Doctoral focal award: chip design and verification
Doctoral focal award: chip design and verification supports doctoral students through industry-linked research and training in chip design and advanced compute to strengthen UK semiconductor and AI hardware capability.
Funder: UK Research and Innovation
Due Dates: November 5, 2026, 4:00pm UK time (Mandatory EOI) | December 2, 2026, 4:00pm UK time (Full application)
Funding Amounts: Up to £6 million for an initial 66-month award supporting two student cohorts
Summary: Supports interdisciplinary, industry-linked doctoral training in chip design, verification, systems-on-chip and advanced compute.
Key Information: Successful applicants must raise at least a 20% cash contribution towards total studentship costs, expected from UK industry.
Description
UK Research and Innovation, through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), funds a doctoral focal award to strengthen UK semiconductor design and AI hardware capability. The programme will build on existing research strengths, address advanced chip design skills shortages, and establish a national centre of excellence. It supports cohort-based doctoral education in very large-scale integration design, systems-on-chip, verification and advanced compute, aligned with the UK Government AI Hardware Plan.
Training must combine industry-relevant research with formal, assessable coursework, shared supervision, placements, and entrepreneurship and commercialisation support. Core competencies span electronic design automation, modern compute architectures, hardware-software co-design, photonics, compound semiconductors, assembly and packaging. Students should develop hands-on expertise leading to physical demonstrators such as tape-out, translating research strengths into industrial impact.
