Student experience

PhD students here carry out a three-to-four year programme of individual research under the guidance of a supervisor who is a member of the academic staff. Our supervisors are leaders in their field with expertise across a wide range of areas from compilers to circuits, through security, performance and reliability, and including applications and the specialised compute to run them efficiently.

This breadth of experience allows PhD students at the Centre the freedom to explore the areas they're most passionate about. It has also proved very successful in generating excellent research. Students here have a track record of winning some very prestigious awards, including the BCS Distinguished Dissertation award, and the Apple Scholarship, which is given annually to only a handful of students worldwide.

As well as academic excellence, we also focus strongly on carrying out industry-relevant research. So PhD students will benefit from regular interactions taking place here with industry, as we invite industrial supporters to participate in discussions about key challenges and run events to showcase the latest research taking place here. Read on to see what current and previous Computer Architecture PhD students have said about studying here.

Computer architecture is a widely researched field at Cambridge, and being able to work with experts in so many different sub-areas has been very inspirational. The end of my PhD seems some way off, but I’m already thinking about going into teaching. As a PhD student here, I can both discuss the latest developments with experts in the field and supervise undergraduate students – great preparation for such a career path.
– Karl Mose

While I’m researching ways to enforce security between host computers and peripheral devices, others in my group are working on the pioneering cyber security project CHERI. They have been offering me invaluable insights into how I can make my work better while still keeping it practical. Once I finish my PhD, I plan to go into hardware R&D in industry.
– Samuel Stark

Members of the Computer Architecture group have a wide range of work experience, expertise and skill sets. As a PhD student in the group (researching near-memory processing for low-precision deep neural networks), I found this made for an enriching and dynamic learning environment where even a casual conversation about the latest technology news could yield really valuable insights. I’m planning to go into industry, aiming to apply my knowledge to tangible and impactful projects.
– Aida Miralaei

My research focuses on speculative parallelisation inside a processor (i.e. how hardware can find and exploit mostly independent computations beyond standard out-of-order techniques). Working in the Computer Architecture group with skilled colleagues and an industrial partner has been ideal as it has given me both the freedom to explore my own ideas and access to feedback and guidance when needed. After my PhD, I’m planning to apply for a postdoctoral position to continue this research.
– Márton Erdős