On Thursday 1 February, Business Secretary Greg Clark announced that the University of Birmingham and 40 other universities will benefit from a £184 million investment in doctoral training. The funding represents a major investment in science and engineering research and will be used to support doctoral training over a four year period.
The funds for doctoral training will come from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through its Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs). The funds will support students entering training in the academic years beginning October 2018 and October 2019.
Business Secretary Greg Clark said:“Doctoral Training Partnerships have an excellent record of providing universities with funding that supports doctoral students as they undertake ground-breaking research.
“Through our commitment to increasing research and development funding by a further £2.3 billion to 2021/22, we are ensuring that the next generation of engineers and scientists will continue to thrive under our modern and ambitious Industrial Strategy.”
EPSRC supports 9,000 post-doctoral students each year either via DTPs, Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTS) or Industrial Case studentships.
After completing PhDs around 39 per cent of doctoral students go on to be employed in business or public services, 39 per cent go on to work in academia and 22 per cent training or work in other sectors.
Students pursue careers in a wide variety of sectors from Advanced Materials to Healthcare Technologies, Big Data and analytics to Manufacturing, and Energy.
EPSRC’s Chief Executive, Professor Philip Nelson, said: “This year we are allocating £184 million to universities via Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs). These will cover a two year period, giving institutions certainty and time to plan their DTP programmes, and support excellent doctoral students.
"The DTPs have produced some outstanding examples of new thinking and helped further the careers of a new generation of researchers who will be the leaders of the future.”
The funding is a part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to UK science, with a record £6.9 billion invested in science labs and equipment up to 2021, and protection of the science budget at £4.7 billion per year in real terms for the rest of the parliament.
For details of EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training involving the University of Birmingham, please follow the link below: