Fully Funded AI and Law PhD Studentship

Edinburgh Law School is offering one fully funded PhD place in the Decisions cluster of the Leverhulme Centre for Algorithmic Life, researching how AI and algorithms are changing legal and public decision-making, from welfare and public administration to military and security. The student is supervised by Professor Nehal Bhuta in Edinburgh and joins the wider PhD and postdoctoral cohort of the Centre, which is based at Durham University.

What you get:

• Tuition fees paid at UK Home fee rates
• An annual stipend in line with UKRI rates, approximately £21,805 a year, paid monthly for 3.5 years subject to satisfactory progress
• Additional research funding for training and development
• Membership of the Leverhulme Centre for Algorithmic Life's interdisciplinary PhD and postdoctoral cohort, with specialist training and engagement with partners in academia, industry, and the charitable and arts sectors

What you'll do:

• Research a PhD thesis on how AI and algorithmic technologies shape, and are shaped by, law and legal decision-making
• Work with Professor Nehal Bhuta at Edinburgh Law School while taking part in the Centre's research environment
• Collaborate across the social sciences, humanities and sciences

Key dates:

• Must be eligible for UK Home fee status: candidates from the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and EU or EEA nationals with Pre-settled status
• Excellent grades in both an undergraduate and a taught postgraduate degree, at least one of which must be in law
• PhD Law entry standard: a UK 2:1 honours degree in law, arts or social sciences and a UK Masters with at least 60% in the taught section and 65% or more in the dissertation, or international equivalents
• A background or clear demonstrable interest in how AI and algorithmic technologies shape and are shaped by law and legal decision-making
• English proficiency: where English is not the first language, IELTS 7.0 overall with 7.0 in writing and 6.5 in each other component, or equivalent
• Submit all degree transcripts and certificates, English language evidence where applicable, a research proposal of up to 2 pages, a full CV and a cover letter of up to 2 pages, and two recent references received by the deadline