raining which we take part in.
Taking one of our structured studentships will give you access to additional training, conferences and secondments.
Traditional circuit theory, grounded in transfer functions and state-space models, fall short at addressing the complexities of modern, bidirectional power networks. This project investigates data-driven control methodologies tailored for active networks, with a particular focus on coordinated control strategies, distributed controllers, and their practical implementation on power converter devices.
This project will use device simulations combined with transient electronic and optoelectronic characterisation techniques to unambiguously identify the resistive switching mechanisms underlying memristors based on a wide variety of materials systems including perovskites and titanium-based compounds.
This PhD project is part of a cutting-edge research initiative aimed at developing transformative AI solutions for healthcare by leveraging big data to address key challenges in causal inference, continual learning, and digital twin technology.
In this PhD studentship, the candidate will contribute to the development of a facile, low cost system exploiting direct laser printing of 2D semiconductor based nanodevices.
This 4-year integrated programme (iPhD) focuses around 5 research themes where AI can improve environmental sustainability:sustainable operations and circular economyAI for transportation and logisticsAI for sustainable energy and buildingsAI for the natural environmentsustainable AI
AI Safety in the health setting. Advancements in AI lead to clinical uses of AI systems for the triaging and care suggestions for patients. AI Safety in the clinical setting has a diverse range of stakeholders, regulatory requirements and needs.
We are seeking a motivated PhD candidate to develop bio-inspired smart skin that emulates the remarkable sensory abilities of human skin. This technology will transform prosthetics and humanoid robotics, allowing these systems to engage with their environments with exceptional sensitivity, safety, and adaptability. Your work will help restore sensory perception for individuals with sensory loss and enhance the tactile responsiveness of humanoid robots for safer and more intuitive human-robot interactions.
This project will explore the use of advanced computational methods to improve X-ray tomographic imaging methods used in the inspection of high value assets.
This PhD project tackles the urgent need for robust security solutions in cross-chain environments in Web3, aiming to safeguard the integrity of interconnected blockchain networks.
This PhD project automates cyber-attack attribution using AI and NLP, enhancing defence strategies against evolving cyber threats. Objectives include dynamic attacker identification, a threat intelligence dashboard, and a QA system for real-time analysis. Applicants gain expertise in malware analysis and NLP, driving impactful cybersecurity innovation for proactive threat resilience.
This project develops next-generation Vision-Language Models (VLMs) sensitive to cultural diversity, addressing critical biases in current AI systems. Current VLMs often perpetuate harmful stereotypes due to their training data. This research investigates how cultural biases manifest in VLMs and develops innovative mitigation techniques, leading to more inclusive and equitable AI.
In this project you will be working with a large research team in 天发娱乐棋牌_天发娱乐APP-官网|下载 and with our colleagues from the University of Texas, USA on heterogeneous integration of silicon photonics devices with barium titanate (BaTiO3 or BTO), a material that has one of the largest modulation effects, using mass manufacturable techniques and new design ideas.
The aim of this PhD project is to explain the behaviour of a swarm using generative imitation learning.
In this PhD studentship, you will further develop novel composite material ARF (CM-ARF) technology, spanning the multidisciplinary remit between cleanroom based, 2D materials fibre integration technology for the highly innovative CM-ARF platform, with applications in active photon management and light processing functions.
This project will incorporate specific choices of configurations of quantum state preparation gates that use integrability to control the search spaces to be explored.
This project aims to develop advanced technologies and systems that integrate biological sensors, data analytics, and artificial intelligence to monitor, diagnose, and manage health conditions and diseases. These systems are designed to provide real-time, accurate, and personalised information about a person's health status, allowing for timely interventions and better healthcare decision-making.
This PhD project is about pushing the boundaries in manufacturing, and making lasers become autonomous decision-makers, guiding us into a future of faster, cleaner, and more precise production processes.
To trust Deep Learning models in sensitive applications such as autonomous vehicles or healthcare, we need to better understand which information they rely on when making decisions. In this project we set out to create novel tools to solve this crucial step towards AI Safety.
Event extraction using deep-learning based Large Language Models (LLMs) for Natural Language Processing (NLP) of social media posts focussing on environmental impact events such as pollution, wildfires and flooding. During this project you will collaborate with the world renowed at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Kew Gardens).
This research project will explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be strategically integrated into maritime operations to enhance decision-making, improve operational efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and mitigate risks associated with navigation, logistics, and sustainability.
This PhD project aims to develop machine learning algorithms for the inverse design of metasurfaces, targeting applications in intelligent sensing for complex environments, such as biomedical fields and consumer electronics.
This project will propose mathematical decision-support tools to assist an operator in making the UK electrical grid more resilient against unforeseen attacks and develop algorithms that enable us to solve such models both efficiently and quickly.
The project focuses on understanding cerebral blood flow and its physiological control, to improve diagnosis and treatment of brain injuries. The project will adopt a control and system identification approach, and will benefit from the use of real data, clinical collaborations, and links with the international research network CARNet.
This PhD focuses on developing deep-learning techniques based on multimodal natural language processing (NLP), including large language models (LLMs), audio processing, computer vision (pose estimation, emotion recognition), knowledge graphs or neurosymbolic models in computational social science, analysing discourse in text/audio/video format, including emotional rhetoric analysis, information extraction, and argument mining.
A novel nano-opto-electro-mechanical (NOEM) tunable SiC entangled photon source will be developed for future on-chip quantum photonic circuits technology. Design optimisation, device fabrication and single photon measurements are planned to prove the working principle and tunability of the device.
Enabling integrated and free space photonics with advanced reprogrammable materials. The current increase in data generation is expected to reach unsustainable rates by the end of the decade. This has a strong impact on the environment and therefore new solutions are sought after.
This project aims to discover novel side-channels and investigate their countermeasures using machine learning approaches.
The aim of the project is to develop a novel platform technology for quantum reservoir computing, a promising approach for quantum neural networks where quantum information can be used as data in machine learning algorithms.
This project will study how overhead line equipment in existing rail networks ages and deteriorates over time when exposed to stronger electric fields and more extreme weather conditions.
The main goal is to improve the state-of-the-art mechanisms for the allocation of scare resources from different, and not always compatible, perspectives of efficiency, fairness and resilience. Multi-agent systems and machine learning techniques will be used to develop better and more sustainable mechanisms.
This project will investigate a novel nano-opto-electro-mechanical (NOEM) qubit that has been realised on a nanoscale suspended beam, controlled electrically and read out via optical interaction.
This project explores how Large Language Models (LLMs) enhance lifelong robot learning by incrementally acquiring and refining visuomotor skills. It investigates leveraging textual and spatio-temporal data to improve skill adaptation while addressing challenges in continual learning. The methods will be tested in household environments for real-world, open-ended robotic learning scenarios.
This PhD project aims to develop advanced soft robotic systems with integrated sensing, on-demand therapy, and AI-driven closed-loop control. This interdisciplinary research opportunity merges medical robotics, bioelectronics, and wearable technology for transformative healthcare applications. Ideal for innovators in biomedical engineering, robotics, or flexible electronics.
This project aims to pioneer advancements in the efficiency of Generative AI Models (GenAI), focusing on achieving lower latencies and smaller model sizes without compromising performance.
This project develops advanced and sustainable polymer materials for power electronic inverters in wind energy systems. By combining nanocomposites, cross-linked networks, and bio-based polymers, it aims to enhance thermal, electrical, and mechanical performance, supporting the creation of more reliable, efficient, and environmentally friendly renewable energy infrastructure.
This project will consider a complex set of plasma chemical reactions and physical processes taking place in wet, low pressure air discharges and the noise as well as an erosion associated with corona discharges in electric power equipment.
This project explores how quantum techniques can reduce communication complexity in distributed systems. It involves studying classical and random communication complexity theories, and applying quantum methods like entanglement and superposition.
In this project you will be working on the design and fabrication of silicon photonics circuits that operate in the mid-infrared wavelength region where the drugs have distinct absorption fingerprints.
Solar photovoltaics (PV) represent the world’s fastest-growing energy resource. Undertake a cutting-edge PhD project in this field, focused on developing advanced anti-reflective, self-cleaning, and durable surface treatments for solar cover glass. Your work will improve light transmission, boosting the efficiency of PV modules and contributing to the advancement of renewable energy technology.
Vehicles are becoming sensor-rich, collecting and sharing data about the drivers and passengers. This project aims to explore the drivers' and the passengers' awareness, expectations, and needs for in-vehicle data collection and sharing, identify the gap between their perceptions and vehicles' actual implementation, and develop more privacy-respectful systems.
We offer a wide range of fully funded studentships. We run several of our PhD studentships in partnership with doctoral training centres, meaning you'll benefit from enhanced training and guaranteed funding.
These studentships:
Doctoral training centres offer fully funded studentships which include:
In association with the UK joining the EU Horizon Programme, the University of 天发娱乐棋牌_天发娱乐APP-官网|下载 will be introducing and applying an EU fee waiver for students joining us from EU and Horizon associated countries. This means that PGR students joining us from 2024-25 will pay the same fees as UK PGR students.
See here for full information terms and conditions
We offer scholarships and teaching bursaries ourselves. Your potential supervisor can guide you on what is available.
If you’re an international student you may be able to apply for a scholarship from your country.
Find out more about scholarships
Once you've found a supervisor, they can help you with potential funding sources. We offer match funding in some cases.
You'll need to state how you intend to pay for your tuition fees when you submit your application.
Find out more about funding your PhD
You may be able to fund your postgraduate research with funding from your current employer or from industry.
You can borrow up to ?29,390 for a PhD starting on or after 1 August 2024. Doctoral loans are not means tested and you can decide how much you want to borrow.
Find out about PhD loans on GOV.UK
You may be able to win funding from one or more charities to help fund your PhD.
We charge tuition fees for every year of study. If you’re applying for a fully funded project, your fees will be paid for you.
EU Fee Waiver: If your country is part of the Horizon Europe Programme, you will pay the same fees as UK students.
Find out if your country is part of the Horizon Europe programme
2023 to 2024 entry:
Subject | UK and Horizon programme applicants | International fees |
---|---|---|
Computer science full time | ?4,712 | ?25,500 |
Computer science part time | ?2,356 | ?12,750 |
Electronics and electrical engineering full time | ?4,712 | ?25,500 |
Electronics and electrical engineering part time | ?2,356 | ?12,750 |
2024 to 2025 entry:
Subject | UK and Horizon programme applicants | International fees |
---|---|---|
Computer science full time | ?4,786 | ?26,100 |
Computer science part time | ?2,393 | ?13,050 |
Electronics and electrical engineering full time | ?4,786 | ?26,100 |
Electronics and electrical engineering part time | ?2,393 | ?13,050 |
2025 to 2026 entry:
Subject | UK and Horizon programme applicants | International fees |
---|---|---|
Computer science full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | ?26,700 |
Computer science part time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | ?13,350 |
Electronics and electrical engineering full time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | ?26,700 |
Electronics and electrical engineering part time | To be confirmed Spring 2025 | ?13,350 |
You're eligible for a 10% alumni discount on a self-funded PhD if you're a current student or graduate from the University of 天发娱乐棋牌_天发娱乐APP-官网|下载.
天发娱乐棋牌_天发娱乐APP-官网|下载 research takes place in a multidisciplinary, collaborative environment, organised across globally important research groups and national research centres.
We offer 2 doctoral routes:
If you choose our standard research PhD, decide whether to apply to an advertised research project or create your own proposal.
Whichever programme you choose, you'll need to identify a potential supervisor. Therefore it's a good idea to email supervisors working within your field of interest to discuss PhD projects. It's best to do this well ahead of the application deadline.
You’ll find supervisors’ contact details listed with the advertised project, or you can search for supervisors in the staff directory.
As part of your online application, you’ll need to send us:
The application process is the same whether you're applying for a funded project, or have created a research proposal.
You should have a 2:1 honours undergraduate degree or equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline.
If English is not your first language, you'll need an IELTS minimum level of 6.5 with a 6.0 in writing, reading, speaking and listening.
If you are applying for the SustAI iPhD. you'll need an IELTS minimum level of 6.5 with a 6.0 in writing, reading, speaking and listening.
Your awarded certificate needs to be dated within the last 2 years.
If you need further English language tuition before starting your degree, you can apply for one of our pre-sessional English language courses.
Check the specific entry requirements listed on the project you’re interested in before you apply.
Research degrees have a minimum and maximum duration, known as the candidature. Your candidature ends when you submit your thesis.
Most candidatures are longer than the minimum period.
Degree type | Full time | Part time |
Computer science PhD | 2 to 4 years | 3 to 7 years |
Electronics and electrical engineering PhD | 2 to 4 years | 3 to 7 years |