The page is split into a couple of sections. The section at the top summarises funded PhD projects and scholarships and the second bit summarises a loose set of topics that can be supported by potential supervisors. A topic that is featured on this second part of the page isn’t the same as a PhD project. To be considered for a scholarship, and to apply to be a PhD student within the school, applicants need to develop a topic into a proposal, and one of the aims of the project is to identify (and articulate) a set of clear research questions.
Another important part of the advert is the sentence: “You are strongly advised to identify a potential project and supervisor before submitting a formal application.”
There are a few reasons for this:
Applying for a scholarship is competitive. At the time of writing, there is only one funded vacancy within the school a year. Not only do you have to pass an interview where your suitability for postgraduate study is considered by a panel, your potential supervisor needs to advocate for both you and your project. In other words, you need to find an academic to make the case, to other academics, why your project idea is the best and why you deserve the funding. Having taken the time to speak with an academic about your subject will help them to understand more about you and your project.
To find out whether we share research interests. Computing is a broad subject, since it touches on so many different aspects of human activity. As well as being a technical subject, it can sometimes be thought of as a humanities subject (depending on who you speak to, of course). Subsequently, it’s really important to find out whether you and your potential lead supervisor share a passion about a topic. If there are common interests, and you pass your interview, your potential supervisor will advocate for you as best as they can.
A doctoral research project takes a long time. Let’s say you’ve made contact with a potential supervisor (whose name is mentioned on the topics page), an important question is: do you seem to get on with each other? The reason why this is important is that a doctorate takes a lot of time; it is likely to be a significant part of your early career. Whilst sharing of academic interests is really important, so is personal chemistry. Do you feel you’re able to ask questions of them easily? Has your potential supervisor answered all your questions clearly and carefully?
Also, do take the time to look at the MPhil and PhD application process page. Pay particular attention to the proposal section of the page. If you have identified a potential supervisor, there may well be a bit of time to work with an academic to help to refine and develop and application before it is submitted. At the time of writing, the deadline for this year’s scholarship is 24th January 2025.
Do feel free to reach out to any of the friendly academics who work within the school. I’m sure they will reply as soon as they’re able to do so.
When you are ready, send them a draft of your doctoral proposal. They should be able to offer you some helpful guidance about how it may be improved or developed further; a clear project proposal is really important. The clearer your questions are, the stronger your proposal.
Applying for a Computing and Communications doctoral scholarship
Towards the end of last year, I shared a link that advertised PhD Studentships in Computer Science, Information Technology and Software Engineering with the OU school of Computing and Communications. This short blog posts shares some pointers to anyone who is considering applying.
The advert directs you to a summary of Current PhD topics and studentships.
The page is split into a couple of sections. The section at the top summarises funded PhD projects and scholarships and the second bit summarises a loose set of topics that can be supported by potential supervisors. A topic that is featured on this second part of the page isn’t the same as a PhD project. To be considered for a scholarship, and to apply to be a PhD student within the school, applicants need to develop a topic into a proposal, and one of the aims of the project is to identify (and articulate) a set of clear research questions.
Another important part of the advert is the sentence: “You are strongly advised to identify a potential project and supervisor before submitting a formal application.”
There are a few reasons for this:
Also, do take the time to look at the MPhil and PhD application process page. Pay particular attention to the proposal section of the page. If you have identified a potential supervisor, there may well be a bit of time to work with an academic to help to refine and develop and application before it is submitted. At the time of writing, the deadline for this year’s scholarship is 24th January 2025.
The following page shares more about the writing of a doctoral Research project proposal.
Before going further, I do recommend that you look at some of the following blog articles that offer some helpful guidance:
Do feel free to reach out to any of the friendly academics who work within the school. I’m sure they will reply as soon as they’re able to do so.
When you are ready, send them a draft of your doctoral proposal. They should be able to offer you some helpful guidance about how it may be improved or developed further; a clear project proposal is really important. The clearer your questions are, the stronger your proposal.
Good luck with your application!