4-Year PhD Programme in Theoretical Neuroscience and Machine Learning
Deadline: 17:00 GMT, Monday 9 November 2026
Applications are now open for the 2027 intake of the Gatsby Unit PhD programme at University College London (UCL).
Students study toward a PhD in either machine learning or theoretical neuroscience, with minor emphasis in the complementary field. New students will join at the start of the academic year in September. First-year courses provide a solid foundation in machine learning, theoretical neuroscience and systems neuroscience, after which students pursue PhD projects specialising in machine learning, theoretical neuroscience, or both. Students benefit from close interaction with researchers at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour and the ELLIS Unit at UCL, alongside strong links with other research groups across UCL and beyond.
Full funding is available regardless of nationality. The studentship covers UCL tuition fees for both home and international students and includes an annual tax-free stipend as well as travel budget for attending conferences and workshops. We also welcome applicants who have secured, or are seeking, funding from other sources.
The applicant should have a strong analytical and mathematical background, a keen interest in neuroscience, machine learning or both, and a relevant first degree, for example in Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Neuroscience or Cognitive Psychology.
Applications should be submitted directly to us through the Gatsby Recruitment Portal. Please review the information on the programme webpage (www.ucl.ac.uk/life-sciences/gatsby/study-and-work/gatsby-unit-phd-programme) carefully before starting your application.
About the Unit
The Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit is a leading research centre focused on theoretical neuroscience and machine learning. Our research focuses on the mathematical principles of learning, perception, cognition and action in brains and machines. We study causality; neural systems; neural representations; neural data analysis; computation and dynamics; learning; theory of deep learning; reinforcement learning; kernel methods; graphical models; Bayesian statistics; network and relational data. For more information on our research, visit www.ucl.ac.uk/life-sciences/gatsby/research.
We are a community of around 50 academic, research and support staff, and students, committed to building an inclusive and supportive research environment. We function as far as possible as a single research group, with strong cohesion fostered via unit-wide activities such as tea hours, external seminars and journal clubs. Many leading researchers in machine learning and theoretical neuroscience have studied or worked in the Unit, including two Nobel Prize winners. Over 40% of our PhD and postdoctoral alumni hold faculty positions, while around 30% work in research development roles at companies such as Google DeepMind (itself founded by two of our alumni), Meta and Anthropic. Find out more about our faculty members and network of alumni at www.ucl.ac.uk/life-sciences/gatsby/people.