Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a background in a technical discipline or programming skills to be successful in this CDT?

No, not at all. The CDT and its training programme is open to applicants from backgrounds across a wide range of disciplines and there is no requirement to be able to program or code. There will be opportunities for students who wish to develop such skills to do so. However, the CDT is underpinned by the idea that the development of responsible and trustworthy NLP based systems requires more than technical expertise, but skills related to design, social science, law, psychology, language science and more – and, most importantly, the breaking down of barriers to collaboration across these areas of expertise. As such we wish to emphasise how we are looking for diverse expertise in our cohorts, and will be creating a training experience that enables collaboration across different expertise areas and skillsets rather than forcing all students to have the same skillsets.

Do I need to have a background in NLP?

Like the above, you do not need to have a background (i.e., an education, training, professional experience) in NLP to apply and be successful. However, it’s important to keep in mind that our CDT is focused on NLP – so your application would still need to demonstrate specificity to these technologies and awareness of how they operate and the opportunities and challenges presented by them.

Do I need to identify a supervisor for my application?

When developing your application we recommend you take a look at the list of supervisors on the website, and look at some of their expertise and their research interests. Then, as part of your application, we request that you list at least two potential supervisors (up to a maximum of five).

It is not mandatory to have contacted potential supervisors in advance of applying, but we highly recommend it. This would be an opportunity to check your background and interests align with those of the potential supervisor, and gives them a chance to give you feedback and ideas for your application.

If you do contact a potential supervisor, send them a short email that politely introduced who you are, explain you are applying for this CDT, and say a little about how your interests might align with theirs. Attach a CV and even an example of some recent work. Do not write a very long email though – academics are very busy and shorter, to the point, messages will have a greater chance of a response!

Can we nominate a potential supervisor who is external to those listed within the CDT website, and how likely is it that they will be brought on board?

Our supervisor pool is inclusive and flexible. We’re happy to bring on board supervisors that are currently not listed. They have to be based at the University of Edinburgh, and their research interests need to be related to the CDT. We recommend they contact us at responsiblenlp@ed.ac.uk to be added to our lists though, if a student has got in contact with them.

How will potential supervisors be involved after I make an application?

We will invite nominated potential supervisors to review your application. Some of these supervisors will sit on the interview panel should you be invited to that stage of the recruitment process.

If I am successful in my application, how will I be allocated a team of supervisors?

As per the above, when applying you will suggest up to five potential supervisors that might be appropriate to supervise your studies, and it is very likely one of these will become your principal supervisor prior to starting the PhD. During the first year of your training, we will have three courses – one on research methods, one where you will conduct a group project, and one where you will conduct an individual project – which will give you opportunities to meet other potential supervisors. The CDT management team will also be regularly meeting with you to discuss how your training is going, to develop your personal training needs plan, and to identify additional expertise or experience you need on your supervision team. Through these courses and meetings, by the end of Year 1, all CDT students should have at least two supervisors that have different but complimentary areas of expertise and disciplinary backgrounds.

What is the format for the interviews?

The interview is normally between 30 and 40 minutes long, and will include a short five minute presentation from the candidate and then a series of questions asked by the panel. These questions include discussion of your presentation (the brief may change each year for this, but is usually focused on presenting a relevant project a candidate has recently conducted), and a discussion of knowledge of NLP, ethics and responsibility, training development areas, and knowledge of research methodologies. The questions will be asked by a small panel, which would usually include two members from the CDT management team and one or two potential supervisors who have reviewed the application.

What courses can be taken as part of the PhD training programme?

The courses that are currently available can be viewed on the degree programme table here: http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/24-25/dpt/prphdnatlp3f.htm

Do I need to submit a well developed research proposal as part of my application?

No, you do not. As noted on our application documents page, you need to submit several documents, including a Statement of Intent and a Statement of Alignment with the CDT. These documents are instead of a traditional research proposal. The Statement of Alignment is especially important here, as we are going to be assessing applicants more on the basis of their alignment to the skills domains, themes and ethos of the CDT than purely based on a research plan. We have tried to share some of our thinking on this in the what we’re looking for page.

What if I don’t already have an interdisciplinary background? Will you train me in this?

There is no requirement for students to come from an interdisciplinary background – indeed it is very rare to find people who have experienced training across different disciplines during their undergraduate or master’s degrees! You will be supported in both (i) collaborating with students from different disciplinary backgrounds to your own and (ii) in engaging with the knowledge and methods from relevant other disciplines as part of your training. We will have several core courses in the training programme that will support you in this. This includes a year-long research methods course where you will have seminars, talks and workshops with researchers from different disciplines, an individual project course where you will get the experience of working with a supervisor from a different discipline to yours, and an applied interdisciplinary project where you will collaborate with other students in a team.

I’ve already submitted a PhD application to one of the schools/departments standard PhD programmes, what should I do?  Can I reuse the same proposal?

We welcome applications from students even if you have applied for a PhD elsewhere (including another PhD programme at the University of Edinburgh or School of Informatics). This also includes if you have an offer from another PhD programme. Just flag this when you make your application in your Statement of Intent. If you have applied for another programme at the University of Edinburgh this will be flagged to us automatically.

You can reuse material from different applications. However, keep in mind that we have specific requirements for our application documents that might differ substantially from more traditional PhD programme.

Is there a reading list for the CDT programme, or for the five skills domains?

As we discuss on the what we’re looking for page, one of the qualities we like to see from our PhD students, including at application stage, is an interest in cutting edge debates and discussions around responsible AI, trust in AI and NLP systems, and related areas. Therefore – we do not have a bibliography or reading list, as we like to encourage students to start to develop their own ones to demonstrate their interests and the depth and breadth of their knowledge.

Can I take the CDT programme in a part-time capacity?

Yes, we have a part-time option available for applicants. If you wish to apply for this, there is a separate application link on our University application portal page. The part-time programme is stretched over 6 years (instead of 4) and is funded pro-rata. You will take the same compulsory courses as a full-time student, but these might be taken in a slightly different order to reduce the workload.

I completed my degree several years ago and now work in industry – who would be best to provide a reference for me?

We are very open to applicants who have been working in industry and who are looking to engage in research training, and we recognise there will be differences in the types of references such applicants will be providing. We’d advise trying to get one academic still, as well as one reference that is from a more recent employer. The employer / industry reference should speak to things that are relevant to demonstrating readiness for advanced research training, or specific technical / domain skills relevant to the CDT, or skills relevant to learning and independent project management. Two industry references would also be fine if an academic reference is not at all possible, but they should be able to clearly speak to your potential to move into research training.

If a student has already taken an equivalent course at another university, will it be possible to take a different course instead of repeating similar coursework?

Our mandatory courses are not delivered elsewhere and are bespoke to the CDT, primarily focused on developing research skills, interdisciplinary teamwork on applied NLP projects, and supporting students to start their individual PhD projects. The electives that are chosen are dependent on the focus of any given students studies and where they wish to develop skills, and thus you can avoid taking courses that cover ground you already have training in.

Is a thesis required? Can sufficient publications be used to replace the thesis requirement?

Our CDT requires a thesis to be examined as per standard University of Edinburgh regulations, we do not have a “PhD by Publication” route. However, we support students to publish as they go through their studies, and these publications often then form chapters within the thesis.

Can I apply if I have not completed a Master’s?

Yes, our integrated training approach happens to be very helpful for applicants who have come from a Bachelor’s undergraduate degree and not yet done a Master’s. But we do find applicants who have done a Master’s, or have some professional experience outside of education after their degrees, are more prepared for research training.

Can I apply if I don’t have a Bachelor’s / undergraduate degree, but a Master’s and / or many years professional experience?

Yes you can still apply, and we would always take a Master’s as a more advanced educational training than a Bachelor’s. It is also possible to be competitive if you have extensive professional experience and no degree at all – but there would have to be a strong case and set of evidence around readiness for research training and entering an educational setting.

Can I see examples of the projects being worked on at the moment?

The CDT has only just started in September 2024, and the students have not yet started their individual research projects. However, you can see an overview of their interests and the starting points of their projects on the CDT website.

Does not having any research publications or experience work against me when I apply?

When assessing applications one factor we consider is readiness for conducting research, and having prior experience of research publication is one thing that helps with this assessment. But there are other things as well – such as participation in research events, completing projects that have research elements built into them but have not been published, being able to demonstrate awareness of the state of the art or policy and white papers in relation to your topic in the application documents. Many of our first cohort of students have not published yet but demonstrated research readiness through these other means.

Throughout the program, what is the balance between individual research topics and group projects?

The group projects are primarily restricted to three of the mandatory courses that are bespoke to the PhD, most of which are in year 1 (and one small one in Year 2). There will also be other collective projects we will ask students to contribute to, but these will be short and intensive projects (like our ambition to develop and open fieldbook of responsible NLP practices, methods, models etc). Otherwise, the majority of your time will be spent on your individual PhD project – which will account for at least 75% of your time on the programme (this figure changes year-to-year depending on courses that are taken).

Your CDT talks about training the “next generation” – is there an age range for potential applicants?

We use the term next generation to refer to the next generation of skills experts need to realise responsible NLP – this is not intended to indicate we’re training “younger” researchers. We’re very open to, and encourage, applications from people of any age.

Will international / non-UK / non-home-fees applicants also receive funding?

Yes. In applying to the CDT, you automatically get included in the funded studentship competition. All our students receive the same amount of funding (stipend, research training support grant) and get their fees waived. The only difference is if we advertise an aligned studentship, typically funded by a company, which may have different funding amounts associated with it.

How many international / non-UK / non-home-fees applicants will you fund each year?

We’re limited by the UKRI regulations to only allocation 30% of our funding from their funds to international students. We do also receive funding from some of the University of Edinburgh’s schools and from industry partners, which means some times we can fund more than this.

How many applications do you expect to receive, and how many students get to interview and then get offered a studentship?

Going by our 2024 figures, we received 275 applications, of which 43 were invited to interviews. We funded 11. Typically we seek to fund between 10-12 studentships a year. We expect application numbers will grow for the 2025 recruitment round, as we’re opening applications much earlier in the year.

For non-native English speakers, can the English language proficiency test requirement be satisfied after the application is submitted (if a waiver is not possible)?

Yes, it can. As we also do an interview, for us this is also a way of assessing verbal communication skills in English.

How is this program related to other schools at the university? Are relevant courses or advisors from other disciplines/schools available as resources?

Our degree programme table lists the courses CDT students have approval to take (and it is possible to take others as well). Many of these are in different Schools. Our supervisor list also highlights how we have supervisors across many Schools, and all three Colleges, at the University of Edinburgh. Your lead supervisor can be from any of these Schools, and all students need to have at least two supervisors from different disciplines / schools / fields with relevant expertise to the subject of their PhD.

Can I take the PhD remotely (i.e., not physically located in Edinburgh), especially for the part-time option?

Unfortunately our training programme is only available as in-person, including for the part-time route. This is a regulatory requirement of the funder – you do not need to live in Edinburgh, but need to be a “reasonable distance” from it and be able to come in for in-person courses. Also, much of our training is around the development of the cohort and the “cohort effect” of training together, which comes through more strongly via the serendipitous interactions in the shared workspaces (for full time and part time students).