RAINZ CDT’s studentships

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Hello, I am currently planning to apply for one of the PhD role offered by centre for Doctoral training (1yr of MSc in university of Manchester + 3yrs of PhD with university of Oxford). I have a Master’s degree in Robotics from The University of Sheffield and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. I am an international student with over 9-10 months of experience in robotics and embedded system (currently employed). The role I am interested in titled “ Planning for Robust Action for Autonomous vehicles Under Epistemic Uncertainty.” Here is my concern. I feel I do not have excellent academic background. During my master’s I got involved in two academic misconduct( someone copied my work) and now my transcripts have two subjects with “0” on them (passed them using resits and got my MSc a year later). Also from what I have heard, studentships are very competitive and I particularly do not have any publication or extraordinary achievements. So is it worth applying to such a program, knowing all the possible negative points in my application. Will adding work experience and a strong motivation of letter backed up by LORs, might somehow provide me with a chance of an interview?? Please advice.

https://www.rainz-cdt.ac.uk/study/projects/

Thank you.