The SFI Centre for Research Training in Artficial Intelligence was established in March 2019 with funding of over €14 million from Science Foundation Ireland and an additional €3.3 million from indusry and the academic partners. It is Ireland's national centre for PhD-level training in AI and will train more than 120 PhDs across four cohorts, with an intake of 30 students per annum for the next four years. The centre brings together five of Ireland's seven universities and a team of almost 60 supervisors across the country. The press release associated with the formal Ministerial announcement of the centre is available. Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a significant role in the world today.

Please complete the following form to apply to the SFI Centre for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence. To complete the application you will need to provide responses to the questions on the form, and at the end provide in PDF: your cover letter (max 3 pages); your full CV; a career statement along with a justification of why you wish to do a PhD (max 3 pages); any supporting documentation for your application. Each student who is admitted to this programme will receive a full scholarship to undertake a four year structured PhD programme. This scholarship comprises full payment of university fees for four years and a monthly tax-free stipend of €1,500 per month for four years. In addition, a budget for equipment, travel, and training is provided.

The typical student in our CRT will follow a structured PhD training programming comprising research methods training, supervisor-initiated research-specific training, a CRT-organised training module in artificial intelligence methods, work placements, and international scientific research laboratories. In terms of specific CRT-organised training in artificial intelligence, we will focus on six thematic areas in which the co-applicant team and supervisor group have particular expertise. In our choice of areas, we are making no attempt at comprehensive coverage of the field of AI. Instead, we are selecting strands that (a) will relate to likely student PhD topics, and (b) afford scope for the students to acquire a broad range of relevant skills. A typical student in our CRT will follow a structured PhD training programme that comprises four main elements: (i) Host-based research methods training; (ii) Supervisor-initiated research-specific training; (iii) CRT-organized training in Artificial Intelligence methods; and (iv) Work placements.