Alan Turing
The Turing Scheme was named in honour of the renowned scientist Alan Turing.
Alan Turing was a pioneering and iconic British mathematician and computer scientist of global renown. An internationalist, he excelled academically and studied abroad at Princeton University.
His thinking continues to have significant impacts on our lives and serves as an inspiration.
This scheme, which honours his legacy, provides opportunities for future generations of British students, from all backgrounds, to study and work abroad across the globe.
Beyond Bletchley
Today, Turing is best known for leading the code-breaking successes at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. However, his achievements were far broader than cryptography.
Turing was a true computing pioneer. In civilian life, he applied his practical war-time experiences to design the Automatic Computing Engine, the design principles of which underlie modern personal computers.
He was also interested in biology, authoring scientific papers on the chemical basis of morphogenesis. Many view his analytical style as a precursor of the modern discipline of data science.
His work with the first generation of computers led to the philosophical principles behind artificial intelligence, proposed in an experiment known as the Imitation Game or, colloquially, the Turing Test.
The game tasks a human interrogator with deciding which of two players was human, based on written responses to questions. Turing argued that the machine could be said to be achieving human-like thought if it was impossible to tell the difference between respondents.
A remarkable legacy
Today, the work of Turing resonates strongly with the goals of modern society. His array of intellectual interests and his fearless and collaborative approach mark him out as an inspiration across educational disciplines.
The Turing Scheme
The Turing Scheme is a UK government scheme, but the UK government works closely with The Turing Trust in order to ensure the scheme aligns with the Trust’s vision of a world with technology-enabled education for all. Find out more about The Turing Trust.
During the development of the Turing Scheme the UK government engaged with the Turing Estate to ensure the Scheme honours Turing’s remarkable legacy.
The life and work of Alan Turing is also honoured within the Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence.
One of the Institute’s initiatives is the Turing Enrichment Scheme. This scheme offers students currently enrolled on a doctoral programme at a UK university the opportunity to join the Institute for up to 12 months to enhance their research through accessing the facilities and opportunities in data science and artificial intelligence available at The Alan Turing Institute and its partners. Find out more about the Turing Enrichment Scheme.
To note that while they both bear Turing’s name, The Alan Turing Institute is a separate entity and does not have a role running the Turing Scheme.
Visit our funding opportunities page to see how your students, pupils and learners could benefit from a Turing Scheme grant.
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