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Digital Health Technologies PhD

London, Bloomsbury

This is the programme information for 2025 entry

If you require details of the previous year's programme, Digital Health Technologies PhD (2024), click here

UK students International students

Study mode

UK tuition fees (2025/26)

Fees to be confirmed

Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)

Fees to be confirmed

Duration

4 academic years

8 academic years

Programme starts

October 2025

Applications accepted

All applicants: 14 Oct 2024 – 31 Jan 2025

Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

Normally a UK Master’s degree, or a minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline from a UK university, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. Relevant professional qualifications and/or appropriate work experience may also be taken into consideration.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 1

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

If you are intending to apply for a time-limited visa to complete your UCL studies (e.g., Student visa, Skilled worker visa, PBS dependant visa etc.) you may be required to obtain ATAS clearance. This will be confirmed to you if you obtain an offer of a place. Please note that ATAS processing times can take up to six months, so we recommend you consider these timelines when submitting your application to UCL.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

The NHS has launched a mission to become world leaders in digital healthcare, and digital health saw a record $24 billion of investment in 2020. This acknowledges that digital health technologies have the potential to tackle many of the challenges faced by the healthcare system – from infectious diseases to an ageing population and staff shortages.

Advanced monitoring technologies, virtual wards, and ‘hospital-at-home' programmes are the future of healthcare, but this requires a new generation of digital health technologists, trained at the intersection of engineering, computing, data science and healthcare.

This programme will produce highly skilled, multidisciplinary researchers and innovators in digital health.

You'll receive a comprehensive training programme and pursue internationally leading research at the intersection of engineering, computing, data science and healthcare, to develop digital health technologies that have a positive impact on patients and society.

The programme consists of four themes, covering all disease areas:

Diagnostic and prognostic indications
Treatment and care optimisation
Disease tracking, surveillance and modelling
Health data security, interoperability and sharing

Who this course is for

This programme is for students with a background in engineering, physical sciences, mathematics or another related discipline who wish to produce a significant contribution to research within digital health technologies. This programme will allow you to develop knowledge in your area of specialism.

Read about what it takes to become a UCL graduate research student

What this course will give you

You will benefit from a unique blend of academic and healthcare expertise with health data access, industry partnerships, digital innovation, business and entrepreneurship.

UCL has ranked 1st in the UK for digital health publications (HealthXL’s Digital Health Evidence Report 2019), 1st in Europe for neuroscience InCites (Essential Scientific Indicators 2021) and 2nd in the world for biological sciences (Shanghai Rankings 2023).

You will work with colleagues from diverse academic backgrounds – from computer science to electrical engineering and medicine.

Within this environment, you will have the opportunity to develop technologies that have a positive impact on patients and society.

Find out how your research could have an impact

The foundation of your career

The rapid evolution and wider impact and deployment of the technologies you’ll study means that your skills will be sought across many different disciplines, in industry and research.

Employability

Graduates of this programme will be adept at:

Identifying unmet need by engaging end-users and co-creating research questions with them;
Undertaking discovery research in engineering and physical sciences, bringing together approaches from different disciplines to tackle health challenges;
Understanding technology translation to the market via innovation & entrepreneurship;
Understanding the translational pipeline for sustainable digital health technologies, including ideation, development, evaluation, trials, regulation, adoption. This necessitates cohort-based training to provide a common skills profile across graduates, mapping directly to the needs of healthcare and industry.

Networking

Students will benefit from:

Our annual doctoral conference, bringing together current students and expert digital health scientists.
Partner ‘sandpits’, providing the opportunity to develop research ideas with real-world impact.
Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training and wellbeing sessions
Patient, public involvement and engagement (PPIE) training.
A 3-month industry/clinical secondment (Year 1).
Clinical shadowing scheme (Year 2 onwards).

Teaching and learning

Full-time research equates roughly to 36.5 hours per week. We also welcome applications for part-time research.

Programme assessment will involve an upgrade viva at between 12-18 months of study, in line with UCL regulations. You will submit a PhD thesis and sit a viva (oral examination) at the end of studies, in line with usual UCL guidelines.

Research students’ attendance is not formally monitored. It is expected that their research time mirrors that of staff engagement, which means that full-time research equates to approximately 36.5 hours per week.

Research areas and structure

Research environment

The degree is part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Health Technologies, which is run jointly between UCL and Ulster University. Students will benefit from the world leading departments and facilities of both institutions across engineering and health technology research. The Centre partners with 3 NIHR Biomedical Research Centres (UCL Hospitals, Moorfields Eye Hospital, Great Ormond Street) and UCL Partners (healthcare providers from primary to tertiary care across London and Essex).

Ulster University hosts cutting-edge facilities for health technology development, prototyping and manufacture, including the Industry-led Northern Ireland Connected Health Innovation Centre, the Biodevices Rapid Prototyping Lab, and the Centre for Digital Health Technology.

Students are registered and supervised for their PhD at UCL, and undertake their programme of research at UCL. Additionally, students may participate in formative cohort training and development activities organised jointly with Ulster University. Some of these activities will be delivered by Ulster University however they do not constitute a formal or assessed part of the PhD programme.

The programme is delivered entirely at UCL and does not involve joint teaching with Ulster or the award of joint or dual degree awards.

The degree is a 4 year MPhil/PhD programme.

In Year 1, students will conduct an individual skills assessment which will inform a personal training plan for the 4 years.

In Year 1, students will conduct a combination of whole-cohort training in key digital health technology themes and related underpinning technical areas, research skills training, individual training and a 3-month secondment with industry/ healthcare.

PhD projects will be selected and commence in month 9 of Year 1, continuing to the end of Year 4, with ongoing training and engagement opportunities (for example, via a clinical shadowing scheme).

Students will be expected to submit an upgrade report at between 12-18 months of study and will need to pass a corresponding upgrade viva.

At the conclusion of the 4-year programme, students will submit a PhD thesis for examination.

The length of registration for the research degree programme is 8 years for part-time.

In Year 1, students will conduct an individual skills assessment which will inform a personal training plan for the 4 years.

PhD projects will be selected and commence in month 9 of Year 1, continuing to the end of Year 8, with ongoing training and engagement opportunities (for example, via a clinical shadowing scheme).

Students will be expected to submit an upgrade report at between 12-18 months of study and will need to pass a corresponding upgrade viva.

At the conclusion of the 8-year programme, students will submit a PhD thesis for examination.

Placement

You will undertake a 3-month clinical or industry secondment in Year 1 as part of your personalised training plan. During the secondment you will build real-world experience of end-user needs and clinical and industry environments, develop transferable skills such as communication, entrepreneurship, and conduct a focused research project.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students

Fee description	Full-time	Part-time
Tuition fees (2025/26)	Fees to be confirmed	Fees to be confirmed
Tuition fees (2025/26)	Fees to be confirmed	Fees to be confirmed

Additional costs

There are no additional costs associated with this programme. The CDT provides funding for student costs, for example associated with their secondments and their clinical shadowing.

UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £114.50. This price was published by TfL in 2024. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

The programme offers fully funded studentships covering tuition fees and a stipend to cover living costs.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Next steps

Successful applicants will be invited to an online interview after submitting their application.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

This programme requires two references. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.