About the Scholarships 

The UCL Centre for Digital Innovation (CDI) is proud to announce the availability of two prestigious scholarships. These scholarships aim to support UCL PhD students whose research aligns with the Centre’s mission: developing innovative digital solutions to address complex challenges in higher education and healthcare. 

Scholarship Opportunities: 

1. CDI Innovation Scholarship - Applications open Monday 28th October 2024.
2. CDI Doctoral Scholarship - Applications open in January.

Both scholarships are open to PhD students across all faculties at UCL, offering support to outstanding candidates regardless of their specific academic discipline. Please note that students can apply for both scholarships; however, the CDI Doctoral Scholarship is only open to those who do not already have their fees funded. 

Features of the Awards: 

• The scholarships are structured as unrestricted gifts to UCL, meaning the donor retains no intellectual property rights over the research produced by the awardees. 
• Recipients are encouraged to publish their research outcomes and contribute related digital assets to open-source repositories, fostering a spirit of collaboration and innovation. 

The UCL CDI is dedicated to a fair and transparent allocation process for these scholarships. Detailed information and resources to help applicants succeed are provided below. 

Apply for the CDI Innovation Scholarship

Applications 

CDI Innovation Scholarship 

Applicants must apply via the link above and complete the application form before the deadline on Friday 29th November at 12pm GMT. 

To be eligible, students must already be enrolled in a doctoral programme at UCL. We encourage applications from students affiliated with one of UCL's Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs), although this is not a requirement. 

CDI Doctoral Scholarship 

Applications for the scholarships must be supported by the student’s supervisor. Each supervisor may support only one new application and one reapplication per academic year.  

To be eligible, students must be enrolled in a doctoral programme at UCL and must not already receive funding or scholarships for tuition fees and maintenance stipends from other sources. 

Benefits

1. CDI Innovation Scholarship 

This scholarship offers a one-year award of up to $5,000 USD in AWS credits to support experiments and testing, tailored to the specific needs of your research. Recipients will gain access to exclusive mentorship from AWS Solutions Architects and UCL Advanced Research Computing (ARC) through weekly clinics, as well as priority access to training opportunities and workshops to enhance their research. Available to both part-time and full-time students.

The award is granted for one year. Recipients may reapply for a second academic year, but each applicant is eligible for a maximum of two awards under this programme.  

2. CDI Doctoral Scholarship 

This scholarship provides a 1-year award of £25,000 for full-time students or £10,000 for part-time students. The funds can be used as either a contribution towards tuition fees or as a stipend. If tuition fees are less than the award amount, the remaining balance will be paid as a maintenance stipend. For students receiving funding or scholarships from other sources, this amount can only be disbursed as a stipend.

As with the CDI Innovation Scholarship, the award is for one year. Recipients may reapply for a second academic year, but each applicant is eligible for a maximum of two awards under this programme. 

Additional In-Kind Support: Students receiving the CDI Doctoral scholarship may also benefit from in-kind support provided by AWS in the form of AWS cloud credits. These credits can be used to conduct experiments or develop digital solutions as part of their PhD work. The management and use of these credits are the student's responsibility, and any costs exceeding the allocated credits will not be covered by UCL CDI or AWS. 

Project eligibility 

Research projects must demonstrate potential for societal impact and should address challenges broadly related to one or more of the following areas: 

• Data and Information Engineering 
• Digital Innovation 
• Digital Health 
• Digital Education 

Projects can be based in any UCL department or faculty, and applicants may be enrolled in any doctoral programme. 

Eligible applications are anonymised by the UCL CDI management team, ensuring that all information related to protected characteristics is removed before the applications are reviewed by the selection panel. The management team does not participate in the selection process, ensuring fairness and impartiality in shortlisting. 

Selection panel 

CDI INNOVATION SCHOLARSHIP

Applications will be reviewed by the CDI Management team and members of the UCL Innovation Network.

CDI DOCTORAL SCHOLARSHIP

The selection panel will be made up of a diverse group of academics covering the areas of research aligned with the UCL CDI mission. 

The selection panel will review applications on the basis of academic merit, research experience and motivation to produce impact in the domains of either Healthcare or Education through the use of digital technologies and data systems. Decision of the final Scholarships’ offers will be made by the Selection panel and communicated to the UCL CDI Director who will liaise with all applicants. 

For the avoidance of doubt, AWS will not participate in the selection process. The outputs will be shared publicly and not exclusively with AWS, and AWS cannot influence the topic or direction of the awarded projects. 

Feedback and offers  

Feedback will be provided to all applicants within one month of application. 

EDI Data collection 

EDI data, in this context, means all protected characteristics under the equalities act. 

EDI data is collected for reporting and analysis. We will make every effort to work towards each year group being gender-balanced and supporting BAME representation. Analysing the data will guide a continuous review of our processes to reach this goal. 

EDI data will be extracted and analysed after recruitment is closed. 

EDI data will be stored and subsequently deleted in accordance with GDPR regulations: Applications will be stored for a maximum of 12 months and deleted at the start of the next academic year. 

EDI data will be maintained anonymously, and at no point will any data be published which could allow any individual to be identified. Anonymised EDI recruitment data will be kept throughout the UCL CDI programme to analyse the effectiveness of our EDI policies and processes. 

Closing date 

Applications for the CDI Innovation Scholarship close Friday 29th November at 12pm GMT.  

Applications for the CDI Doctoral Scholarship will open in January.