Our programme supports the development of a skills portfolio towards Chartered Engineer (CEng) status and forming professional networks in the UK fusion supply chain.

The Fusion Engineering Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) offers a unique 4-year Engineering Doctorate programme designed for STEM graduates who want to solve real-world challenges in fusion energy. You’ll get the specialist training, hands-on experience, and industry exposure — preparing you to launch your career in one of the most exciting areas of engineering.

Core training (first 12 weeks of Year 1)

To make the programme accessible to graduates from across the STEM disciplines, all researchers begin with 12 weeks of foundational fusion engineering training.

You’ll join a national cohort of PhD and EngD researchers for core workshops led by university experts and fusion industry partners—covering the theoretical, practical, and computational skills that span the full fusion engineering lifecycle.

Workshop themes

Training is delivered through expert-led sessions focused on four key themes:

• Powering fusion explores the science and technology behind generating, containing, and sustaining fusion reactions.
• Research methods equips students with the tools and techniques needed to conduct rigorous, data-driven, and innovative research.
• Fusion engineering focuses on the design, analysis, and integration of complex systems required for operational fusion devices.
• Engineering and society examines the ethical, environmental, and societal dimensions of engineering decisions in the context.

Hybrid training delivery

Most of your core CDT training will happen at your home university, with regular in-person sessions to bring the full cohort together. A typical training week has this format:

Mondays: no CDT training - this is your project day to fill as you need

Tuesdays: Study at your home campus, with synchronous live workshops online

Wednesdays and Thursdays: In-person cohort CDT workshops (travel and hotel overnight is arranged for the cohort)

Fridays: Study at your home campus, with synchronous live workshops online

In-person training workshops are held at the partner universities, and rotate around Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Sheffield University. We always allow Wednesday mornings and Thursday afternoons for travel time, and hold the in-person workshops on Wednesday afternoons and Thursday mornings. Each week the location for the in-person training will change - an example of the 12-week training schedule locations is given below.

Bespoke on-going training

Following the initial training, researchers will identify and attend bespoke training to support their specific project needs for the remainder of their first year in the programme. This secondary training will be relatively light touch, hence researchers will be able to work on their doctoral project.

• Week 1: 28 September - 02 October
  Manchester
• Week 2: 05 - 09 October
  Manchester
• Week 3: 12 - 16 October
  Birmingham
• Week 4: 19 - 23 October
  Birmingham
• Week 5: 26 - 30 October
  Manchester
• Week 6: 02 - 06 November
  Sheffield
• Week 7: 09 - 13 November
  Home campus
• Week 8: 16 - 20 November
  Liverpool
• Week 9: 23 - 27 November
  Sheffield
• Week 10: 30 November - 04 December
  Manchester
• Week 11: 07 - 11 December
  Liverpool
• Week 12: 14 - 18 December
  Sheffield

Bespoke on-going training for your doctoral project

Following the initial Sep-Dec period of core CDT training, researchers will identify and attend bespoke training to support their specific project needs for their skills gaps, for the remainder of their first year in the programme, at their home campus. This training period allows researchers to start to work on the research skills for their doctoral project. 

The CDT continues to provide ongoing occasional cohort training in years 2, 3 and 4 on topics that support the CEng portfolio of competencies, using formats including:

• Cohort workshops (professional skills)
• Online Seminars (invited speakers)
• Summer schools
• Placements
• Conferences (including an annual CDT conference)