Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Network for AI-Enabled Digital Accessibility (ADA)

Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Network for AI-Enabled Digital Accessibility (ADA) is sponsored by Leverhulme Trust. This program offers fully funded studentships to develop and train industry-aware leaders in AI-enabled research with expertise in language, translation, media accessibility, and design studies, combined with insights from engineering, computer science, social, and cognitive sci…

Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship in AI-Enabled Digital Accessibility (ADA) | University of Surrey Accept all Manage preferences Save preferences Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship in AI-Enabled Digital Accessibility (ADA) The Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Network for AI-Enabled Digital Accessibility (ADA) is offering fully funded studentships to develop and train a community of industry-aware leaders in AI-enabled research with unique expertise in language, translation, media accessibility and design studies combined with insights from engineering, computer science, social and cognitive science to improve digital media access for all.

Led by the Centre for Translation Studies, ADA enjoys support from the Surrey Institute of People-Centred AI as well as industry and community partners. Fully funded 4-year studentship (48 months of full-time study) covers home tuition fees, maintenance at UKRI base levels, and £10,000 to support the individual student’s research and training needs.

Professor of Translation Studies; Director, Centre for Translation Studies; Co-Director, Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI Associate Professor in Translation Studies Professor in Machine Audition Professor of Language and Translation Technologies Senior Lecturer in People-Centred AI Dr Alireza Tamaddoni Nezhad Reader (Associate Professor) in Machine Learning and Computational Intelligence Director Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI and the Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing Professor of Computer Vision and Machine Learning Senior Lecturer in Translation and Natural Language Processing Associate Professor in Computer Vision and Machine Learning Associate Professor (Reader) in AI and Media Professor in Signal Processing and Machine Learning; Associate Head (External Engagement), School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering; Core AI Fellow, Surrey Institute for People Centred AI Dr Emily Corrigan-Kavanagh Surrey Future Fellow in Designing AI for Home Wellbeing, Surrey AI Fellow Co-Director Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI; Programme Lead of MSc in Artificial Intelligence Dr Anna-Stiina Wallinheimo Lecturer in Translation Studies Deputy Director (Centre for Translation Studies), Director of Studies (Literature and Languages), Programme Leader: MSc AI for Translation and Interpreting Studies; MA Translation & AI; MA Translation, Interpreting & AI; MA Interpreting, Technology & AI Senior Lecturer in 3D Computer Vision Senior Lecturer in Trustworthy and Responsible AI.

Leaading the research on foundation models and self-supervised learning Digital media is central to our engagement with public information, news, government services, healthcare, finance, education, culture and entertainment, and facilitates communication and social interaction. Ensuring accessibility to digital media for all is therefore crucial.

However, accessibility can be difficult to achieve because engaging with digital media often involves complex language-based and/or multimodal interactions that require all senses. This becomes more difficult when a modality or language a user understands is not available or accessible.

To bridge this gap, different forms of translation are employed, either across different modalities , by translating speech into subtitles or sign language, standard text into a simpler version or visual content into a verbal description, or across languages , e.g., translating into a minority language. With the increase in digital content, accessibility needs cannot be met by human resources alone.

The ADA network will therefore enable doctoral researchers to leverage AI in the context of digital accessibility. Acknowledging that language, sound, and vision continue to present difficult challenges for AI, ADA will equip graduates with the skills to develop human-centric AI-enabled solutions that preserve accuracy, narrative coherence and other quality parameters in digital content.

As a Leverhulme Doctoral Scholar in the ADA network, you will have the opportunity to develop a project in ADA, working across disciplines such as language, translation, media accessibility and design studies, in combination with engineering, computer science, cognitive and social science.

You will enhance your understanding of accessibility as a core concept and explore diverse research methods, combining advancements in AI with human expertise, to deliver and implement personalised accessibility solutions.

You will benefit from supervision by interdisciplinary teams of world-leading academics, interact with other researchers in the network and have access to masterclasses, lectures, workshops, and other activities to build and consolidate your skills in this exciting new field. View more information about the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Network for AI-enabled Digital Accessibility .

Centre for Translation Studies Surrey Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence Open to UK candidates only. We are seeking applications from excellent and enthusiastic candidates who are interested in joining the ADA network to collaborate with other researchers and contribute to a rich environment for themselves and their research community. You will need to meet the entry requirements of our PhD programme .

Complete our online application form . In addition, you must email the following documents to cts@surrey. ac.

uk ; putting ‘ADA expression of interest’ and your name in the subject line. 1. A research proposal for one of the above research projects, structured as follows: Number of the research theme you are addressing Significance of the research.

Document name: YourLastName_YourFirstName_RP 2. An applicant motivation letter that: Demonstrates your fit to project Highlights your career development aims. Document name: YourLastName_YourFirstName_ML Page limit: Max.

2 pages; including your academic qualifications Document name: YourLastName_YourFirstName_CV Interviews for shortlisted candidates will take place online 30 June 2026. Read our studentship FAQs to find out more about applying and funding. E-mail: aimee.

savage@surrey. ac. uk E-mail: s.

braun@surrey. ac. uk We have a wide range of studentship opportunities available.