The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Sound Futures is a major UK initiative delivering an unmatched level of expertise and cutting-edge facilities for PhD training in acoustics.
Led by the University of Salford in collaboration with the Universities of Bristol, Sheffield, and Southampton, the CDT programme works with over fifty project partners from industry and government to deliver training for the next generation of researchers who will transform how society understands, manages, and designs sound.
Funded to train 70+ PhD students across our four partner universities, we welcomed our first CDT cohort in 2025 and are now recruiting our second cohort to begin in September 2026.
Integrated Training
Our four‑year funded PhD programme combines deep technical expertise with broad, interdisciplinary skills. Students learn through:
- Cohort‑based training that builds community and shared purpose.
- Masterclasses, residentials, and topic days covering acoustics, simulation, measurement, machine learning, psychoacoustics, and many other topics of research.
- Professional development in policy, public engagement, sustainability, entrepreneurship and responsible innovation.
- Placements with industry and academic partners to ensure real‑world impact.
- Access to world‑class laboratories and facilities across four leading universities.
This integrated approach equips graduates to tackle complex interdisciplinary challenges spanning transport, energy, construction, manufacturing, health, culture, and the environment.
Partner Driven Projects
By addressing a user need whilst researching at the frontiers in engineering and technology, we offer our PhD projects that span the full breadth of acoustics and sound research, including:
- Reducing noise and vibration in vehicles
- Improving communication and listening effort for blind and partially sighted people
- Designing personalised audio experiences
- Creating restorative urban soundscapes
- Engineering quieter, more sustainable buildings
- Understanding and mitigating environmental noise impacts
- Investigating and predicting the wide‑band noise produced by propellers and rotors
Our PhD projects are developed collaboratively with our partners to ensure they remain relevant, innovative, and impactful. Project partners play an active role throughout the PhD development, serving as integral members of each student’s PhD management team.
