DTA - University of Bath

The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is funding a network of doctoral training partnerships that will produce the next generation of scientists and engineers. This grant supports the University of Bath's share of that network. The problem it addresses is straightforward: the UK needs a steady pipeline of highly skilled researchers to keep its economy and public services running. Without sustained investment in postgraduate training, the country risks falling behind in fields that depend on deep technical expertise—from drug development to quantum computing to net-zero energy systems. If this succeeds, the immediate impact is a cohort of PhD graduates equipped to solve real-world problems. These are the people who will design more efficient batteries, improve water treatment plants, develop new medical diagnostics, or strengthen the digital infrastructure that underpins modern life. The training itself is fundamental: it builds the human capacity to do research, rather than delivering a specific product or cure. This is not a project with a single, measurable outcome. It is an investment in people. Similar training schemes have historically produced the researchers who later developed MRI scanners, fibre-optic communications, and the algorithms behind modern search engines. The return on this investment will be measured in discoveries made a decade or more from now.