University of Huddersfield Research Scholarship

University of Huddersfield is offering a fully funded PhD studentship in the School of Computing and Engineering / Department of Computer Science for an October 2026 start. The advertised project is Explainable NLP Framework for Linguistic Analysis of Coercive Control in Digital Court Evidence, supervised by Dr Anju Johnson with Professor Simon Parkinson as co-supervisor.

This project sits at the intersection of Computer Science, Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, and ethical AI. It aims to build a judicially robust explainable AI system for detecting coercive control in large volumes of digital communication evidence. The research combines transformer-based language models with symbolic linguistic rules, longitudinal analysis, and interpretable AI methods to produce behavioural timelines and risk profiles suitable for expert reports and judicial scrutiny.

Funding: 3 years full-time, covering tuition fees and a tax-free bursary/stipend starting at £21,805 per year (2026/27 rate). The studentship is open to UK and international applicants.

Eligibility highlights: applicants should have or be about to complete an MSc in Computer Science, AI, Data Science, Computational Linguistics, or a closely related discipline. A minimum merit is expected; applicants with a First-Class Honours degree may also be considered. Strong Python skills and experience with Hugging Face/spaCy or similar NLP tools are important. Prior research experience is expected. International applicants must normally meet an IELTS 6.5 requirement with no element below 6, or provide an equivalent English language qualification or recent UK study evidence.

Application window: submit the full application by 15 May 2026. Shortlisted candidates are expected to be contacted by 20 May 2026, with interviews likely on 26–27 May 2026 via Teams.

How to apply: prepare a motivational email stating the project title, a full CV, transcripts/certificates, proof of eligibility, and arrange two references to be sent directly by referees to the graduate admissions email. Informal project enquiries can be sent to the supervisor.