Centre for Doctoral Training in Designing Responsible Natural Language Processing PhD with Integrated Study

The Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Designing Responsible Natural Language Processing (NLP) aims to develop doctoral graduates that represent a new paradigm of interdisciplinary NLP researcher; Individuals who can harness the full potential of NLP-based systems and create richer interactions between humans and AI. Our training will give students foundational knowledge across five fundamental skills domains, along with expertise in at least one of these areas. The training programme aims to create an NLP practitioner culture of responsibility, with graduates who are confident in combining technical expertise with:

• ethics

• governance

• consideration of users and use contexts

Students will train together in cohorts formed from various disciplines and background experiences. The students will be supported to collaborate on “team science” applied NLP projects. Through these projects, the students will also get the chance to work with some of our 70+ partners in the following sectors:

• industry

• public

• non-profit

• research

These entry requirements are for the 2025/26 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2026/27 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2025.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in an area related to the topic of the CDT, for example informatics, computer science, AI, cognitive science, mathematics, design, linguistics, psychology, philosophy, law, and social and political science.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country

English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency which will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 6.5 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 92 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 176 with at least 169 in each component.
• Trinity ISE: ISE II with distinctions in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 65 with at least 59 in each component. We do not accept PTE Academic Online.
• Oxford ELLT: 7 overall with at least 6 in each component.

Unless you are a national of a majority English speaking country, your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start of the month in which the programme you are applying to study begins. If you are using an IELTS, PTE Academic, TOEFL, Trinity ISE, or Oxford ELLT test, it must be no more than two years old on the first of the month in which the programme begins, regardless of your nationality. (Revised 14 January 2025 to include Oxford ELLT.)

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about our language requirements:

• English language requirements

We expect many students will seek diverse career pathways after their PhD such as in:

• academia

• industrial research and development

• entrepreneurship and social innovation

• creating start-ups

Each cohort of students will participate in Fast-Track Impact training for PhD students in Year 1.

Students will also be able to participate in various events designed to foster both an intra- and an entrepreneurial mindset, delivered in collaboration with:

• Edinburgh Innovations

and

• the Bayes Centre

Additionally, the Bayes Centre and Edinburgh Innovations will provide students with access to University support to facilitate the commercialisation of their research. The support will include:

• mentoring

• access to business advisors

• incubators

• accelerators

• a network of investors and peers

[Updated 07 October 2024 to remove reference to the Bridge course]