PhD in Human-Inspired Artificial Intelligence
Find out more about CHIA’s PhD course
About the PhD
CHIA’s PhD in Human-Inspired Artificial Intelligence trains the next generation of AI researchers, technologists, and leaders in the development of human-centred, human-compatible, responsible and socially beneficial AI technologies.
The course offers research training in areas such as fundamental human-inspired AI, social and interactive AI, cognitive AI, creative AI, health AI, responsible AI, AI for sustainability, AI for education and AI for global development. Students will be educated in an interdisciplinary environment where they can get access to expertise not only in the technical but also human, ethical, applied and industrial aspects of AI.
This programme takes a cross-disciplinary approach to technical AI. PhD students will have access to a large community of scholars tackling similar questions and to the active research events programme that constitutes a key part of CHIA’s work. The course addresses the broader need for experts equipped to develop more responsible and human-centred AI as academia, industry, government and non-profit sectors.
The Course
The PhD in Human-Inspired AI is a 4 year full-time (up to 7 years part-time) programme of individual research on a topic agreed by the student and CHIA under the guidance of a staff member as the student’s supervisor.
The programme also includes development of transferable skills through our student development programme and broader activities within the CHIA programme. PhD students attend weekly student-led seminars/lab meetings as well as the CHIA Early Career Community seminar series and will have an opportunity to attend many AI-related events across the campus.
In their final year, students will be required to submit a Thesis of up to 60,000 words.
PhD students at CHIA are supported by a primary supervisor and at least one academic advisor. Many projects involve co-supervision and collaboration with other departments across the University. Below are some of our core supervisors. More can be found in the wider CHIA network.
Anna Barford
Director of the Business Fights Poverty Institute
Alan Blackwell
Professor of Interdisciplinary Design
Umang Bhatt
Assistant Professor in Trustworthy AI
Lucy Cheke
Associate Fellow
Nigel Collier
Professor of Natural Language Processing
Ramit Debnath
Executive Director
University Assistant Professor and CHIA Executive Director
Jenny Gibson
Co-Director
Professor in Psychology and Education, MPhil Co-Director
Ariel Goldstein
Assistant Professor in Cognitive Science and AI
Hatice Gunes
Associate Director
Professor of Affective Intelligence and Robotics
Peter Harrison
Assistant Professor in Music and Science
José Hernández-Orallo
Associate Fellow
Mateja Jamnik
Associate Director
Professor of Artificial Intelligence
Lili Jia
Research Professor in Sustainable Economy
Anna Korhonen
Director
Professor of Natural Language Processing, MPhil Co-Director
Zoe Kourtzi
Professor of Experimental Psychology
Sander van der Linden
Associate Fellow
Emily Lines
Associate Professor in Physical Geography
Pietro Liò
Associate Fellow
Anil Madhavapeddy
Professor of Planetary Computing
Robert Mullins
Professor in Computer Architecture
Christopher Rauh
Professor of Economics and Data Science
Roi Reichart
Professor in Artificial Intelligence
Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb
Professor of Applied Mathematics
Katie Seaborn
Associate Fellow
Jat Singh
Principal Research Associate in Technology and Law
Andreas Vlachos
Associate Professor in Natural Language Processing
Adrian Weller
Principal Research Fellow in Machine Learning
Ready to Apply?
For more information about the course and the University of Cambridge’s entry requirements, fees, application process, funding deadlines and other matters, please visit the following link:
Applications for the October 2026 course are now closed.
To watch a video of the 2025 Open Day for this course, see below:
For any queries regarding this course, please email: