School of Mathematics

PhD opportunities

Potential projects in statistics

The Statistics PhD programme and areas with opportunity for research

The School of Mathematics offers a PhD Programme in Statistics with a limited number of 4 year scholarships. From the start of their studies, PhD students are assigned a main supervisor with whom they work closely throughout their degree programme and a second supervisor who provides additional help and pastoral support. The programme includes training in the first year (including SMSTC and APTS).

Why Study Statistics in Edinburgh?

The Statistics group is at the forefront of the development of modern methodologies of Statistics and Data Science. Areas of research include astrostatistics, Bayesian inference, computationally intensive techniques, point processes, spatial and spatio-temporal models, statistics of extremes, high-dimensional statistics, state-space models, machine learning, wavelets, and nonparametric regression. There is a strong interest in applications with specific areas being ecology, energy, environment, finance, forensics, genomics, and medical statistics. There is a strong link with Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland who have offices adjacent to the School and to the Scottish Financial Risk Academy which has links to the Heriot–Watt University. The group founded and leads the Centre for Statistics, which unites quantitative researchers from across the University and beyond.

Funding Opportunities

The School of Mathematics offers several fully funded PhD studentships each year. Students receiving School funding are awarded a stipend equivalent to UKRI stipend rates for a period of 4 years plus a tuition waiver. All applicants will automatically be considered for these studentships, and they do not require a separate application. If you wish to be considered for all funding opportunities, you must submit your admission application by the application deadline (please see “Application Process” below for further information). Later applications will be considered until all positions are filled. Further information on funding opportunities is available at What funding is available for your PhD study?.

Eligibility Requirements

Our minimum entry requirements are a 1st class Honours degree (or its international equivalent), or a 2:1 Honours degree (or its international equivalent) plus a Masters degree (or its international equivalent) in a relevant subject. Non-UK candidates may be required to provide evidence of English proficiency.

Application Process and Further Information

Applications are invited for PhD studies with application deadline 23 January for a start in September each year. Occasionally students are admitted at other times of the year by special arrangement. Further information on how to apply is available at How to apply for a PhD

Further Opportunities

The Statistics group is also a partner of the SENSE CDT and E4 DTP programmes. See below for details on specific projects, and how to apply.

SENSE CDT

Applications for the SENSE CDT with start in October 2023 are likely to open soon, with deadline early January 2023.

See https://eo-cdt.org/apply-now/ for information on how to apply.

E4 DTP

Applications for the E4 DTP with start in September 2023 are open, with deadline 5 January 2023, noon.

See https://www.ed.ac.uk/e4-dtp/how-to-apply for information on how to apply.