Informatics: ILCC: Language Processing, Speech Technology, Information Retrieval, Cognition Doctor of Philosophy - PhD

Strongly interdisciplinary in nature, the Institute for Language, Cognition and Communication (ILCC) is dedicated to both basic and applied research in the computational study of language, communication, and cognition, in both humans and machines.

As technology focuses increasingly on language-based communication tools, research into the automation of language processing has become vital. ILCC offers you the broadest research scope in the UK and a strong computational focus.

Our primary areas of research are:

* natural language processing and computational linguistics

* spoken language processing

* dialogue and multimodal interaction

* information extraction, retrieval, and presentation

* computational theories of human cognition

* educational and assistive technology

* visualisation

Much of our research is applied to software development, in areas as diverse as social media, assisted living, gaming and education.

Reputation

The University of Edinburgh consistently ranks among the world's top universities for Computer Science, including 22nd in the world and 5th in the UK in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026.

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 ranked our School 1st in the UK for research power in Computer Science and Informatics. This means you will learn from experts at the forefront of their fields, undertaking cutting-edge research in a wide range of areas.

Environment

You will be part of a large, vibrant department with around 2000 students across undergraduate, masters and research programmes and 150 academic staff.

You will study in the heart of Edinburgh city centre, regularly voted as one of the most desirable places to live in the world, and one of the UK’s fastest-growing tech hubs.