PhD Students

I welcome emails from potential PhD. students with interests that align with my own. If you are interested in studying for a PhD with me at the University of Nottingham, please get in touch. There is also some guidance on what to put in an email about a potential PhD further down this page which might prove helpful.

My research typically involves category theory. I appreciate many students may not have had the chance to study category theory during their undergraduate or masters level studies. Previous experience with category theory is not a prerequisite for a PhD with me.

Guidance for PhD Applicants

Potential PhD candidates should feel free to email me with inquiries. I appreciate such emails can be rather challenging to write, so this section outlines what I feel is important.

Firstly, there are two key points I would like covered:

  1. I would like to understand why you want to do a PhD, and particularly why you want to work either with me, or in my broad research area. The aim is to understand your motivation, and whether our interests overlap sufficiently for me to supervise you. In particular, I don’t need a boost to my ego in the form of praise! To address this part well, it is good to be concrete, suggest some specific things that interest you, potential research ideas, or directions you would like to discuss further. This can be very high-level or imprecise, I’m mainly looking for a conversation starter. Please avoid generic applications, or just cut and pasting my interests into the email. It is preferable to have some potentially naive or unpolished ideas that can start discussions. I understand that finding a topic is difficult, so I’m not expecting perfection, just something to start a conversation.
  2. I need details of your academic background. This has two purposes. The first, less interesting, purpose is to ensure your qualifications will be suitable for securing funding at Nottingham. To address this, please briefly outline your academic background, and any expected grade if you are mid-course. The second purpose is to help me understand that you can undertake the proposed research, and also to ensure I can communicate effectively with you in any subsequent emails. Here it would be good to point out anything in your background that is relevant to the proposed PhD, for example previous courses or projects that involve related topics, hobby projects, industrial experience or whatever you feel is relevant.

Beyond these two key points, some other aspects may matter:

  1. If applying for a specific PhD position, often the funding is restricted to certain groups of students. Please indicate why you qualify for the funding. Unfortunately these restrictions tend to be very rigid, and are outside my control.
  2. If you are suggesting something that looks outside my typical area of research, for example machine learning, please spell out why your proposal is a good fit. I am certainly open to unexpected application areas, but I need to understand how these might work.
  3. Keep any explanations simple, and do not assume too much of my level of understanding. It is better to explain clearly than worry about offending by offering too much detail.
  4. Feel free to ask questions, it is important you gather any information you need as well, and I’m happy to answer any queries you may have.

What is a home student?

Unfortunately, some PhD funding is restricted to certain classes of students by the funding body. A home student is a student that qualifies for home fees at the University of Nottingham. Typically this will be British citizens. If you are unsure if you qualify for home student status, I am happy to check this for potential applicants.