phd linguistics edinburgh

Studying for a PhD at CSTR

We are always looking for bright, enthusiastic students with good first degrees, or Masters degrees, in speech and language processing, maths, engineering, linguistics, informatics or computer science. We are also interested in applicants with work experience.

You should also refer to this list of PhD topics (which is part of a longer list covering many areas of language and speech processing)

Why do a PhD in Speech Research?

Speech is a very interesting area combining computing, linguistics, engineering and maths. Studying for a PhD gives the opportunity to develop skills in all these areas. The focus of the IT industry is moving away from hardware and basic software towards human-friendly computing and speech is one of the major growth areas in this direction. Computer processing of speech and language is starting to become a mainstream component of the IT industry and people having skills in this area will be highly valued.

While holding a PhD in this area gives you the choice of pursuing an academic career in the field, it is also of direct industrial relevance. Researchers with PhDs in speech are highly sought after and can expect salaries exceeding many other career paths after university.

Why do your PhD at CSTR?

• Edinburgh has one of the largest concentrations in the world of researchers working in the field of language and speech processing
• CSTR has an international reputation for leading edge research: we are the home of the Festival speech synthesis toolkit which is used by thousands of people all over the world, and the coordinator of several large EU Integrated Projects such as AMI , EMIME and Simple4All .
• The close links between CSTR and other research groups in Edinburgh means that co-supervision is possible, particularly for interdisciplinary topics like information extraction from speech.
• CSTR is a great place to work - there is no division between students and staff
• Edinburgh is a wonderful city to live and work in.

Funding and Admission

CSTR, the two Schools that we are part of (Informatics, and Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences) and the University provide a number of studentships from time to time. We also consider students who can provide their own funding. To be considered for funding, you need to submit an application by the relevant deadline and indicate on the application form that you wish to be considered for funding.

How do I apply?

CSTR is an interdisciplinary research centre and our Ph.D. students are registered with either Linguistics which is in the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences (PPLS) in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), or with the School of Informatics in the College of Science and Engineering. Students in CSTR are registered with one of these two, and it doesn't make much different to them on a day-to-day basis which College they are registered in.

Our admissions process is managed by the Institute for Language, Cognition and Computation (ILCC) (formerly known as the Institute for Communicating and Collaborative Systems, ILCC), in the School of Informatics.

You should first have a good look over our web site, perhaps picking out a few topics or current projects that catch your eye. We welcome any questions you might have - please get in touch by mailing [email protected] or by directly contacting one of us .

It is usual to include a short research proposal and/or personal statement of research interests with your application. As a minimum, you need to tell us what areas of research you are interested in. If you'd like to discuss this before applying, we encourage you to get in touch.