Imperial and QRT Labs
Imperial × QRT Labs is a research lab for the mathematical and computational foundations of AI. It is one of three centres that make up QRT Labs, a long-term research initiative launched in February 2026 by Imperial College London, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford in partnership with Qube Research & Technologies (QRT).
The centre will award over 20 fully funded PhD scholarships across Computing, Mathematics and the Business School. Its research is on the foundations that make AI systems robust, explainable and reliable at scale.
Research
The research is driven by problems involving complex data and decisions made under uncertainty. Such problems rarely belong to one field, so the centre brings together researchers from the Department of Computing, the Department of Mathematics and the Business School, and its students work with supervisors across departments.
The work falls under six themes:
- Foundation AI models and agentic systems
- High-performance computing
- Cybersecurity
- Hardware design
- Advanced mathematical modelling
- Decision-making and complex systems
The centre sets its own research priorities within a framework shared with the Cambridge and Oxford centres and with QRT, and the research is carried out with academic independence.
The studentship
In its initial phase QRT Labs will support more than 70 early-career researchers across the three universities, over 20 of them PhD students at Imperial.
Funding
Every QRT Labs scholarship at Imperial is fully funded for 3.5 years and open to Home and Overseas applicants. The studentships are advertised with the Department of Computing's PhD scholarships, where each call sets out what the funding covers.
Supervision
Students can be supervised by any academic in the centre's supervisory pool, which spans Computing, Mathematics and the Business School.
A community across three universities
Students belong to the centre at Imperial and to QRT Labs as a whole. Shared seminars and an annual conference bring together the Imperial, Cambridge and Oxford centres and researchers from QRT.
Admissions
How to apply, entry requirements, funding and deadlines are on the Admissions page. Enquiries about admissions go to Amani El-Kholy, Admissions Officer, at a.o.el-kholy@imperial.ac.uk.