Bing Xu

[EPSRC-funded PhD studentships for 3.5 years with an annual stipend of £23,985, UK-only tuition fees waived, and an additional £3,500 expenses allowance for training and research costs. Overseas students may apply but must cover the difference between UK and overseas fees.] Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University is offering two full-time EPSRC-funded PhD studentships for the 2026-27 academic year. The studentships are based at the Edinburgh campus and can start in either September 2026 or January 2027 . The duration is 3.5 years . Funding includes a UK-fees-only tuition waiver , an enhanced annual stipend of £23,985 (10% above the standard UKRI rate), and an additional £3,500 expenses allowance for training and research costs. Overseas students are eligible to apply, but they must be able to cover the difference between UK and overseas tuition fees. The competition offers two research themes: 1) AI and Causal Inference for Labour Market Resilience — This project explores how artificial intelligence is transforming labour markets, using large-scale vacancy data, natural language processing, network analysis, and causal inference methods. The research focuses on AI adoption, diffusion, labour market adjustment, regional resilience, wage dynamics, worker mobility, inequality, and the impact of large language models on hiring behaviour and labour demand. This project is supervised by Prof. Cristina Tealdi and Dr Yannis Kostas . Interested applicants are encouraged to contact Prof. Tealdi at c.tealdi@hw.ac.uk before applying. 2) Financing the Circular Economy Transition — This project investigates how finance and investment can accelerate the circular economy transition across sectors such as electronics, cooling, heating, and hard-to-recycle materials. Possible topics include circular business models, sustainable and transition finance, circular supply chain investment, climate-related financial risks, ESG disclosure, institutional investors, AI-enabled sustainability analytics, critical mineral dependency, and supply chain resilience under geopolitical and environmental uncertainty. This project is supervised by Prof. Bing Xu and Dr Stefano Maiani . Interested applicants are encouraged to contact Prof. Xu at b.xu@hw.ac.uk before applying. General entry requirements include an undergraduate degree with at least a 2:1 in a relevant field and, for non-native English speakers, Heriot-Watt’s English-language requirement. If a prior degree was not taught in English, the minimum requirement is IELTS 6.5 overall with no component below 6.0 . To apply, use the Heriot-Watt postgraduate application portal and select the correct project-related PhD route in the drop-down list: ‘Economics PhD’ for the AI/labour market project or ‘Accountancy and Finance PhD’ for the circular economy/finance project. Applicants should also enter ‘EBS EPSRC 2026 PhD scholarship competition’ in the funding field and include the name of the primary supervisor. Required documents include a CV, transcripts, degree certificates, evidence of UK equivalency for non-UK qualifications, a covering letter, and an outline research proposal (maximum 1500 words) aligned to the selected project title. Interviews will be conducted online.