The SAINTS CDT is the UK’s first multidisciplinary PhD programme focused solely on the safety of artificial intelligence (AI).

Our vision is to train future leaders with the research expertise and skills to ensure that the benefits of AI systems are realised without introducing harm as the systems and their environments evolve.

Research will be focused on the lifelong safety assurance of increasingly autonomous AI systems in dynamic and uncertain contexts. It will build on methodologies and concepts in disciplines spanning AI, safety science, philosophy, law, sociology and health sciences.

Contact us

SAINTS Administration Team
SAINTS Centre for Doctoral Training

saints-cdt-admissions@york.ac.uk
+44 (0)1904 325412

"One question of particular significance is how to ensure that AI is both safe and beneficial. Our new centre for doctoral training will give PhD students - the future generation of AI professionals - the opportunity to explore this very question, which will help ensure that we have a responsible approach to AI technologies as we go forward.”

Professor Ibrahim Habli, Director of SAINTS CDT

Apply for our PhD in Safe AI

Our CDT brings together people from diverse disciplines such as computer science, philosophy, law, sociology and economics to create the next generation of safe AI experts and a lasting community that will pioneer new evidence-based policy and practices for safe AI.

Apply for our PhD in Safe AI

Join SAINTS as a partner

Be part of our work to train the next generation of business-ready future leaders in safe and trustworthy AI.

As a SAINTS partner you'll be part of the first multidisciplinary centre for doctoral training dedicated to the development, operation and regulation of safe and trustworthy AI. 

Find out more

  • Prof Ibrahim Habli (CDT director and AI safety lead)
  • Dr Ana MacIntosh (Operations lead and Partnerships lead)
  • Prof Tom Stoneham (Training co-lead and Ethics lead)
  • Dr Colin Paterson (Training co-lead and Professional and academic skills lead)
  • Dr Jo Iacovides (Careers lead) 
  • Prof John McDermid OBE FREng (Research co-lead)
  • Dr Jenn Chubb (Research co-lead)
  • Prof Richard Wilson (AI lead)
  • Dr Phillip Morgan (Law lead)
  • Dr Zoe Porter (Responsible AI lead)
  • Prof Cynthia Iglesias Urrutia (EDI lead)

Co-creation and collaboration with and between CDT partners is key.

The SAINTS community, with 35 confirmed partners, stretches across the following sectors: aerospace (NATS and Craft Prospect), automotive (Jaguar Land Rover, Thatcham, Oxa and HORIBA MIRA), defence (Thales, MBDA, Naimuri, BAE Systems), healthcare (Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch, Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, HFMA) and maritime (Lloyd's Register Group), alongside underpinning software/AI (BT, Wolfram, Ufonia, PageAI, PathLAKE, MathWorks, Cambridge Consultants Ltd and Advai Ltd), regulation (Health and Safety Executive, Office for Product Safety and Standards, MHRA, BSI and Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors), law (DAC Beachcroft LLP), research institutes (Fraunhofer IESE and Fraunhofer Institute for Cognitive Systems), charities (Lloyd's Register Foundation) and others interested in safety (Omnicom Balfour Beatty, The Safety-Critical Systems Club and Tokio Marine Kiln).

Our partnerships will provide SAINTS doctoral students with unparalleled opportunities to learn from practitioners and will enable our partners to have exceptional access to cutting edge research.

Contact us

SAINTS Administration Team
SAINTS Centre for Doctoral Training

saints-cdt-admissions@york.ac.uk
+44 (0)1904 325412