← Home · 02 Computer Science & AI
UKRI AI CDT Designing Responsible NLP Studentships 2027, Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
A UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training at the University of Edinburgh for responsible and trustworthy in-the-world natural language processing, recruiting about 10-12 students per cohort for a four-year integrated PhD based at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. Home-fee students receive an enhanced GBP 30,000 TechFirst stipend, and the 2027 competition uses a new two-stage process opening with a 30 November 2026 Stage 1 deadline.
| Amount / funding | Fully funded four-year studentship: tuition fees waived, annual stipend of GBP 30,000 for Home-fee-status students under the UK Government TechFirst scheme (formerly TechExpert), or the standard UKRI stipend rate (GBP 21,805 as of 2026/27) for Overseas-fee-status students. Approximately GBP 17,000 for travel, equipment and materials, GBP 8,000 for placements, plus additional funding towards compute and hosting costs per student. |
|---|---|
| Deadline | Stage 1 deadline: midnight GMT on 30 November 2026. Stage 2 (full application, by invitation only) deadline in January 2027. Studentships start September 2027. |
| Start date | September 2027 |
| Level | PhD |
| Funding type | full |
| Field | 02 Computer Science & AI |
About this scholarship
A UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training at the University of Edinburgh for responsible and trustworthy in-the-world natural language processing, recruiting about 10-12 students per cohort for a four-year integrated PhD based at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. Home-fee students receive an enhanced GBP 30,000 TechFirst stipend, and the 2027 competition uses a new two-stage process opening with a 30 November 2026 Stage 1 deadline.
Minimum requirements
At least a 2:1 (upper second class) undergraduate and/or master's degree in a relevant subject, or demonstrated suitability through extensive professional experience or research posts. Relevant backgrounds include computer science, informatics and artificial intelligence; design, human-computer interaction and human-centred computing; language, linguistics and speech sciences; law, governance and regulation; and digital humanities and information science. Students are based at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and take credit-bearing courses during the four-year integrated PhD.
Application checklist
- Submit the Stage 1 application by midnight GMT on 30 November 2026 to be eligible for invitation to Stage 2 (Stage 2 deadline in January 2027)
- Prepare materials per the CDT How to Apply page for Stage 1 (check official page for the exact Stage 1 items)
- Attend applicant webinars if available (new 2027 webinars announced on the official site)
- Check official page for the Stage 2 full-application requirements after Stage 1 invitation
Application tips
- Do not miss Stage 1 — the CDT warns that all 2027 students (Home and Overseas) are aimed to be recruited through the 30 November Stage 1 deadline, with any additional Home-only deadline only a possibility.
- Budget on the correct stipend line: GBP 30,000 applies to Home-fee status under TechFirst, while Overseas-fee students receive the UKRI rate.
- Use the interdisciplinary angle: the CDT explicitly welcomes backgrounds beyond computer science, including design, linguistics, law, digital humanities and information science.
- Expect at least two supervisors from different disciplines — think about a cross-disciplinary project fit before applying, not after.
Always verify deadline, amount and eligibility on the official page before applying. Values marked ESTIMATE are based on a previous cycle and are not confirmed for the current round.
Tags: natural language processing, responsible AI, trustworthy AI, computational linguistics, human-centred computing