PhD Studentship: Developing Artificial Intelligence methods for infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics (AI for Collective Intelligence – Pandemic Resilience)

The project:

This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated & talented PhD student to join the UKRI Research Hub in AI for Collective Intelligence (ai4ci.ac.uk). The Hub is a UKRI National AI Research Hub involving universities from each of the UK’s four constituent nations and over 40 stakeholder partners from across academia, government, charities & industry. It is an applied, interdisciplinary effort to develop novel AI for collective intelligence, addressing key societal challenges. Based at the University of Bristol, this studentship will play an important role in developing the Pandemic Resilience research theme led by Leon Danon.

An essential part of analysis of emerging infectious disease threats is to make sense of a large stream of data from many disparate sources and make robust estimates of key disease parameters such as the reproduction number. During the COVID-19 pandemic, data was rapidly collected, collated, analysed &  modelled to support central government decisions and inform the public. This work was done largely through a huge collective effort by experts, scientists and public health officials, yet AI played a modest role. Now, as AI tools mature, there is a need to develop novel AI, tailored to infectious disease to speed up the generation of key evidence.

The successful candidate will have an interest in interdisciplinary work at the interface between infectious disease epidemiology & AI and will join a large network of collaborators through JUNIPER (maths.org/juniper), the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) & policy links. They will develop cutting-edge technology to enable robust & reproducible analyses, tested on a large body of historical infectious disease data including (but not limited to) COVID-19.

The ultimate aim is to develop new expertise and be ready to contribute to response efforts in the face of new emerging infectious disease threats like Avian Influenza & mPox.

How to apply:

To start a new application, search for Engineering Mathematics PhD as your programme choice and click ‘apply’ next to the September 2025 start date.

Please read the postgraduate admissions statement for the Engineering Mathematics PhD which includes the admissions criteria and application process for the programme.

Please note specific requirements for this studentship:

Please include this sentence at the top of your research statement: “Application for AI for Collective Intelligence Research Hub PhD studentship”.

A supervisor suitability form is not required when you apply.

In the Funding section, please select “University of Bristol Scholarship” as the source of funding.

The percentage from this source is 100 and the funding is already secured.

Please click 'Apply' for further details.

Candidate requirements: 

Applicants must hold/achieve a minimum of a merit at master’s degree level (or international equivalent) in a science, mathematics or engineering discipline. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree. Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of readiness to pursue a research degree.

If English is not your first language, you need to meet this profile level: Profile E

Further information about English language requirements & profile levels.

Funding:

Fees & a tax-free stipend will match the UKRI rate. As a guide, for 2024/25 this is £19,237. You will also received an expenses & consumables budget of £7,000 in total.

Contacts:

For questions about the research topic, please contact Leon Danon l.danon@bristol.ac.uk

For questions about eligibility and the application process please contact:

Engineering Postgraduate Research Admissions admissions-engpgr@bristol.ac.uk

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