UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced investment in 12 UKRI Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) in artificial intelligence (AI) based at 16 universities. The investment will continue to ensure that the UK has the skills needed to seize the potential of the AI era, and to nurture the British tech talent that will push the AI revolution forwards.
£117 million in total has been awarded to the 12 CDTs, which will train the next generation of AI researchers from across the UK. Bristol has been confirmed as one of the funded centres; led by Professor of Artificial Intelligence Peter Flach in the School of Computer Science, PhD students who train at the new University of Bristol CDT, called the UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Practice-Oriented Artificial Intelligence (PrO-AI), will learn how to design and manage the entire lifecycle of advanced AI applications in science and research, developing AI solutions for scientific problems in a safe and transparent manner. The CDT will welcome its first cohort of students in the 2024 to 2025 academic year, recruitment for which will begin shortly. The CDT will train ‘AI ambassadors’, who, through their deep understanding of the strengths and limitations of AI, will be able to contribute to the public debate on AI and its relationship to society.