Collaborate in Research and Training

Industry Sponsors

Standard Project Sponsorship

This scheme is the ‘usual’ mechanism for a company to define the scope of a PhD or EngD project, in collaboration with an academic supervisor at a UK university. This is an excellent value for money route to collaborate on research and development of the next generation of fusion specialists by recruiting a STEM graduate to the project. 

  • Access to high quality research in a project directly aligned with your R&D priorities

  • Access to state-of-the-art university equipment, and academic technical expertise

  • Develop a skilled researcher in areas key to your organization, with the opportunity to recruit at the end of the project.

Your commitment

Industry partners invest £17,500 + VAT per year (£70,000 + VAT total) over the four year project term. This represents 2:1 leverage, as the CDT provides approximately £140,000 of co-funding through its training and research resources.

Industry sponsors can also directly impact the project scope through industrial supervision and hosting the student regularly throughout the project. You can top up the stipend above the standard UKRI rate if you wish to, or you can top up the project budget if you expect to have enhanced facilities or materials access fees. Each project is contracted individually with the host university to agree terms and conditions for project inputs, outputs and cost.

Where are students based?

Our students can be based at any UK university - this includes the 4 academic Hub University partners (Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield), or, through our Associate University Scheme at any UK university. We can co-supervise projects across more than one University, to employ resources and expertise across the CDT.

Employee Project Sponsorship

This scheme allows a company to benefit from the training and expertise of the CDT to develop an employee into a doctoral graduate, undertaking our training and project as a full member of the cohort. The company will define the scope of the EngD project, in collaboration with an academic supervisor, and will support the employee to engage fully with the CDT programme. The employee will continue to be employed (recieve their salary) throughout the project term. The project can be undertaken on a full-time or part-time basis, to suit the needs of the employer.

  • Access to high quality research facilities and training in a project directly aligned with your R&D priorities

  • Access to state-of-the-art university equipment, and academic technical expertise

  • Develop an employee in areas key to your organization.

Your commitment

Industry partners invest £8,750 + VAT per year (£35,000 + VAT total) over the four year project term. You can top up the project budget if you expect to have enhanced facilities or materials access fees.

Where are students based?

Students will ordinarily be based at their employer, but they will be registered at their host univerity and can make full use of university facilities. The project can be supervised by an academic at one of the Hub universities of the CDT, or potentially at any UK university under the Associate Scheme (subject to availability). Each project is contracted individually with the host university to agree terms and conditions for project inputs, outputs and cost.

Academic Supervisors

Associate University Scheme

Our Community Studentship Scheme is open to application for academics at any UK university. We have 8 Community Studentships available to award per cohort. Each Community studentship comprises:

  • 4-years funding at 50% of the UKRI recommended PGR stipend and home tuition fee rate

  • £12,500 Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) for the 4-year period.

Each Community Studentship award must recieve match funding from another party (the university, industry or a grant award), of equal value. Match funding is administered and held by the Associate University, and should be used to provide equal studentship funding (4-years funding at 50% of the UKRI stipend and home tuition fee rates and minimum £12,500 for a Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) for the 4-year period). The Associate University or match funder may top up the stipend or RTSG budget as suits the project requirements.

A Collaboration Agreement will be provided to the Associate University by the University of Manchester, to allow transfer of studentship funds from the Fusion Engineering CDT.

Proposals are reviewed to confirm they are in the scope of the CDT by the CDT Management Group.

Projects that are in scope with identified match funding are sent a full application form to formally request a CDT studentship from our annual quota and confirm the match funding for the project.