Each Centre targets a specific area of research, and also emphasises transferable skills training.
Initially, DTCs were regarded as a strategic mechanism for increasing capacity in interdisciplinary research activities such as the life sciences interface and complexity science, areas that were difficult to locate within a traditional University's departmental organisation.
By 2009, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) had widened its focus, announcing funding for 50 new DTCs spanning its entire remit.
[4][5][6] In 2011, following the lead of the EPSRC, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) announced doctoral studentships will be exclusively allocated to a network of 21 accredited DTCs.
[7] By 2012 the model was adopted by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in their second call for Block Grant Partnerships, ultimately funding 11 Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) and a further 7 Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) established with a first intake of students in October 2014.