DTA - University of Liverpool

This grant funds postgraduate training for doctoral students, not a specific research project. The money supports a Doctoral Training Partnership at the University of Liverpool, part of a UK-wide system that trains the next generation of scientists and engineers. Without this funding stream, there would be no structured pipeline for producing PhD graduates in engineering and physical sciences. The impact is indirect but structural. Every piece of research funded by EPSRC—from new battery chemistries to more efficient aircraft engines to quantum computing hardware—depends on people trained through programmes like this. The grant does not aim to solve a particular scientific question. Instead, it sustains the human infrastructure that makes future discoveries possible. Past investments in doctoral training have produced researchers who went on to develop MRI scanners, fibre-optic communications, and lithium-ion batteries. This grant continues that cycle, though no one can predict which specific breakthroughs today’s students will enable.