Partners

Core Programme Funder

The UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Natural Language Processing is largely funded by a grant from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the umbrella organisation of the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The Centre commenced in September 2019 and receives funding for five cohorts over an eight-year research study.

A unique and exciting four year PhD programme with integrated studies, it has been designed to meet the UKRI's vision and training needs described within its 'Applications and Implications of Artificial Intelligence' and 'Enabling Intelligence' priority areas. 

The UKRI CDT in NLP's objectives are:

• To create the next generation of NLP experts, stimulating the growth of NLP in the public and private sectors domestically and internationally. 
• To deliver a programme which will have a transformative effect on the students it trains and on the field as a whole, developing future leaders and producing cutting-edge research in both methodology and applications.
• To give students a firm grounding in the challenge of working with language in a computational setting and its relevance to critical engineering and scientific problems in the modern world. The Centre will also train them in the key programming, engineering and machine learning skills necessary to solve NLP problems.
• To attract students from a broad range of backgrounds and provide an interdisciplinary cohort training approach.  This involves taught courses, hands-on laboratory projects, research-skills training; cohort-based activities such as specialist seminars, workshops, and meetups; and public engagement and outreach.
• To train students with an awareness of user design, ethics and responsible research to design systems that improve user satisfaction, treat users fairly, and increase the uptake of NLP technology across cultures, social groups and languages.

Other Partners

We have formed strategic partnerships with a number of partners. This includes blue-chip companies, large media organisations, and an array of SMEs and start-ups.  The input of our partners has informed our research training approach, ensuring that the CDT produces graduates with the skills expected by our partners and the NLP industry in general.

Most students undertake at least one internship during their PhD. This is an important aspect of training as it provides experience in teamwork, project management, and software engineering. It also exposes students to a company-focused research culture and provides them with valuable contacts for future job searches. Many of the CDT's industry partners have agreed to host students as interns.