Dstl - Competitive PhD Requirements - Prior Information Notice

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is part of the UK Ministry of Defence. Historically, Dstl has run a number of individual procurement calls for a variety of PhD requirements. Each of these calls has had a different theme and application process. Dstl currently run these calls through its R-Cloud: marketplace for defence science and technology research.

Following a review of how Dstl delivers its PhD calls, Dstl is planning to run a single call (via R-Cloud) covering a number of different themes, with a single application process, instead of running multiple calls.

It is intended that this call will be formally launched during July 2023. The call will cover a number of different Technology areas, including but not limited to:

Chemical, Biological and Radiological Advanced Materials Comms and Networks Sensing

Additional PhD requirements may arise during the period of this Prior Information Notice, and therefore the scope may increase to further technology areas to those stated above.

As stated above, the PhD call will be launched via the Dstl R-Cloud: Marketplace for defence science and technology research.

The way that R-Cloud operates is that you have to initially apply to join R-Cloud. Crucially, only those suppliers who are successfully registered on R-Cloud on the date of call launch (planned for the 14th July 2023) will be eligible to participate. Failure to successfully register on R-Cloud before this date will mean you will be ineligible to participate in the call. You are therefore encouraged to submit any application to join R-Cloud at your earliest opportunity.

To find out more about R-Cloud, please visit www.gov.uk/guidance/r-cloud

To formally register to join R-Cloud, and be notified of both this specific PhD call and other Dstl research funding opportunities, you can click the link on the above web-page, or alternatively visit www.rcloud.dstl.gov.uk to begin the application process. A copy of the terms and conditions which apply to any task awarded under R-Cloud are linked on this page, and you are required to accept those terms as part of your application process.

Before submitting an application to join R-Cloud, you can check if your university/public institution is already registered on R-Cloud by discussing with your university commercial departments, or alternatively visiting www.rcloud.dstl.gov.uk/capability-area/suppliers. If in doubt, contact us.

Note - Dstl does not accept R-Cloud/PhD applications from individual students or academics; if you are a student or academic you will need to approach a relevant department at a university/public institution.

This notice is issued as a Prior Information Notice and announces our intention to potentially run a PhD call. This is not issued as a formal contract notice and is not inviting expressions of interest. If you are interested in participating in any future call, please apply to join R-Cloud as set out above.