Last summer, the University of Southampton was chosen by the UK government to lead a new training programme aimed at cementing Britain’s reputation as an AI powerhouse.

Applications opened in January for the new Spärck AI scholarship programme, which means that young people with exceptional talent in artificial intelligence will be able to enrol onto an eligible course at Southampton this autumn.

Named after British computer scientist Karen Spärck Jones, the scholarships provide fully-funded master’s degrees to train the next generation of AI experts.

Marking the opening of applications, Professor Jonathon Hare, Spärck AI Lead, commented: “Our training goes beyond the classroom. We will bridge the gap between world-leading teaching and mentoring with pioneering research happening here at Southampton to develop high-level talent needed to cement the UK’s status as an AI powerhouse.”

Professor Hare also gave Staff Matters an insight into the work undertaken so far. He explained: “Setting up the scholarship has been an interesting challenge as we’ve not only had to factor in diverse views from government, industry and the academic partners on how the scheme should be shaped, and how we would implement the recruitment of the first intake – this year each institution is managing their own (aligned) processes, but next year the hope is that it will be centralised. Ranking and selection of our scholars this year will be performed by panels including myself, the MSc programme leads, and additional senior staff within the University.

“Here at Southampton we have an additional exciting challenge in that two of the five MSc Programmes are brand new, and will only launch for the first time next September. The programme teams behind both the MSc Machine Learning and MSc Robotics & Autonomous Systems have been doing a fantastic job in getting these ready to run. I’m involved in teaching one of the first semester compulsory modules for the MSc Machine Learning, and I am really looking forward to meeting the first cohort & having the opportunity to tell them about some of my own research during the module.

“I’m also personally looking forward to meeting the Spärck scholars in September and spending some time mentoring them throughout the year along with the other members of the delivery team.”

Key information

There are 11 scholarships available covering full tuition fees and a yearly living allowance of £20,780 in line with UKRI stipend rates. The Spärck AI Scholarships are open to UK and International students applying to study an eligible postgraduate course.

Scholars will get national AI-related networking opportunities with leading academics, government contacts and industry leaders, as well as access to priority work placements with leading UK artificial intelligence companies and government institutions.

Full details on the scholarship and how to apply.

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