EPSRC Doctoral Focal Award for Chip Design and Verification 2026–2027: Up to £6 Million for UK Training Consortia

EPSRC Doctoral Focal Award for Chip Design and Verification 2026–2027: Up to £6 Million for UK Training Consortia

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is preparing a £6 million doctoral training investment focused on chip design and verification. The award is intended to establish a UK-wide training focal point: a university-led consortium that can recruit and support doctoral researchers, deliver specialist cohort training, and connect universities with semiconductor companies and other partners. It is an institutional grant, not an individual scholarship application. A student interested in the resulting doctoral places will eventually apply through the funded training programme, while eligible organisations must develop and submit the current proposal.

The opportunity is marked as upcoming on UKRI’s official page. Applications open on 7 October 2026. A mandatory expression of interest is due by 5 November, and the full application deadline is 2 December 2026 at 4:00 p.m. UK time. Because the funding targets an emerging skills gap, a strong proposal will need to show both excellent doctoral education and a credible route from advanced chip-design training to UK industrial capability.

Key details

The full £6 million is a programme budget, not a per-student payment. UKRI says it will fund 100% of eligible costs listed in this non-full-economic-cost training award; estates and indirect costs are excluded. There is also an expectation that applicants secure industry cash contributions equal to at least 20% of total studentship costs, with the stated aim of increasing cohort size. Applicants should use the live call wording and cost guidance to distinguish UKRI-funded eligible costs from the separately expected cash contribution.

What this award is designed to build

UKRI wants this award to develop a pipeline of doctoral-level specialists in very large-scale integration (VLSI), chip design, verification, and advanced compute. It aligns the training investment with the UK Government’s AI Hardware Plan and semiconductor strategy. The focus is to build from existing UK strengths and turn them into greater industrial capability, rather than establish an unrelated training programme that only mentions semiconductors in passing.

The award combines concentrated doctoral studentships with a tailored training programme. The call envisages cross-institution collaboration, shared expertise, industrial participation, and training that gives students both deep technical knowledge and experience of how research connects to product development. The purpose is to build a sustainable national training capacity, not simply to fund a collection of unrelated PhD projects.

The work must address AI and future-compute applications, including efficient AI workloads and inference. Students need hands-on experience with industry-standard electronic design automation (EDA) tools, design validation and verification methods, and system-level topics such as chiplets, photonic backplanes, and heterogeneous integration. The training also needs to address compute architectures, memory integration, and emerging models such as neuromorphic computing. Photonic integrated circuits, optoelectronics, optical interconnects, compound semiconductors, assembly, packaging, and integration of new substrates are included in the required technical scope. Chip-design assurance and verification work that compares a design with the manufactured product may be included as an additional area.

There are clear boundaries. Software-only artificial intelligence algorithm work without hardware co-design or physical implementation is outside scope. So is fundamental materials science that has no direct application to hardware design or advanced compute. A proposal should make chip design, systems-on-chip, verification methods, and advanced compute its primary focus, while connecting specialist topics into one intelligible programme.

Who should consider applying

The applicant is an organisation or consortium, with one project lead representing the lead research organisation. Eligible lead organisations can include higher education institutions, research council institutes, eligible independent research organisations and Catapult centres, and public sector research establishments. Organisations should confirm their specific eligibility against UKRI’s rules before committing to the application.

The lead does not itself have to hold doctoral degree-awarding powers, but the consortium must include an organisation that does. The lead must host at least one student in each intake year. Each organisation can lead only one application, although an organisation can collaborate on or partner with additional proposals. If a public sector research establishment participates, it must select either the role of lead or project co-lead hosting students, or that of project partner; it cannot act in both capacities within the same application.

This will suit a lead institution that can convene complementary strengths: chip and circuit design, verification, architecture, photonics, computing, doctoral supervision, and industry links. Research offices should involve academic leads, doctoral school staff, finance teams, research technical professionals, programme managers, and trusted-research specialists early. UKRI permits project co-leads and encourages integral roles for research software engineers, technicians, innovation professionals, and training managers.

Students are not the direct applicants for this award. The programme should nevertheless be designed around the eventual doctoral candidates’ experience. UKRI expects at least 10 students to be trained in each cohort on a four-year doctorate, with two initial cohorts funded. The first phase supports the equivalent of up to 10 students per cohort. This can be arranged as 20 students funded fully or, for example, 40 students supported at 50% funding, as long as the model and costs are justified. Further cohorts could be considered later, but additional funding is not guaranteed.

Consortium eligibility and partnership expectations

The lead institution should be ready to take strategic responsibility for the vision, skills priorities, delivery model, application and grant management. It also needs to provide the principal student host for a minimum of one student per year of intake. The lead should bring in institutions that will host students or contribute substantively to the shared training programme, naming student-hosting organisations as collaborating organisations in the application.

Industry involvement is central to this call. Partners are expected to contribute through student placements, technical enablement, and co-delivery of training. They should help students use resources that are difficult for a single university to provide, including EDA tools, intellectual property libraries, compute resources, fabrication or prototyping connections, and expertise about verification and manufacturing. UKRI asks applicants to raise a minimum cash contribution of 20% toward total studentship costs, expected from UK industry, to increase the number of students supported. The application should say who will provide this cash, how it will be administered, and how it changes the size or reach of the cohorts.

Other contributions can include co-supervision, mentoring, donated equipment, access to facilities and data, training delivery, work experience, venture-building support, or assistance for employees who enter doctoral study. A project partner can contribute direct cash or in-kind support but cannot receive funds from the grant. Collaborating organisations and subcontractors may be funded, subject to UKRI’s role and cost rules. Applicants should not blur those roles: a partner cannot also be a lead or collaborating organisation within the same application.

International expertise can contribute through the project-partner route. The UKRI-RCN and UKRI-IIASA agreements do not apply, so Norway-based or IIASA-based international co-leads are not allowed. International collaborators and UK partners that are not based at approved organisations should be included as project partners where appropriate.

Funding, student support and programme duration

Up to £6 million is available for the initial phase. The award is a non-full-economic-cost training grant, and UKRI states it will cover 100% of the eligible costs specified in the call. Estates and indirect costs are not funded. Costs should be calculated at the applicant’s chosen October 2026 rates, with no extra inflation factor added across the award period; UKRI says it will include fee and stipend indexation at the final funding stage.

Eligible student costs include tuition fees, stipends, and research training support grants for items such as travel, consumables, and facility access tied to research or specialist training. Tuition fees charged to UKRI cannot exceed the home-student fee charged by the university for a similar programme. The standard UKRI cap of 30% international students applies. Stipends must meet at least the published UKRI minimum, and applicants may request enhanced stipends where justified by the research area and skills need. Additional college fees are not covered.

The call also supports costs directly needed to deliver the programme: leadership and management, setting up the focal award, developing cohort training, student development, and measures supporting diversity and different career paths. The application should separate programme-wide activities from the research and training costs associated with individual studentships. A 50% UKRI contribution rule that usually applies to a studentship is waived for this opportunity, allowing additional students to be supported with more than half of their costs from non-UKRI sources.

UKRI proposes a two-plus-three model. The initial award supports two September 2027 student cohorts, with a further three cohorts potentially considered with additional funding after the first phase is evaluated. That later support is contingent and should not be promised to prospective students as guaranteed. The initial grant duration is 66 months; students are expected to start in September 2027 and complete no later than August 2032. Studentships may be up to five years full-time equivalent, but any duration above four years must be clearly justified as value for money.

Timeline and application route

The Funding Service opens for applications on 7 October 2026 at 9:00 a.m. UK time. Before submitting the full application, the lead applicant must send an expression-of-interest email to [email protected] by 5 November 2026 at 4:00 p.m. UK time. This expression of interest is used for planning, such as panel arrangements, and is not assessed. It should state the intention to apply, identify the lead applicant, and list planned collaborating institutions. Teams may change collaborators before the full application, but neither an individual applicant nor an institution can lead more than one application.

The full application must be received by EPSRC through the UKRI Funding Service by 2 December 2026 at 4:00 p.m. UK time. Je-S is not the application route. The project lead completes the form, team members and partners contribute, and the lead organisation’s research office checks the submission before it sends the application to UKRI. The project lead should leave enough time for institutional finance and eligibility checks and for the research office’s own deadline, which may be earlier than UKRI’s.

UKRI plans an initial expert panel assessment and interviews for shortlisted applications during the week beginning 25 January 2027. The award is expected to start on the date requested, no earlier than April 2027. The published timeline identifies the start of students’ studies as September 2027.

What the application needs to show

The application is a programme design and delivery case. It needs to show what a national investment will achieve, how doctoral training will work at cohort level, and why the proposed partnership can deliver the technical remit at the planned scale. The live UKRI page lists application questions and word limits; those limits should control drafting.

The core narrative asks applicants to explain the investment’s vision and UK skills contribution; the training approach; an inclusive and supportive student culture; delivery capability; partnership governance; and costs. Specialist responses cover technical scope and the training programme, industry co-creation and placements, data management, facilities, and trusted research and innovation. A single 550-word summary is also used to identify appropriate assessors and may be published for external audiences, so it should be plain-language and contain no confidential information.

Applications should describe who will be trained and what students will learn, how cohorts will share experience, how supervision and student wellbeing will be supported, and how the programme will maintain fair and open recruitment. The call expects at least 10 students per cohort in a four-year doctorate, a strong academic and industrial supervisor base, peer learning and networking, structured taught coursework, and relevant movement between academic and non-academic environments. It also expects students to develop both research skills and wider abilities such as project management, entrepreneurship, and commercialisation.

The application will include a project-partner section and one combined PDF of partner letters or emails of support, if partners are named. Each letter is limited to two sides of A4 and should confirm commitment, explain the value and relevance of the work, and state the added value the partner brings. A costings template is required. If facilities are needed, applicants must name facilities from UKRI’s list, describe expected use and cost, and confirm agreement where required. A 100-word data-management response and 100-word facilities response are among the specified short sections. Trusted-research questions cover relevant National Security and Investment Act areas, collaborators, and export-control licences.

Preparation strategy for a competitive proposal

Start by building one programme map that connects the national skills need to technical content, cohort experience, industry contribution, and measurable outcomes. A simple matrix can help the team check that each required competency is taught, applied in doctoral projects, supported by staff and facilities, and connected to relevant industrial experience. The proposal should make it easy for assessors to see where students gain hands-on EDA and verification experience, where system-level integration happens, and how advanced compute, photonics, packaging, and manufacturing enter the training path.

Design the programme around the operating reality of chip development. Identify which partners can provide tools, design libraries, computing, prototyping, placements, technical mentors, or exposure to manufacturing and verification. Confirm that resources are available during the relevant student years and that proposed access is permitted under partner agreements and trusted-research arrangements. A placement that is only a general aspiration is weaker than a defined route with host capacity, supervision, learning objectives, and a plan for intellectual property and sensitive information.

Set the cohort and cost model before drafting the narrative. Compare the number of fully funded and partially funded students, cohort size, four-year duration, fee assumptions, stipend levels, enhancements, research training costs, and industry cash contributions. The call requires applicants to specify both the total supported students and the number in the first two cohorts. Explain how each calculation supports the delivery model and why the resources represent value for money. Align the budget spreadsheet, narrative and partner commitments so that the same figures appear throughout.

Use clear governance that reflects the consortium’s actual complexity. Name who makes academic, financial, recruitment, partnership, and risk decisions; show how student voices and feedback will shape improvements; and specify how the programme will monitor its progress. Describe how the consortium will address inclusion, student wellbeing, responsible research, sustainability, and secure collaboration as working practices rather than general commitments.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating the opportunity as an individual PhD scholarship rather than an institution-led training grant.
• Missing the mandatory expression-of-interest email or sending it after 5 November at 4:00 p.m. UK time. UKRI says applications without a valid EOI will not be considered.
• Having an organisation lead more than one application, or allowing an individual to lead multiple proposals.
• Designing a software-only AI or materials-science programme without a primary focus on chip design, systems-on-chip, verification and advanced compute.
• Listing industry logos without concrete roles in placements, tools, training delivery, student supervision, or cash support.
• Assuming that “100% of eligible costs” means estates and indirect costs are covered; UKRI explicitly excludes those costs.
• Forgetting that UKRI expects an industry cash contribution of at least 20% of total studentship costs to increase student numbers.
• Treating possible follow-on cohorts as guaranteed, or requesting costs that do not align with the initial two-cohort model.
• Leaving intellectual property, export controls, data management or trusted-research planning until after the consortium has settled its technical design.
• Submitting at the last minute without checking that the lead research office can approve costs and eligibility in time.

Frequently asked questions

Can an individual student apply directly?

No. This award is submitted by an eligible lead organisation on behalf of a consortium. Students will apply for doctoral places once the funded programme has designed its recruitment process.

Is the full £6 million available to every successful consortium?

The published opportunity makes up to £6 million available in total for the initial phase and gives a maximum award of £6 million. It does not guarantee that every application will receive the full amount. The award budget and number of students should be justified in relation to the training model and available funding.

Does UKRI guarantee five cohorts of students?

No. The first phase supports two cohorts. UKRI may work with the successful team on further cohorts, but this requires additional funding and is not guaranteed.

Can overseas organisations be co-leads?

International collaborators should be listed as project partners. The opportunity excludes IIASA-based and Norway-based international project co-leads under the agreements named on the call page.

Is a mandatory expression of interest required?

Yes. Send the required email to [email protected] by 5 November 2026 at 4:00 p.m. UK time. It is for planning rather than assessment, but UKRI says an application without a timely EOI will not be considered.

Where is the authoritative application information?

Use the official EPSRC and UKRI opportunity page for current eligibility, scope, dates, word limits, application questions, and cost rules. The UKRI Funding Service is the submission route once the application window opens.

Official links and next steps

1. Read the full UKRI opportunity: Doctoral focal award in chip design and verification, including all application questions and cost rules.
2. Confirm lead and consortium eligibility with the organisation’s research office and identify the organisation that can award doctoral degrees.
3. Contact industry partners now to confirm cash contributions, placements, tools, IP libraries, compute resources, and training commitments.
4. Prepare to send the expression of interest by 5 November 2026 and check the Funding Service opening from 7 October.
5. Work backward from the 2 December deadline, allowing time for the costings template, partner letters, trusted-research checks, internal approval, and final quality review.

The most persuasive case will pair a complete technical curriculum with evidence that students will gain practical access to the tools, facilities, mentors, and industry experience the curriculum promises. The official call remains controlling if any deadline, cost, eligibility rule, or application instruction changes.