The Doctoral College

14/08/2026

This September, the British Science Festival comes to Southampton for the first time in over 30 years, and our postgraduate researchers will be right at the heart of it

Researchers from the MINDS and SustAI programmes will demonstrate four projects for visitors of every age:
- a robot that holds a conversation
- a model river that answers questions about its own health
- music you control with a wave of your hand
- a neural network you can build by hand to see how it works

The demonstrations run all day on Saturday 19th September at the Sir James Matthews Building, Southampton. Come and say hello!

You can read more in this month's Doctoral College Impact: https://bit.ly/4hNL2vv

Welcome to the latest edition of Doctoral College Impact. This month we follow our postgraduate researchers as they take their work out into the world, from an international machine learning conference in Seoul to a quantum engineering challenge in the Lake District.

07/08/2026

Imagine explaining three years of cancer research in just three minutes, using a single slide, to an audience who may never have set foot in a laboratory

That is the challenge of the Three Minute Thesis® competition

This year, Felicity Marx from Cancer Sciences won our University competition and went on to represent Southampton in the national semi-finals, standing among the strongest doctoral communicators in the country

In this month's newsletter she shares why she entered, how she prepared, and what the experience taught her about explaining science clearly

Read her interview and watch her winning entry: https://bit.ly/4hNL2vv

04/08/2026

Our researchers are going places, and this month's Doctoral College Impact follows them out into the world

From an international machine learning conference in Seoul to a quantum engineering challenge in the Lake District, this edition celebrates the people behind the research

We meet a national Three Minute Thesis® semi-finalist, hear from a MINDS alumnus now at the Alan Turing Institute, and look ahead to the British Science Festival coming to Southampton this September

Have a read and share it with anyone who might enjoy it: https://bit.ly/4hNL2vv

Welcome to the latest edition of Doctoral College Impact. This month we follow our postgraduate researchers as they take their work out into the world, from an international machine learning conference in Seoul to a quantum engineering challenge in the Lake District.

03/08/2026

The British Science Festival programme is now live!

Hosted by the University of Southampton from 16–20 September, the Festival features hundreds of free events exploring science, technology, culture and creativity.

Browse the programme and book your place today:

The British Science Festival is one of Europe’s longest-running science festivals, hosted at a new location each year. The Festival provides a platform for …

23/07/2026

Every month, the Doctoral College Impact newsletter brings together the stories, research and people that make up doctoral study at the University of Southampton.

July's edition leads with the MINDS CDT and SustAI CDT Showcase, with further stories from across the Doctoral College.

Read the latest edition here:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-research-community-comes-together-vywfe

21/07/2026

Doctoral researchers from our Quantum Technology Engineering Centre for Doctoral Training (QTE CDT) recently took part in a Challenge Week in the Lake District

26 PhD students, 4 academics and multiple external speakers came together to tackle SWaP-C aspects (size, weight, power and cost) of two quantum sensing and computing technologies

During the week-long residential, participants also enjoyed:
- A workshop on ‘Solving engineering contradictions’
- A talk on Corporate Innovation
- A variety of social activities, including a quantum quiz, lake cruise, gala dinner, local walks and water sports

You can find out more about our QTE CDT here: https://qte.ac.uk/

16/07/2026

Our colleagues at the National Centre for Research Methods are running a number of courses that may be of interest to our PGRs:

- Coding with AI: Opportunities and Responsibilities for Researchers

- Introduction to Deep Learning

- Version Control with Git and GitHub

Find out more:

15/07/2026

What does doctoral research look like when it reaches the people it is meant to serve?

At the MINDS CDT and SustAI CDT Showcase on 24 June, researchers presented to peers, supervisors and partners. The July Doctoral College Impact newsletter covers the day, the research and the people behind it.

Worth a read:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-research-community-comes-together-vywfe

10/07/2026

The July edition of the Doctoral College Impact newsletter is out now.

This month the lead story comes from the MINDS CDT and SustAI CDT Showcase, held on 24 June. Doctoral researchers had the chance to present their work and connect with the people who matter to their research journey.

If you want to understand what doctoral research at Southampton looks like in practice, this is a good place to start.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-research-community-comes-together-vywfe

17/06/2026

We had a fantastic afternoon at our Doctoral Researcher Day yesterday, celebrating our amazing 3 Minute Thesis faculty finalists and Doctoral College award winners 👏

It was great to come together ​and recognise the many, varied achievements of our PGRs over the past year! Thanks to everyone who came, and to those who nominated a PGR for one of our awards 🏆