Supervision
Working with me as a PhD student, and the students and post-docs I work or have worked with.
Work with me
My research is on contact-rich motion planning and control for legged robots and humanoids: contact planning, multi-contact locomotion, model predictive control and whole-body manipulation, with a link to computer graphics and character animation. The projects and publications pages show what this looks like in practice.
The way to work with me as a PhD student is the UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Dependable and Deployable AI for Robotics (CDT-D2AIR). I am its deputy director.
The CDT-D2AIR in short
- A four-year PhD programme offered jointly by Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh, part of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics. It combines training in robotics, machine learning, optimisation, software engineering, verification and testing with a research project.
- Four research themes: trustworthy and rigorous AI for robotics, robust robot design, dependable AI for human-robot interaction, and AI for deployable robot systems and field systems.
- Studentships are fully funded: tuition fees, a monthly stipend at the UKRI rate, and a budget for travel, small equipment and an optional international placement. A small number of studentships for international applicants are available each year.
- In-person and full-time, based near Edinburgh.
How to apply (September 2027 intake)
- Deadline: Friday 27 November 2026, for the first round of places. First-round decisions are aimed for January 2027, and offers for March 2027.
- Entry requirement: an undergraduate degree at UK 2:1 level (or equivalent) in computer science, engineering or a related discipline, with strong programming and quantitative skills. Applicants from other disciplines are considered with substantial exposure to computing or engineering. English-language requirements apply.
- Apply through the Heriot-Watt postgraduate application website, selecting Dependable and Deployable Artificial Intelligence for Robotics, PhD. A supplementary information form replaces the research proposal.
- Get in touch. If my work interests you, please contact me before applying, and list me as a potential supervisor in the supplementary form. Students then define their PhD project during the first year, with help to choose a supervisory team.
Everything is detailed, and kept up to date, on the CDT’s apply page and FAQ. For questions about the programme itself, use the CDT’s contact page. For anything else, see my contact page.
Current students
Click a name to see our papers together.
- Victor Levé-Lin, PhD student
- Ciaran Johnson, PhD student
- Julia Lopez Gomez, PhD student
- Ben Bradwell, MSc by research student