Call for applications: Gatsby Unit PhD Programme 2026 entry

[I-Chun Lin]

4-Year PhD Programme in Theoretical Neuroscience and Machine Learning

Deadline: 17:00 GMT, Monday 3 November 2025

 

We welcome applications for 2026 entry to the Gatsby Unit PhD programme at University College London (UCL). 

 

Our research focuses on the mathematical principles of learning, perception and action in brains and machines. Ours is one of the original programmes to bring together neuroscience and machine learning, creating a critical mass for interaction amongst theoreticians in related fields. First-year courses provide training in machine learning as well as theoretical and systems neuroscience, after which PhD project may specialise in machine learning, theoretical neuroscience or encompass both. Students are encouraged to work closely with colleagues in the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour and/or the ELLIS Unit at UCL; and we have strong links to many world-class research groups at UCL and beyond.

 

Applicants should have a very 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.

 

Full funding is available regardless of nationality. The unit also welcomes applicants who have secured or are seeking funding from other sources.

 

Applications should be submitted directly to us via the Gatsby Recruitment Portal. See www.ucl.ac.uk/life-sciences/gatsby/study-and-work/gatsby-unit-phd-programme for details.

 

Further information

The Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit is a leading research centre focused on theoretical neuroscience and machine learning. We study (un)supervised and reinforcement learning in brains and machines; inference, coding and neural dynamics; Bayesian and kernel methods, and deep learning; with applications to the analysis of perceptual processing and cognition, neural data, signal and image processing, machine vision, network data and nonparametric hypothesis testing.

 

We are a community of around 50 academic and research staff, students and support staff. We function as far as possible as a single large research group, interacting closely through regular unit-wide research activities. Many leading researchers in both machine learning and neuroscience have studied or worked in the Unit. Over 40% of our PhD and postdoctoral alumni hold a faculty position and about 30% work in research development in companies such as Google DeepMind (itself founded by two of our alumni), Meta and Anthropic.

 

* Information on our research: www.ucl.ac.uk/life-sciences/gatsby/research 
* Read more about our faculty members: www.ucl.ac.uk/life-sciences/gatsby/people