Iain talks about studying on the CDT and being part of a cohort. What is your PhD about and why does it matter to you?The title of my PhD project is Automatic Signal Intelligence Analysis. Radio signal communication is everywhere these days, it’s a critical infrastructure which unfortunately means there are bad actors who try to take advantage of this. OFCOM reports around 10-50 instances of radio pirates interfering with critical reserved frequencies each year- including on emergency services and air traffic control frequencies. There’s a lot of scope for disruption, I’m working on ways to predict and prevent this interference. My first research theme is on automatic modulation classification which is the task of identifying the protocol used to encode raw binary data on radio frequency transmissions.What is your background?I have a computer science background. I was awarded my BSc in Artificial Intelligence from University of Edinburgh. Over the summers I worked on three internships at Barclays, MoD Whitehall and SAS Software Ltd. My focus during my undergraduate was mainly on computer vision and AI but when I started to look for PhDs I knew I didn’t want to go down the pure AI route, as personally I found AI too theoretical. I always preferred working on practical problems than theoretical improvements - over the course of my BSc I did a lot of Maths challenges and hackathons and I learned that I always liked problem solving with practical results which led me more to engineering. This was built upon with my software engineering internships and so when I was looking for PhDs I was looking for applications of AI with real-world use cases, which lead me to my current project. How would you describe your programme of study to a prospective student? What is the most interesting thing about this programme?There are two main things that make this programme different: the taught element and the cohort effect. The taught course aspect is a significant part of the CDT, the first year in total is 65-75 worth of credits so you spend roughly half of your workload on taught courses. I really enjoyed this as the taught courses gave me time to build up that foundation in certain areas including signal analysis. They are also complimentary to your research element and aspects of the taught elements, particularly in courses like Research Methods and Software Testing, contribute to your research milestones. The cohort effect is unique to CDTs, we have 11 students doing different research and courses in different domains including people from signal analysis, quantum and robotics. Having a group of people going through the same challenges at the same time is really beneficial as you’re all in the same boat. How did you find combining the research and taught elements in your first year? It’s roughly a 50/50 split between the two elements. Many students spent a bit more time on the taught courses than this so I would say be prepared for that especially if you’re coming from a different background to your project. It can be challenging to switch modes between research and taught elements and it can be difficult to balance this but you work this out as you go through. I would recommend trying to co-ordinate with other members of your cohort doing the same courses in the same year. It might help support you in the taught element. What’s something that’s surprised you about your experience so far?What I’ve actually achieved compared to what I thought I would achieve before I started on the programme. I spoke with 2nd and 3rd year PhD students before applying for this course and going in, I had expected to be a lot further along with my research in the first year. On this programme you have a longer PhD (4 years) than a standard PhD (3 years) so I needed to manage my expectations of what I should have achieved in the research element of my first year. Any tips for those interested in this PhD?Communicate with your cohort for course choices and take more time at the beginning of your PhD to plan your time and your 4 years. You have plenty time to throw yourself into your research, planning it all out at the beginning will speed up your future progress. It really is the case of no time spent planning is time wasted.Take the initiative to progress your project and decide what direction you want to go in and discuss it with your supervisor/industry partner. You can decide when you’re ready to present, publish, your supervisor can guide and advise you on how to achieve what you want. Your supervisor will be really busy, make it easy for them and bring them solutions. I like to think of the analogy of you’re the one driving the car and your supervisor is a passenger – you’re the one in control and they’re there to give advice and will try and stop you if they think you’re going to make a big mistake.Twitter/LinkedIn/Github/any other professional platforms you would like to share? LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iainhigh/ This article was published on 2025-11-07
