UCL has a large and vibrant community of doctoral students across Science and Engineering. In the 2014/15 academic year there were 1849 research students across the Faculties of Engineering (865), Mathematical and Physical Sciences (637) and Built Environment (347). Some projects are in collaboration other UCL Faculties in medical, life science, arts and social science areas and with other Universities. In addition to our Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) funding, which is one of the largest allocations in the UK, we hold, or are partners in, ten EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training. Doctoral students are both the backbone of our internationally-leading research activity, and an investment in the future research community. Our overarching strategy is to recruit the best students, to provide them with excellent academic supervision, and to support their career development with comprehensive and high quality training, opportunities to generate impact from their work, and excellent careers advice and assistance. All doctoral students are members of our Doctoral School, which oversees all of our doctoral programmes and ensures the highest quality training, support and resources. We offer a comprehensive range of training tailored to individual students' needs, which we provide through a combination of the Doctoral Skills Development Programme, a wide range of Masters level modules, external courses, and focused CPD training.
We use the full flexibility of our DTP award to:
Allocate 4-year studentships to offer the best students comprehensive training and exciting research opportunities;
Provide early career fellowships for the best PhD graduates to develop their own independent research;
Build links with industry by supporting joint studentships through CASE conversion;
Attract and retain the best international students through the International Doctoral Scholars scheme;
Enable keen and talented undergraduate students to experience the world of research through Vacation Bursaries.
We offer opportunities through each of these schemes across the range of Engineering and Mathematical and Physical Sciences. Our research portfolio is shaped within the context of UCL's Grand Challenges (Global Health; Sustainable Cities; Intercultural Interaction; Human Wellbeing), the Government's Eight Great Technologies, and the priorities of EPSRC, and our coverage is broad. We offer Doctoral training across the traditional Engineering disciplines (Chemical, Biochemical, Mechanical, Civil, Environmental, Geomatic, Electronic), in Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Medical Physics, Nanotechnology, the Built Environment (Energy Demand, Sustainable Heritage, Virtual Environments), Mathematics and Statistics. We offer joint research training combining Science and Engineering with Public Policy, and we have very active research in Crime & Security Studies and Forensics. We typically provide around 80-100 studentships from our DTP each year, along with 10-12 Doctoral Prize Fellowships and 20 Vacation Bursaries. 8-10 of our DTP studentships per year are awarded to the best international students. Our close links with industry enable us to convert >15% of our studentships to collaborative CASE awards. Studentships and Fellowships are allocated through a competitive process, with each applicant interviewed by a panel. We aim to complete the process of studentship allocation by March/April each year for October starts. Fellowships are considered in two rounds: December and June. Our DTP management strategy a combination of top-down strategic allocation, and bottom up flexible applications to ensure flexibility and accountability. Institution-level strategy for all Doctoral training is determined by a Doctoral Training Strategy Committee; the DTP specifically is overseen by EPSRC Doctoral Training Governance Board.Faculties & Departments can set their own local strategiesd and priorities, ensuring that they fit within institutional guidelines.
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