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Research Studentships

Departmental Funding

1 Studentship available via our Department - Deadline 20 Mar 2023

Deadline for Applications: 20 Mar 2023

Applications are invited for 1 PhD Studentship based at the Department of Statistical Science, UCL. The position can involve any topic within the Statistical Science remit.

The Department is among the three largest Statistics groups in the UK with more than 30 academic members of staff. Research in the Department is organised into six themes: Biostatistics; Computational Statistics; Economics, Finance and Business; Environmental Statistics; General Theory and Methodology; Multivariate and High Dimensional Data. Research often cuts across these areas. Much of the research is interdisciplinary and involves collaborations within and outside UCL.

The position available is:

  • 1 Departmentally-funded Teaching Assistantship - Starting date up to the 1 June 2023 at the latest

Important information: 

  • The position is open to both Home and International applicants.
  • The Studentship can cover only the Home part of the tuition fees and an annual stipend.  
  • For information, Home tuition fees are set to £5,860 for 2023/24 for a full-time position, and the corresponding International tuition fees are set to £26,200.

The Teaching Assistantship is 3.5 years in duration (or 6 years for part-time students) and will cover the Home part of the tuition fees, an annual maintenance stipend and a small allowance for consumables. For the last academic year, 2022/23, the stipend was £19,668, rising with inflation each year - the exact amount for 2023/24 onwards will be announced soon. Full-time students will spend 6 months of their time teaching (spread across the 3.5 years) and devote the remainder to undertaking their research. 

Person Specification

The requirement for admission to the MPhil/PhD in Statistical Science is a 1st class or high upper 2nd class Bachelor’s degree, or a Master’s degree with merit or distinction, in Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative discipline. International qualifications of an equivalent standard are also acceptable. Further details can be found on the Departmental website.

The requirements for appointment as a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant – relevant in particular for the Teaching Assistantships – are detailed in the PGTA person specification.

How to Apply

Candidates will need to identify and be in contact with a prospective supervisor in the department in advance of submitting an application.

Step 1: All candidates should first apply for admission to a MPhil/PhD in Statistical Science by visiting the relevant UCL website.

Step 2: The following two documents should then be sent to stats.pgr-admissions@ucl.ac.uk, after changed into a PDF format:

1.    Funding application form (link to Word document to be completed by the candidate)
2.    Supervisor reference form (link to Word document to be completed and sent by the prospective supervisor)

Step 3: For an application to be completed, candidates should also fill in the following online form:
Diversity data form (link to Microsoft Form to be completed by the candidate)

Applications must be submitted by the deadline of 20th March 2023, with shortlisting decisions made very soon after this date. 

UCL Funding 

UCL Research Excellence Scholarships - Deadline for 2023/24 Admission has passed 

UCL Research Excellence Scholarships (UCL-RSE) aim to attract high-quality students to undertake research at UCL. The University is offering 40 fully funded UCL Research Excellence Scholarships - across all UCL Departments - to exceptional applicants from any country. Both prospective and current UCL doctoral students can apply.

Full details on these scholarships, including the eligibility requirements and application procedure are available from the link below. 

As described at the linked webpage, two steps must be followed for the submission of an application. The second step is the one described in the linked webpage under the title "Step 2 - submit your scholarship application documents to your department", and it involves the submission of a number of forms to the Department of Statistical Science.  The contact in the Department of Statistical Science for the submission of these forms is:

Ms Marina Lewis
stats.pgr-admissions AT ucl.ac.uk

The deadline for completing all steps of the application procedure is 13 January 2023. 

CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholarships - Deadline for 2023/24 Admission has passed

Funding offered by UCL and the China Scholarships Council (CSC) aims to expand the educational, cultural and technological co-operation between the UK and China.  Candidates must be citizens of the People’s Republic of China. Some more eligibility criteria apply - see the "Eligibility" section at this website for the full list of criteria. Applicants must apply first to UCL via the procedures described below and, if succesfull in their UCL application, they must then apply to CSC. UCL covers the tuition fees, while CSC covers the stipend and some extra expenses. Both the UCL and the CSC applications must be successfull for the funding to be awarded.

Funding is provisionally** available for: 

  • Scheme (A): up to 10 studentships in the Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences (this Faculty includes the Department of Statistical Science)** - this scheme is referred to as Dean's Prize.
  • Scheme (B): up to 5 studentships in any subject area in accordance with the CSC’s priorities, including areas covered by the Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences (this Faculty includes the Department of Statistical Science) - this scheme is part of the UCL Research Excellence Scholarships (RES)**

**UCL and CSC are currently negotiating the terms of the scheme for 2023/24 entry. The information provided is provisional and indicative of what UCL hopes to offer those who meet the eligibility requirements and are selected for the scholarship.

Scheme (A): This scheme is referred to as Dean's Prize.

To be considered for 1 of the up to 10 studentships in the Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences, candidates must prepare the following documents:

  • Short (1 page max) description of the proposed research project;
  • CV of the candidate;
  • Two references – Reference number 1 should relate to the candidate’s most recently completed university programme/degree (or the one you intend to complete, if applicable) and can be the same referee who submitted a reference as part of the candidate’s admission application. This should be completed using the template document Reference Form for reference number 1. Reference number 2 should relate to the candidate’s current or intended research programme/project, for which they are seeking funding. This reference MUST be provided by their research supervisor at UCL. This should be completed using the template document Reference Form for reference number 2.

The above documents should be sent by email to the following contact in the Department of Statistical Science:

Ms Marina Lewis
stats.pgr-admissions AT ucl.ac.uk

The deadline for sending all above described documents to the provided email address is 18 January 2023. 

Scheme (B): This scheme is part of the UCL Research Excellence Scholarship (RES).

To be considered for 1 of up to 5 studentships in any subject area in accordance with the CSC’s priorities, including areas covered by the Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences, candidates must first submit an application for the UCL Research Excellence Scholarship (RES) before submitting an application to the CSC. UCL will then select its five CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholars from the pool of students that applied to the RES. Full application instructions can be found on the RES webpage. 

All applicants for the UCL-RES, who have an overseas fee status and satisfy the eligibility criteria for the CSC-UCL studentships will automatically be considered for the latter ones via Scheme (B). There is no need to submit a separate application to UCL beyond the one submitted for the UCL-RES scholarship. If succesfull in their UCL application, candidates must then also apply to CSC.

The deadline for completing all steps of the application procedure for a UCL-RES is 13 January 2023. 

Eligibility Criretia and Timeline for both Schemes (A) and (B):

Candidates can apply separately for both Schemes (A) and (B). All details on the eligibility criteria and the timeline on the announcement of results can be found here:

Doctoral Training Centres

UCL Centre for Doctoral Training in Foundational Artificial Intelligence

The UCL Centre for Artificial Intelligence is host to the UKRI funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Foundational Artificial Intelligence. The CDT provides training and is supported by a large body of industry partners to help the UCL team create an exciting platform to launch the students’ careers as scientists or AI entrepreneurs.

Interested students should apply directly for admission to the Department of Computer Science. It may be advantageous to discuss research topics with staff members in the Department of Statistical Science so that they may be identified as potential supervisors at the time of application.

UCL Security Science Doctoral Research Training Centre

The SECReT international centre for PhD training in security and crime science at UCL offers 4 year PhD scholarships to students interested in multidisciplinary security- or crime-related research degrees, which may have a strong overlap with areas of statistics.

Interested students should apply directly for admission to the Department of Security and Crime Science. It may be advantageous to discuss research topics with staff members in the Department of Statistical Science so that they may be identified as potential supervisors at the time of application.

UCL Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science

The Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science (DIS) offers 4 year PhD scholarships. DIS encompasses a wide range of areas in the field of 'big-data' including the collection, storage and analysis of large datasets, as well as the use of complex models, algorithms and machine learning techniques to interpret the data. Over 80 academics from across UCL are involved in the Centre, including some from the Department of Statistical Science.

Interested students should apply directly for admission to the Department of Physics and Astronomy. It may be advantageous to discuss research topics with staff members in the Department of Statistical Science so that they may be identified as potential supervisors at the time of application.

 University Partnerships

Martingale Foundation

The Foundation's mission is to find, fund and support a new generation of STEM postgraduates.  The Martingale Foundation
supports students to undertake postgraduate study at some of the UK’s leading research universities. As a Martingale Scholar, you will receive full funding for a master’s and a PhD, or an integrated PhD, at one of five partner universities.

Interested students should apply directly to the Foundation. It may be advantageous to discuss research topics with staff members in the Department of Statistical Science so that they may be identified as potential supervisors at the time of application.

HDR UK-Turing Wellcome PhD Programme in Health Data Science

The HDR UK/Turing Wellcome PhD Programme aims to develop future leaders in health data science. Its underlying philosophy is that health data science requires a combination of expertise spanning three fundamental areas: statistical, computational and health sciences.

Interested students should apply directly to HDR UK. It may be advantageous to discuss research topics with staff members in the Department of Statistical Science so that they may be identified as potential supervisors at the time of application.

The London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership

The London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) at UCL offers 4 year scholarships to students interested in multidisciplinary research degrees in environmental science, which may have a strong overlap with areas of statistics.

Interested students should apply directly to the DTP. It may be advantageous to discuss research topics with staff members in the Department of Statistical Science so that they may be identified as potential supervisors at the time of application. A list of PhD projects submitted by UCL researchers (some of whom are based in the Department of Statistical Science) is available at the link below.