Our group welcomes students with a strong quantitative background who are interested in pursuing PhD studies in Statistics, Machine Learning, or Probability.

The Statistics, Probability, and Machine Learning group at UPF is part of the Department of Economics. UPF does not have a separate mathematics or statistics department. There are two main ways to pursue a PhD with us:

  1. Via the PhD program in Economics at UPF
    Apply to the Master of Research (MRes) year (Year 2) of the Economics PhD program at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. This second year is equivalent to the first year of PhD programs at many North American institutions. Note that the department requires students to have completed at least five years of university studies to be eligible to apply.

    Upon admission, students follow a tailored course plan—agreed upon with their advisors—and complete a Master’s thesis, which typically serves as the starting point for their PhD research.

  2. Via a collaborating PhD program
    Students may also enroll in a PhD program at a collaborating institution, such as the Statistics PhD program or the Applied Mathematics PhD program at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. If arranged in advance, it is possible to be supervised by a member of our group.

    These programs typically do not require coursework, and students begin working on their dissertation from day one.

Funding

All students in the PhD program in Economics at UPF are funded by the department. Students who work with us via a collaborating PhD program are typically funded by us if such funding is available. Many of our students successfully apply for external funding, which may reduce their teaching assistant duties, e.g. FPI (Formación de Personal Investigador), FI (Ajuts de Formació de Personal Investigador), FI-SDUR, and La Caixa PhD fellowships.

Examples

  • Richard Coll is a PhD student in Applied Mathematics at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, supervised by Gábor Lugosi (UPF) and Juanjo Rué (UPC).
  • Maxim Fedotov started as an MSc student in our Data Science program. He is now pursuing a PhD at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, supervised by Gábor Lugosi and David Rossell (both UPF).
  • Zhekai Pang completed an MSc in Computational and Applied Mathematics at the University of Chicago. In 2025, he started the MRes year of the PhD program at UPF.

Application and calendar

Note: The application process typically runs between November and January. Please contact us in advance so that we can guide you through the process.

All interested applicants should submit the materials listed below to the Data Science PhD selection committee at [email protected] before January 15. Late applications may be considered in exceptional circumstances.

  1. Students interested in the PhD program at UPF must also submit an application to Year 2, following the instructions for the MRes online application. The deadline is usually January 15, but applicants should double-check the UPF website.
  2. Students wishing to pursue a PhD at a collaborating institution outside UPF should initially send their application to the Data Science PhD selection committee only.

Applications to the Data Science PhD selection committee must include:

  • A copy of your final official undergraduate academic transcript.
  • If applicable, a copy of your final or provisional graduate academic transcript.
  • A motivation letter, including a concise statement of research interests.
  • Two academic reference letters. If applying to the UPF program, in addition to uploading the letters to the UPF system, referees should also email them to [email protected].