Denmark: PhD Scholarships at The IT University of Copenhagen

The IT University of Copenhagen (ITU) invites applications for a number of PhD scholarships starting in the summer of 2008 in any of the research groups represented at ITU.

Programming, Logic and Semantics:
Programming languages, automated reasoning, logical frameworks, proof assistants, semantics, category theory, domain theory, distributed and mobile computing, business processes, concurrency theory, electronic voting.
http://www.itu.dk/research/pls/wiki/index.php/PhDtopics

Center for Computer Games Research:
Game aesthetics, game ontology, game culture, game play, player communities, game design theory, games and human computer interfaces/game testing, and game software development. http://game.itu.dk/

Innovative Communication:
Advanced and innovative communication trends, historical and rhetorical methods of innovation, theories and applications of new media, design and development of interactive technologies in the contexts of prior and emerging cultures of information.
http://www.itu.dk/research/inc/

Computational Logic and Algorithms:
Efficient and mathematically sound solutions to problems arising in logical formulations within planning, scheduling, verification, test, and
configuration; algorithms for searching and storing of large amounts of data.
http://www.itu.dk/research/cla/phd.html

Software Development Group:
Electronic Health Records, user interface software technology, ubiquitous computing, software architectures, empirical studies of software development in organizations, object-oriented methodology and notations, programming language technology for functional and object-oriented languages, and more.
http://www.itu.dk/research/sdg/

Design of Organizational IT:
Computer supported cooperative work, design anthropology, information systems, participatory design, and science and technology studies, design and use of IT involving current and prospective users, IT designers and managers, health care organizations and IT, interaction design.
http://www1.itu.dk/sw49258.asp

For more information about the individual research groups, their research interests and specific PhD projects within their areas, please visit
http://www1.itu.dk/sw40627.asp.

You are also welcome to contact individual members of the faculty directly for more information about their respective research areas.

General information:
A successful applicant will be an excellent student capable of conducting research under supervision by one of ITU’s faculty members and at the highest international level.

The PhD scholarships run for a period of three or four years depending on the educational level of the student. A three-year scholarship can only be awarded to applicants with a Master’s degree equivalent to a Danish graduate degree. Students with the equivalence of 4 years of university studies - where one year (60 ECTS) is transferable to one of the Master of IT programmes at ITU - can be awarded a four year scholarship.

Appointment and salary will be in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC).

Applicants must document that they will be able to fulfill the admission requirements before entering the PhD programme.

Applications, including letter of motivation and project description must be written in English. All other documents, such as transcripts must be accompanied by a translation into English if not already written in English or Danish. Transcripts that are not issued by a country of the European Union are expected to be accompanied with a grade key written in English.

Please read the Guidelines for Applicants carefully and use the ITU application form when applying. Guidelines and Application form are available at: http://www1.itu.dk/sw38325.asp

The application must include:
1. Completed application form
2. Letter of motivation
3. Project description
4. Documentation of previous studies; transcripts, diplomas etc.
5. Brief CV
6. Optional: Copy of thesis and/or up to 3 selected publications and a numbered list of all publications, if any

All application material, including enclosures (see above points 1-6), must be assembled in a manner that makes it easy to copy, i.e. A4 format and unstapled.

You may submit your application electronically (one file per person) in pdf-format to journalen@itu.dk
Please note that applications sent to any other email address will not be taken into consideration. Please write ref. no 225-0033 in the subject line in the mail.

The application in 1 copy including enclosures must also be submitted to:

IT-Universitetet i København
Att.: Journalen
Rued Langgaards Vej 7
2300 KBH. S.
Denmark

Marked: “ref. no 225-0033”

Application deadline: April 7, 2008 at 12.00 noon.

Australia: PhD Scholarship in Statistical Genetics/Bioinformatics, QIMR, Brisbane

Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), Brisbane, Australia / University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Primary supervisor: Dr Stuart Macgregor

Applications: open until position filled. To apply, send CV to stuart.macgregor@qimr.edu.au

Stipend: Fully funded stipend available for ‘home’ applicant (AUS$20K per annum tax free, rising to AUS$25K subject to satisfactory progress). ‘home’ applicant means Australian/New Zealand citizens/permanent residents. International students are still eligible for AUS$20K stipend but may need to pay additional tuition fees – please contact stuart.macgregor@qimr.edu.au for further details. Reasonable relocation expenses available. Funding is tenable for 3 years.

Title: Statistical and computational methods for gene mapping

Description:
The project will focus on statistical and computational methods for locating disease susceptibility genes. This will be based mainly on genome wide association approaches with a particular emphasis on an approach known as DNA pooling. The DNA pooling approach greatly decreases the cost of genome wide association approaches but brings with it a new set of computational and statistical challenges. There will also be scope in the project for work on more general approaches utilising genomewide data, including work on gene expression and related bioinformatics. The project will address a wide range of disease phenotypes and as such can be readily tailored to accommodate the specific interests of the student.

The student will be based in the genetic epidemiology department ( http://genepi.qimr.edu.au/ ) at QIMR, Brisbane. QIMR is one of the largest medical research institutes in the southern hemisphere. The genetic epidemiology department is the single largest grouping at QIMR and employs several internationally renowned researchers in the field.

References:
S. Macgregor, P.M. Visscher, G. Montgomery. 2006. Analysis of pooled DNA samples on high density arrays without prior knowledge of differential hybridization rates. Nucleic Acids Research, 34(7):e55.

S. Macgregor. 2007. Most pooling variation in array based DNA pooling is attributable to array error rather than pool construction error. European Journal of Human Genetics 15: 501-504.

S. Macgregor, Z.Z. Zhao, A. Henders, N.G. Martin, G.W. Montgomery, P.M. Visscher, 2008. Highly cost efficient genome wide association studies using DNA pools and dense SNP arrays, in press, Nucleic Acids Research.

Research Areas: Statistical Genetics, Genetic Epidemiology, Bioinformatics.

Suitable first degree/background: Applicants must hold at least a second class honours degree and/or relevant Masters degree in statistics, biological sciences, mathematics, computer science or a related field. Knowledge of genetics advantageous but not essential. Biological sciences applicants must be able to demonstrate some knowledge of statistics.

France: Postdoc Position in Besancon on Wavelets for Physics

Location: institut UTINAM (UMR CNRS 6213) Besançon, France
Length: 9 months, starting as soon as possible considering the time needed by the person retained to get all the administrative papers necessary to work in France.
Financial conditions:The credits obtained allow us to warrant a gross salary of 1839 € per month, which in reality means 1508 € per month transferred on the bank account.Requested profile:The applicant should preferentially have with experience in numerical analysis concerning implementation of the fast wavelet transform in fortran. Experience of parallelization and/or knowledge of Green’s function techniques and/or knowledge of the scattering matrix formalism in optics would be a plus, but are not required.
In any case, the person retained must have completed his/her PHD since less than 2 years and NOT be of French nationality! Therefore, the applicants should enclose in their application, considerations allowing assessing the time they would need to get the authorization to work in France.
Summary of the project:Since more than 10 years, we have been carrying theoretical studies concerning carbon nanotubes, first in the framework of the French CNRS research group GDR n°1752, then in the European research group GDR-E n°2756). In parallel, we got interested in applying the fast wavelet transform to speed up our simulations which require resolution of integral equations by Green’s function techniques. The limiting step is most of the time the resolution of large and dense systems of linear equations. The idea was to consider the matrix of the system just as an image and to use the fast wavelet transform and a thresholding process to sparsify it. The resulting sparse system is solved by means of specialized techniques and the solution inverse transformed. This was already part of the subject of Rachel Langlet’s PHD thesis co-supervised by Martin Meyer (Mathematics lab of Besançon) and Michel Devel (UTINAM institute of Besançon), with a great help from Yiwei LI (Xidian University, China) during and after his one-month visit in Besançon in July 2004. Thanks to these efforts we now have several pieces of fortran 90 codes, which implement this algorithm for real matrices (of arbitrary size, not necessarily a power of 2), with various levels of refinement. First experiments indicate that we can indeed use far less memory than with the traditional LAPACK based code and also gain in computation speed.
The goal of this post-doc would be to apply the same technique with complex coefficient matrices and possibly parallelize it. This would allow us to simulate interaction with light of carbon nanotubes or carbonaceous soot, with sizes closer to the actual experimental size of these objects than what we can presently do with the LAPACK based code. Cooperation with experimentalists in these fields is already under way.
Contact person :Please send a CV and e-mail and phone numbers of some past collaborators to:
Dr., Michel DEVELInstitut UTINAM, UMR CNRS 621316 route de GRAY,25030 Besançon CEDEX, FRANCEMichel.devel@univ-fcomte.fr (http://www.utinam.cnrs.fr)

UK: PhD Studentship in the Centre for Vision Speech and Signal Processing, University of Surrey

PhD Studentship
Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing
Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences

(Ref: 6435)

This is your opportunity to study for a PhD at the Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing, one of the UK’s premier research centres in Computer Vision. The studentship is available immediately and covers both tuition fees and a maintenance grant for 3 years. Successful applicants will join an expanding research group within the Centre for Vision Speech and Signal Processing, which currently has three professors, a reader and seven lecturers, twenty research fellows and about fifty PhD students. CVSSP has an international reputation for the excellence of its research and, in the last Research Assessment Exercise, the Department (of Electronic Engineering ) was awarded grade 5*A.

The studentship is part of the EU project ‘DIPLECS’ which seeks to design a Cognitive Architecture that can learn how to drive a car by watching a human. The system will be demonstrated in two domains: providing driver feedback in a real car as part of an assisted safety system and in the autonomous control of model RC devices.

The studentship will investigate visual learning in the domain of weak supervision. Such weak supervision could take the form of object categorisation learnt from images gathered from the internet or using linguistics in the form of commentary to build concepts of objects and actions. The focus will be upon the generic techniques to perform learning from noisy unlabelled data.

Candidates should hold a 1st or 2i honours degree or Master degree or equivalent in a scientific discipline (e.g., Engineering, Physics, Mathematics or Computing), and should have good written/spoken English and demonstrate an aptitude for the research area. Prior experience in computer vision, image processing or machine learning would be advantageous.

The studentship is available for UK, EU or overseas students and will include tuition fees and an annual bursary of approximately £12,800. For exceptional candidates an additional top-up may be available. Informal enquiries are welcome and may be made to Dr Richard Bowden (r.bowden@surrey.ac.uk ) or Professor Josef Kittler (j.kittler@surrey.ac.uk )

Applications in the form of a C.V., a statement of research interests and a completed PhD application form (http://www.surrey.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/ ) should be sent to Mrs Nan Bennett by e-mail (n.bennett[ at ]surrey.ac.uk ) or by post to Postgraduate Admissions Office, Registry Student Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH

Please quote Post Ref 6435
Closing date for applications is Friday 8 February 2008

For further information about the University of Surrey, please visit www.surrey.ac.uk
We acknowledge, understand and embrace cultural diversity

UK: PhD Studentship in Mechanical Engineering, Loughborough University

Loughborough University PhD Studentship
Thermofluids Group
Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

“Diesel engine combustion analysis using in-cylinder monitoring”

A postgraduate student is sought who will undertake research on an EPSRC-funded project with industrial support from Ford and Cambustion. The research will focus on understanding the combustion process in automotive diesel engines operating under the demanding constraints of high charge dilution transient operation.

The project will involve primarily experimental research, using a new high-speed single-cylinder research engine combined with rapid emissions measurement and optical diagnostics equipment. The researcher will gain advanced skills and knowledge widely applicable in thermo-fluids research in both industry and academia. The project will involve collaboration with other researchers at Loughborough and with staff at Ford and Cambustion.

The project will be supervised by Dr. Gordon McTaggart-Cowan, Lecturer in Thermofluids, and Professor Colin Garner, Perkins/Royal Academy of Engineering Professor of Applied Thermodynamics.

Loughborough has an extensive track record in engine research, with particular experience in optical assessment of charge motion and combustion processes. Technical support for the project is available from experienced technicians and research associates. The internal combustion engine powertrain laboratory comprises eight engine test cells equipped with extensive emissions measurement capabilities and a wide range of optical, single, and multi-cylinder engines. Further information about the department, researchers, and facilities can be found at: www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/mm

Applicants should hold at least a 2:1 honours degree [or equivalent] in engineering or a related subject. They should be highly motivated and have good communication skills. Previous industrial or research experience would be an asset but is not essential.

The PhD studentship includes a tax-free bursary of at least £12,600 per annum for 3 years, plus fees (at home rates). Funding for outstanding international candidates is also available. The start-date is negotiable but July 1, 2008 would be preferred.

Informal inquiries should be directed to Dr. McTaggart-Cowan at: g.mctaggart-cowan[ at ]lboro.ac.uk, or by telephone at +44 (0) 1509 227575

For an application pack and details of admission requirements please contact:
Ms J R Mason, Research Administrator, Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Loughborough University, Leicestershire, E11 3TU, United Kingdom e-mail: J.R.Mason@lboro.ac.uk

Please quote ref# GMC080109 on any correspondence

The closing date for all applications is February 11, 2008.