Application Guidance

Candidates applying on a Student-led PhD Project:

If you apply to a Student-led PhD Project, you will need to find a prospective supervisor willing to supervise you during your PhD studies. You can follow the steps below.

1. Browse the list of CDT supervisors on the CDT website and identify an academic who works in your research area and who could be interested in your proposed PhD project. There might be several suitable profiles. Make sure you read through the profile of each academic, including about their research and area of interests. It is also a good idea to have a look at their latest published research paper or one that relates to your specific ideas for your own PhD research.
2. You can also browse the Edinburgh Research Explorer platform, which includes all staff within the University of Edinburgh.
3. Prepare an email to them to establish a first contact. Make sure to include the following elements:
   1. Introduce yourself by detailing your study background (and relevant professional experience if any) including some details of a past research project(s);
   2. Explain why you would now like to do a PhD (within the MLSystems CDT) and some thoughts about what it could be about and how it would fit within their research area and interests;
   3. Attach an academic CV to your email but make sure everything important you want them to know about you is in the email body rather than in an attachment (as they might not see it otherwise);
   4. State your estimated fees status (Home or International). This is important because supervisors have a cap on the number of candidates they can put forward under each category. You can check which fees status you are likely to be classified under on the Eligibility and Entry Requirements page.
   5. Keep your message brief and to the point while including all the important elements listed above.
   6. Be patient for an answer but feel free to chase them up about 1-2 weeks after. Academics are busy people and they might not be interested in your profile however, they should be back in touch with you either way so that you can move on. If that is not the case, you should be looking for an alternative academic.

If you have identified more than one potential supervisors, you should email each of them preferably at the same time not to lose any time. You can still explain that you are in discussions with several academics if you receive more than one positive reply.

There is more guidance about contacting prospective supervisors on the School of Informatics website: Finding a supervisor | School of Informatics | School of Informatics

If you struggle to get an answer or to find a supervisor working in your research area, it might be just because we simply don’t have suitable supervisors in our CDT/School/University to support your research appropriately. 

You can choose to still start an application without having received any notification(s) of interest from a prospective supervisor. In this case, we will try to suggest supervisors that we think might be suitable. However, if you have not found anyone, the chances are that we won’t either. You also stand more chances if you have approached them yourself beforehand. 

The first-stage Application Form includes a section on supervisors which will help us to advise on supervision aspects, please make sure you complete it accurately.

Candidates applying on a Company-linked PhD Project

Company-linked projects have supervisors already attached to them. Applicants on company-linked projects should contact the project’s main supervisor ahead of submitting their application to check suitability and support.

All applicants on both application paths (student- or/and company-linked projects) must submit an MLSystems first-stage Application Form to provide succinct information on their profile, research ideas and motivation for a PhD. 

The first-stage Application Form must be submitted online. However, a Word/LibreOffice version of the form is available to download in order to help you prepare your submission. The Word/LibreOffice form includes some guidance on how to complete each section as relevant. 

For indication, the first-stage Application Form includes the following sections:

1. Personal Details
2. EDI and Widening Participation form* [external form to be completed]
3. Higher Education Record
4. Fee status pre-assessment
5. Research Experience
6. Professional / Other experience out with academia
7. Special Circumstances and Barriers
8. PhD Project Application Paths
9. Student-led PhD Projects: Proposed Research and Supervisors
10. Company-linked PhD project: Fit-to-Project and Supervisor Support
11. Where did you hear about the programme?

*The CDT EDI and Widening Participation form

As part of the first-stage application, a separate form is provided to collect demographic data from its applicants for statistics purposes and reporting to its funder (the EPSRC). It also offers the opportunity to applicants to disclose belonging to one of its under-represented groups and to allow the CDT to support applications from such applicants throughout the recruitment process. This form is kept separate from the application so that selectors (including supervisors) do not see that information. It is only seen by an independent CDT panel who will monitor the EDI and WP data of the applicants throughout the selection process and will be able to recommend candidates to the next selection stage.

You must submit the form at the same time of completing your first-stage Application Form (a link to the form is included in the Application Form). You are not obliged to answer any part of it and can leave any part or all of it blank. If you do so, the data will be reported as “not available”. However, we still would prefer you to submit it and we encourage you to do so.

If you have successfully gone through Stage 1, the CDT team will email you a link in order to submit a formal application via the University system EUCLID by a set deadline. You will be given a minimum of two weeks to complete your application. If it is two weeks before the deadline, and you have not received such communication, then please contact us. Given the short turnaround, it is therefore important that you start preparing your EUCLID application well before knowing the outcome of your first-stage Application Form.

Please make sure that you follow the steps below, complete your EUCLID application and upload all the necessary documents as listed by the relevant application deadline. 

Applications which do not include the documents 1-4 as listed below, by the EUCLID application deadline, will be considered incomplete. Incomplete applications will not be passed on for assessment and will be rejected automatically. 

Your EUCLID application must include the following documents (see guidance for each document further below):

1. Research Proposal (or Research Approach)

Candidate applying on a Student-led PhD Project:

The Research Proposal should describe a potential PhD project of your own. Although supervisors can help shaping the project and give you some feedback on it, the research proposal should be written by you entirely and must demonstrate your ability to lead research and your understanding of what a PhD involves.

You must ensure that:

• the PhD project you propose fits within the MLSystems CDT remit (see box below and some examples of projects within the CDT remit: Programme | CDT in Machine Learning Systems | School of Informatics)
• you follow the below guidance to write a research proposal
• It is your own work

It is important to note that although the research proposal you submit should be about a potential PhD proposal adequate to your skillset and interests, it is not necessarily going to be exactly the PhD project you will do if appointed. The final PhD project will be the result of a joint reflection from you and your supervisory team, which will also have to align with the CDT specific requirements based on the other students appointed on the cohort and the supervisors’ availability.

Here is a suggested structure for your research proposal: Title • Abstract • Name and contact of identified supervisor(s) who you have contacted already and who have offered support • Brief introduction to the project, showing what original research you are proposing • Critical summary of existing literature • The hypothesis and the objectives of your project • Methodology • How the research will be communicated to the wider academic community, plus any non-academic audiences / users • How you are prepared for the project • The specialist and transferable skills training required for the project • Ethical considerations • Summary and conclusions

The research proposal should generally be a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 pages long (exclusive of figures and references) although these are not strict requirements.

More general guidance on how to write a research proposal for a PhD application which might be useful, is provided by the University. However, ML Systems is often more engineering than science, and it is commonly more meaningful to consider the proposed gain to knowledge, understanding and capability than it is to formulate a specific scientific “hypothesis” for testing.

More on the CDT remit and some projects examples: Programme | CDT in Machine Learning Systems | School of Informatics

Candidates applying on a Company-linked PhD Project

Instead of a Research Proposal, please provide a Research Approach document based on the advertised project description and including the following sections:

1. A summary of what you think the key goals of the project are
2. A description of what tools and methods you would bring to the project and what approaches you think would provide the most value

The Research Approach document should be between 1 and 2 pages.

2. Academic CV

An academic CV is similar to a standard CV albeit putting emphasis on your study background and research experiences, which can be both from a study or professional context. 

Your CV should not exceed three pages.

3. Transcripts and Certificates of all degrees obtained to date

For each degree obtained in Higher Education, please upload your transcripts and certificates (diploma) when available. If you have not yet been awarded a degree, you can upload interim transcripts if available. If you do not currently hold all transcripts and certificates from all your studies to date, it is your responsibility to obtain them to complete your application.

4. English translation of transcripts and certificates

This is for candidates whose original degree transcripts and certificates are not in English or do not include an English translation already.

5. Personal Statement and Relevant Knowledge/Training Statement

The Personal Statement and Relevant Knowledge/Training fields offer an opportunity to update the statements submitted within your first-stage Application Form. You can leave them blank and refer to your first-stage Application Form (which we will automatically upload to accompany your EUCLID application) or you can use those fields to include updated statements. 

A Personal Statement should explain why you are a suitable candidate for the CDT and for the project described in the research proposal in particular. It should detail your motivation to do a PhD within the context of the CDT Machine Learning Systems. Your statement should not exceed 500 words and should be typed directly in the application.

Personal statement | The University of Edinburgh

You can use the Relevant Knowledge/Training field to provide additional or updated information on your background and skills.

6. Two References

Your application requires two references provided by the referees of your choice. It is best to choose referees from the academic sector (personal tutor, dissertation’s supervisor etc.) to support your PhD application since they will be more relevant however, it is also acceptable to have references from a former line-manager in a professional context.

The application system will ask you to provide the name, organisation and email of your chosen referees. Your referees will then receive automated emails requesting a reference for you and providing guidance about how it can be uploaded to our system. Note that references should come from professional emails and not from personal emails (i.e. not Gmail or Yahoo, etc.).

If you upload reference letters yourself then these should be on headed paper, signed, and dated no more than one year from the start of the programme for which you are applying.

7. A proof of English proficiency

See the Entry Requirements page for more details on the accepted proofs of English proficiency.

English Language Tests: We don’t need to see an English Language Test at the time of the application but if we don’t have it by the offer stage (end of February), we will only be able to issue a conditional funding offer. You will then be given a maximum of two months to provide a suitable English Language Test certificate.

Applicants who already have a valid English Language Certificate fitting our requirements can add it to their application when they submit it but we recommend those who don’t have test results available yet to wait until the outcome of their application is known (early March) before booking a test.

More guidance on how to submit your application via EUCLID:

Submitting your online application | Student Administration (ed.ac.uk)

Applicants | Student Administration (ed.ac.uk)

After having submitted your EUCLID application, make sure that you check your applicant portal regularly for updates on your application as we will be communicating via the portal only.

Your application will be screened for completeness and relevance and passed on to the supervisor(s) you have nominated for review and assessment following the EUCLID application deadline. 

Supervisors will then be in touch with you directly if they would like to arrange an interview. Interviews will typically take place between late January and late February for Round 1.

You will receive a final outcome via the EUCLID system or the CDT admission team by the beginning of March at the latest for Round 1. If you are successful in getting a studentship offer, we will invite you for a post-offer visit which you can do before or after accepting your offer.

You can read about our selection process and indicative timing here to help you prepare for your interview and know what to expect: Selection Process and Timeline | CDT in Machine Learning Systems | School of Informatics