Postgraduate research
About us
Our mission is to identify excellent students from around the world and train them to conduct leading edge research in security and crime science. Numerous scientific leaders have passed through our programmes, before going on to work in prestigious careers in our organisations such as the UK Home Office, DSTL (the UK Defence Science and Technology Lab), the UK National Crime Agency and a range of top universities.
Our programmes embody not only world class doctoral research, supervised by leading academics, but also focuses on developing important transferable skills such as networking, presenting and entrepreneurship.
At UCL, every PhD student is affiliated to a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) that is responsible for their pastoral care and co-curricular activities. In our department, you have the choice between:
EPSRC CDT in Cyber-physical risk
Providing an MPhil/PhD in Cyber-physical risk (4 years full time). Topics of interest include hybrid threats, disinformation, offender behaviour in cyber and physical spaces, cyber-physical systems, etc.
EPSRC CDT in Cybersecurity
Providing an MPhil/PhD in Cybersecurity (4 years full time). Topics of interest include information security, cryptocurrencies, security testing, etc.
UCL CDT in Security Science (SECReT)
Providing a choice of MPhil/PhD in Security & Crime Science (3 years full time, 5 years part time) or an MRes + MPhil/PhD in Security Science (4 years full time, 6 years part time). Topics of interest include terrorism and organised crime, policing, forensic sciences, etc.
Interested in applying?
You can find out more about each CDT programme and how to apply on the links above. Before applying, it is very important that you have researched and contacted a potential supervisor.
You can also get more details about our PhD scholarships prior to applying.
Please make sure that you have familiarised yourself with the information on all of these pages before applying or emailing us. We cannot accept speculative CVs by email and we will direct you to these pages if you contact us in this way.
PhD Open Evening 2025
Our next PhD Opening will evening will take place on 6 March 2025 at 6pm, in Room 225 at Central House, 14 Upper Woburn Place, WC1H 0NN, London.