Newcastle University has torn down the walls between its engineering, computing, maths, physics, and environmental science departments, merging ten schools into four to force researchers and students to work across disciplines. This matters because the UK’s Industrial Strategy depends on training a generation of graduate leaders who can tackle complex, real-world problems—like designing smart cities, building resilient energy grids, or creating biofabricated tissues—that no single field can solve alone. Traditional PhD programmes often keep students siloed within one department, limiting their ability to collaborate or see how their work connects to industry and government needs. If this training programme succeeds, it will produce doctoral graduates who are not only technically excellent but also entrepreneurial, globally mobile, and ready to commercialise their ideas. Students will work on challenge-based projects in areas such as future mobility, geospatial systems, and healthcare technologies, with opportunities at campuses in the UK, Malaysia, and Singapore. The result could be a more agile workforce that turns fundamental science into practical innovations—from cleaner energy systems to smarter urban infrastructure—that keep the UK competitive internationally.
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Building a resilient and globally competitive Industrial Strategy demands the UK to be agile and responsive to inspiring the next generation of graduate leaders in engineering and physical sciences. Newcastle University (NU) transformed its Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering (SAgE) in 2017 to break down traditional disciplinary boundaries through an ambitious major restructure. We have changed the internal governance systems of the Faculty and reduced ten schools to four - Engineering http://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering); Computing (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing); Mathematics, Statistics & Physics (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/maths-physics/); Natural and Environmental Science (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nes/). For the first time we have all engineering sub-disciplines in one school, and have aligned our natural and environmental sciences to make the most of synergies in research and teaching within geosciences, chemistry, marine science and physical oceanography. Within the schools we have aligned our research to multi-disciplinary areas of expertise allowing interdisciplinary research to flourish. Research groups are our fundamental building block and provide leadership, mentorship and collegiality across academics, research associates and graduate students. The most important outcome of the DTP training programme is that we equip students to realise their full employability potential and contribute towards addressing some of the most pressing issues facing our society locally, nationally and internationally. With campuses in London, Malaysia, Newcastle and Singapore we are well placed to offer students opportunities to take advantage of collaborations from industry and government at local, national, regional and international levels. New areas of research strength open to DTP studentships are: Biofabrication; Future Smart Mobility in a Digital Age, and; Geospatial Systems Science. Other research areas include: Digital Infrastructure and Technology; Energy Systems Science and Engineering; Healthcare Technologies and Bioengineering; and; Urban Resilience Science and Smart Cities. DTP funding is open to eligible supervisors and doctoral candidate applicants holding, or expecting to receive, a good (2:1 minimum or equivalent) bachelor's degree in a relevant subject. Limited opportunities are available for academically excellent but normally non-eligible applicants to be funded as International Doctoral Scholars (https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/skills/students/help/flexibility/). All applications should be submitted via Newcastle University's on-line admissions portal at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/ by February 2018 for October entry. Funding decisions are normally made in March. DTP-funded PhD students are guided by supervisory teams consisting of at least two research-active staff and benefit from a broad range of training opportunities that can be tailored to their specific needs. Training in specialist research techniques is delivered within the research group and is complemented by a comprehensive suite of personal and professional skills development opportunities which span the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF) domains of knowledge and intellectual abilities, personal effectiveness, research governance and organisation, and engagement, influence and impact. (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sage/learningandteaching/postgraduateresearch/postgraduateresearcherdevelopment programme/#introduction). We are particularly committed to the development of entrepreneurial doctoral student researchers, where relevant; with an understanding of 'what your research is good for', and equipped to identify the opportunities for how outputs can impact upon society and be commercialised or lead to new ideas. A new challenge-based enterprise residential which offers placement opportunities for successful participants has been designed for all EPSRC funded researchers to complement our existing enterprise training activities.
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