CDT recruitment for September 2025 intake is now open!
Application process
This is the sequence you should follow to apply for the CDT programme. Each step is described in more detail below.
(1) Review project proposals and decide which are of interest to you
(2) Do some research into the projects of interest
(3) Approach the supervisors of the projects of interest
(4) Select your top 3 projects
(5) Prepare supporting documents
(6) Complete online application form
(7) Complete Demographics monitoring form
(8) Wait for results
Application deadline: 20 January 2025
(1) Review project proposals and decide which are of interest to you
List of project proposals available for 2025 entry can be viewed here.
You may find a lot of these interesting and something you would like to get involved in, but we’d suggest doing some tentative ranking rather than looking at everything at once. Otherwise, the next stage might become too overwhelming!
(2) Do some research into the projects of interest
Start by finding and reading through a few academic publications that cover the same or adjacent topic as your project of interest. You can try searching via ResearchGate, Google Scholar or University of Edinburgh Research Explorer. The latter will allow you to access peer-reviewed papers free of charge, and you can search by the project supervisor to find all their publications to date.
Perplexity is another great tool to suggest relevant publications, concept explanations and other resources to start with.
This stage should give you a general idea of the research topic, current trends, developments and methodologies, and ultimately help you consider if this is an area you see yourself working in for the next 4 years.
(3) Approach the supervisors of the projects of interest
We strongly recommend approaching the primary supervisor of the projects you are interested in before applying. This will help you get a better idea about the project as well as the supervisor who you’d potentially be working with for the next 4 years.
For your introductory email to the supervisor:
– Include “AI4BI CDT” in subject line
– Introduce yourself and briefly describe your background: what you have studied so far, any relevant professional/research experience.
– Explain why you are interested in the project, how it fits with your interests, aspirations and experience.
– Make sure to tailor your email to a particular supervisor and project. Do not send a general email to several people at once: it will only demonstrate to them you’re not willing to put in effort into communication with them and will make them far less likely to engage.
– Be brief and stick to the point: there is no need to write an essay.
– Attach your up-to-date CV to the email.
– Academics tend to be very busy, so don’t expect an immediate answer. If you do not receive a reply after a week or two though, send a polite follow-up email.
It is normal to ask the prospective supervisor to put you in touch with one or several of their current PhD students. This would help you get an external perspective about working with that supervisor and decide if it matches your expectations.
(4) Select your top 3 projects
Based on steps 1-3, you should be able to narrow down your project preferences to select and rank up to 3 projects. You can select fewer than that, depending on how certain you are on your preferred research area at this point.
Normally all the projects should be from the same research theme. However, you may also pick projects from different themes, as long as you have a sound justification for your choice (see next steps).
If you are interested in any of the projects co-led by the Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain, you can pick them in addition to your top choice projects from the CDT core research themes.
(5) Prepare supporting documents
Your application must include all the supporting documents listed below. If any of the documents are missing, your application will be considered incomplete and rejected before review. Click on the name of each document for more details.
You should prepare a supporting statement including the following sections:
1) Background & Motivation (up to 500 words)
Tell us a little bit about your background and interests, as well as your motivation for coming to Edinburgh and applying to our CDT in particular. We recommend you cover the following points:
– your educational background
– any relevant work and/or volunteering experience
– your academic and research interests
– your career/development goals and how the PhD and CDT will help you to achieve those
– what you are hoping to learn if you join the programme
– why you want to make a contribution to the translation of AI methods into real-world applications in Biomedicine & Health?
2) Suitability for the Programme (up to 750 words)
Tell us why you think you are suited to the programme (and why we are suited to you). We recommend you cover the following points:
– any skills, experience, and attributes you have that make you well suited to PhD study in this academic domain
– any experience you have working with biomedical or clinical data and/or challenges you’ve encountered
– your thoughts on the ethical and societal issues surrounding the use of AI methods in clinical settings and working with sensitive data
– any experience you have of interdisciplinary working and what you think the challenges/opportunities are
– any experience you have in communicating your research to general public and/or your interest in patient & public engagement
– what could you bring to the cohort that would support and enrich the research environment and culture in the CDT
3) Rank your top 3 projects and explain your ranking (up to 50 words, excluding project titles) Tell us what particularly excites you about each project. Explain why you ranked them in this order. If you only selected 1 project, also explain your choice. Do you feel technically prepared enough to work on each of the projects, or will you need some additional development first?
4) Suitability for the Project (up to 750 words)
For your top selected project, do a little bit of research and answer the following questions:
–What related background and experience do you have?
–What ideas do you have about tackling this research problem?
–Any related interesting methods you are aware of?
–Do you see open research directions?
You are free to write up this section for your second and third choice projects as well if you’d like to, but this is not compulsory at all.
If you are interested in any of the projects co-led by the Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain, you can name them in addition to your top 3 projects from the CDT core research themes. You should also prepare an additional “Suitability for the Project” section in this case focused on one of the SIDB projects. Doing so will allow your application to be considered for both the general CDT call and the SIDB call, widening your options.
We encourage applicants, if they would like to, to let us know of any challenges or barriers that they may have experienced that they feel has impacted their academic progression, ability to gain relevant experience, or indeed any other aspect they think is relevant to our consideration of their application.
Provide an up-to-date CV which includes details on your education (including all degrees completed and in progress), experience, skills and achievements, etc. If you have any publications, participation in public engagement or poster presentations, please make sure to include details of those too.
You need to specify two referees, which should ordinarily be written by academics and teachers who can provide good quality and authentic assessments of your academic skills, achievements, and potential. If you currently work in industry and don’t have recent academic referees, a reference from your employer is suitable too, provided that it covers the above points.
When you submit your application the system will automatically request a reference from your referees, but if you have already obtained references you’ll be able to upload these directly.
You need to submit official documents that confirm any degrees or qualifications you have been awarded.
A degree certificate is the official document which you usually receive at your graduation ceremony and confirms that the degree has been awarded to you. A transcript is an additional document which comes with your certificate and details the grades you have achieved per course/module each semester/academic year. Please ensure that your transcript includes information for the total duration of your studies.
Please also provide additional transcripts from Institutions you have studied in as a visiting student or as part of an exchange programme.
If your degree is currently in progress, please submit an interim transcript.
See the detailed guidance on providing official certificates.
If your degree certificate and/or transcript are not in English, you will need to provide a translation of all these documents.
The translation does not have to be officially certified at this point, but if you are successful and offered a place on the programme, you will need to provide a certified translation before your offer can be made unconditional.
You must demonstrate a level of English language competency that will enable you to succeed in your studies. This can be via your degree certificate or one of the approved tests. See the University guidance for details on what evidence is acceptable.
You do NOT have to have a valid proof of English language competency at the point of application. It can be provided later, if your application is successful and you are offered a place on the programme.
(6) Complete online application form
All applications for the CDT programme must be submitted via the University’s application portal.
The application form is standard for the entire University, so some sections might not apply to you or be already covered in the Supporting Statement or CV. We suggest to complete the application sections as follows:
Complete in full.
* Country of permanent residence – if you hold pre-/settled status in the UK, select UK, otherwise select the same country as your nationality.
Complete in full.
Make sure you enter a valid email address that you will have access to up to September 2025.
Write “see supporting documents” in each mandatory field.
Academic Qualification: enter the details for the most recent qualification you have achieved or in the progress of achieving. If you hold several degrees, no need to enter the information here, but make sure to include it in your CV.
English Language Qualification: complete in full.
Professional Qualifications: select “no” here and list any relevant professional qualifications in your CV instead.
Leave this section blank, but make sure to include the relevant information in your CV.
Select “no” and enter “not applicable”. All candidates selected for the programme will automatically be awarded the CDT funding, so this question does not apply to the CDT.
Complete in full if you’d like for your referees to be contacted directly, or only include provide their names here if you already have the references and are going to upload them yourself.
Make sure to upload all the supporting documents listed above. Your application will be considered incomplete without them and won’t be reviewed by the CDT.
Upload your Supporting Statement in the “Research Proposal” field. Please upload it in a pdf format.
If you have two or more transcripts or degree certificates, you may want to combine the pdf documents into one and upload the combined file. Otherwise the Admissions team will have to prompt you to upload the remaining transcripts later.
(7) Complete Demographic Monitoring form
Our funding body UK Research & Innovation requires us to collect data on demographic characteristics of our applicant pool, to ensure no group gets unfairly disadvantaged throughout the selection process and demonstrate that we attract diverse applicants and students.
To complete these obligations, all applicants are required to complete the Demographics Monitoring form as part of the application process.
You can decline to answer any or all of the questions on the form, there will be absolutely no consequences for that. But you still need to enter your applicant number to indicate that you’ve accessed it.
You will need to provide your applicant number that you receive via the University portal so that we can report on the characteristics of applicants who were shortlisted for interview and then those who were offered studentship. But please be reassured that the answers will NOT be linked to your application documents and NOT accessible to the academic selection panel, either in aggregate or in individual form.
We will only use the data you provide in aggregate form and will share it with out funder UKRI and our advisory board so that they can monitor our performance against our ED&I commitments. Any such data would only be shared AFTER the recruitment is finished and all places for that intake are filled.
Please only complete this form after you’ve submitted the application and received your applicant number
(8) Wait for results
The deadline for submitting your application is 20 January 2025. Following that, each application will be reviewed by the selection board, and shortlisted applicants will be invited for interview. You should expect notification about interviews around mid-February.
The interviews will take place by research theme on the following days:
Cellular and Molecular Systems Medicine: 24, 25 AM and 28 February
Biomedical & Health Informatics: 24, 25, and 26 PM February
Genomic Medicine: 25, 26 AM and 28 February
Biomedical Imaging: 24, 26 and 27 PM February
Please make sure to keep the relevant dates (depending on which theme you’ve applied to) as free as possible.
Following the interviews, we expect to confirm the results in early March 2025.
Please note that the timeline may be delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. We will try to keep you updated of any delays, but please bear with us. We receive hundreds of applications, and going through them all in a consistent and fair way takes time and effort.
