UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Machine Intelligence for Nano- Electronic Devices and Systems (MINDS)
Where machine intelligence meets the devices of tomorrow
The MINDS CDT at the University of Southampton brings together machine intelligence and nanoelectronic device research to build the next generation of energy-efficient, hardware-enabled AI systems. Backed by UKRI and grounded in one of Europe's leading nanofabrication facilities, MINDS researchers are working on the technologies that will power smarter devices, from intelligent sensors to next-generation semiconductor systems.
Navigating magnetic robots for assisted robotic surgery
MINDS postgraduate researcher Jack Hilton-Jones presented his work on magnetic continuum robots for surgery at the 2026 Showcase, and found the alumni speakers invaluable.
Yaseen Osman on teaching children how language models work, and giving a river a voice
MINDS researcher Yaseen Osman taught local children how large language models work, then helped the River Itchen answer questions at the British Science Festival.
Mixing music with a wave of the hand: the gesture recognition behind DJ Air
DJ Air lets anyone mix music with hand gestures and a laptop camera. MINDS researchers Keniel Peart, Rudra Mutalik and Epifanios Baikas helped build it.
About
The MINDS Centre for Doctoral Training trains researchers to solve one of the defining problems in modern AI: how do you build intelligence into the physical hardware that the world runs on? Energy consumption, device constraints, processing speed; these are not obstacles to route around. They are the research.
Programme
The MINDS iPhD is a four-year integrated doctoral programme combining a structured first year of taught training with three years of supervised research.
The UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Machine Intelligence for Nano-Electronic Devices and Systems (MINDS), trains researchers to design AI that works efficiently in the real world: on low-cost hardware, in embedded devices, across interconnected systems. Since our first cohort in 2019, MINDS researchers have been tackling one of the defining problems in AI development: how do you build intelligence into the physical devices that the world runs on?
Based at Southampton’s Zepler Institute and School of Electronics and Computer Science, we combine expertise in AI algorithms, nanoelectronic materials and device fabrication, giving our researchers access to facilities and supervision that few doctoral programmes anywhere can match.
