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Postgraduate research

Electronics and computer science

PhD electronics and computer science student

Join over 500 researchers working with industry and government to address some of the problems facing the world today.

About

Electronics and computer science (ECS) is the leading university department of its kind in the UK. We were on of the first universities to be named an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACE-CSE) by the UK government.

Our research is organised around research groups and centres. You'll join one of these groups. This means that specialist academics will always be on hand to hear your ideas and offer help and encouragement. With around 250 staff, ECS has unrivalled depth and breadth of expertise.

You'll have the freedom to run your own project and you'll be supported by a team of supervisors. Direct and regular contact with your supervisors will help you develop your scientific insight, and steer you towards creative and original thinking.

Our graduate school provides training on transferable skills, courses on research methodology, and a working framework to help you settle into a disciplined working routine. You'll also have opportunities to travel to international conferences and events to present your work. 

ECS holds an annual careers fair that attracts major companies. The majority of our graduates take up roles in the technology industry or develop their research interests further. If you have a great idea our Future Worlds startup accelerator is there to nurture aspiring entrepreneurs through one-to-one support and its network of investors.

PhD programmes

We offer 2 PhD routes.

PhD

This is our standard 3-year research degree. When you apply, you'll choose one of the following:

  • electronic and electrical engineering
  • computer science
  • web science

Integrated PhD (iPhD)

Our iPhD includes a taught first year. This is a good option if you're changing your field of study or have a background in industry. We offer these 4-year funded options through our Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT). Currently we offer the following research areas:

Main areas of research

A key feature of ECS is that we are truly interdisciplinary. Many of our research groups sit at the interface between electronics and computer science, including cyber security and cyber physical systems. Areas include:

  • agent technologies
  • digital libraries
  • environmental modelling
  • e-science
  • high voltage engineering
  • machine learning
  • spintronics
  • technology-enhanced learning
  • web science

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