Swansea University climbed from 52nd to 26th in the UK research rankings between 2008 and 2014, with several departments—Computer Science (11th in the UK for world-leading research), Biosciences (7th), and the Medical School (2nd overall)—performing well above average. This Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) funds roughly ten PhD and EngD studentships each year, split between Engineering and Physical Sciences. The programme addresses a critical gap: training the next generation of researchers who will tackle complex societal challenges in health, energy, manufacturing, and technology development. Over 90% of Swansea's research was rated 4* or 3* for impact in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, and a £637,927 EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account supports turning discoveries into real-world applications. If successful, this DTP will produce skilled researchers who can improve systems people rarely think about—energy grids, medical diagnostics, manufacturing processes, and digital infrastructure. The open competition for studentships ensures funding goes to the strongest candidates, maintaining research quality. This is primarily a training programme, not a single research project, but it underpins the fundamental science and applied work that keeps critical systems running and addresses global challenges.
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Research is at the heart of Swansea University's vision and plays an important role in many of the policy challenges set out in its Strategic Plan. In particular, the University's Research Strategy 2009-2015 was centred on its ambition to become one of the top 30 universities in the UK; and the publication of the results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 demonstrated that this ambition was fulfilled: the University soared up the league table to 26th in the UK from 52nd in 2008. Individual departments within the EPSRC portfolio typically fared above average. For example, Computer Science ranked 11th in the UK for percentage of world-leading research and 1st in Wales for research excellence; Biosciences was ranked 7th in the UK in its Unit of Assessment; and the Medical School was ranked 2nd overall in the UK. Swansea University endeavours to contribute positively to global societal challenges through the impact of its research. In REF 2014, over 90% of Swansea's research was rated 4* or 3* for Impact. The level of impact delivered by our research is recognized and supported by the £637,927 three-year Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) awarded to the University in 2012 by EPSRC. This aims to permanently improve the way the University delivers impact, by prioritizing research areas encompassing health, energy, manufacturing, computer science, technology development, and associated disciplines, and by developing and implementing a programme of innovative approaches that will transform the impact of Swansea's EPSRC research portfolio. Postgraduate research students are at the heart of Swansea research, with all of our programmes listed on the following University web page: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/ Each year, the availability of funding for postgraduate research students through various means - not least being EPSRC's Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) - are advertised on the University's web pages to prospective PhD students. All research Scholarships offered across the University are listed on the following University web page: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarships/research/ As well as this, each Department maintains its own web pages for advertising PhD funding opportunities. The University typically awards around ten DTP scholarships each year, roughly half to PhD/EngD students within Engineering and half to PhD students within the Physical Sciences. The number and availability of these scholarships is announced shortly after the Award Letter is issued by EPSRC announcing the level of funding being offered by the DTP, which is typically in January; and studentships are awarded through an open competition to the strongest candidates that apply for funding. Decisions are typically taken in April. There is a standing University Committee which administers the DTP, with representatives on the Committee from each Academic Department within the EPSRC portfolio; this Committee maintains a strategic oversight in deciding the distribution and use of the DTP funds.
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