PhD Studentships (Fixed Term)
Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years.
Up to six fully funded 3 year PhD Studentships (overseas or home) are available to work in the broad area of systems and networks, under the supervision of either Professor Jon Crowcroft or Professor Richard Mortier.
The focus of the research will be in the following two areas:
Future Intelligent Networks (Professor Jon Crowcroft)
Modern compute platforms involve a high degree of centralisation, both in how computational resources are provided and how they are used. For example, a small number of large platform providers enable content delivery to the vast majority of readers, and state of the art scientific modelling uses large centralised high-performance computing facilities. These PhDs will study how to place intelligence in the network as one means to help support greater accountability by, e.g., enabling information accuracy to be validated and dissemination understood, and to improve the sustainability of such platforms by, e.g., moving compute nearer to data sources.
References
"Edge Intelligence: Empowering Intelligence to the Edge of Network",
"Environmental sensor placement with convolutional Gaussian neural processes",
"Generative AI, content provenance and a public service internet ",
https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/publications/2023/digital-content-provenance-bbc/
"Three challenges of our digital age",
https://www.starlinglab.org/challenges/
Next Generation Networks (Professor Richard Mortier)
Several next-generation network approaches support computation in network elements, from the edge to the core. At the same time, AI and other statistical processing techniques have become ever more commonplace. These PhDs will study how to make use of such decentralised but well-connected compute resources to better support and exploit statistical data processing through, e.g., the orchestration of decentralised resources, the application of AI techniques to allocate and exploit resources, and the development of programming techniques that better match the uncertainties inherent in processing of statistical data.
Candidates for these PhD studentships should be highly motivated and enthusiastic individuals capable of thinking and working independently. Applicants are expected to have a First-class honours degree or good upper-second class honours degree from a UK university, or an equivalent standard from an overseas university, in computer science or cognate discipline. A Master's Degree or equivalent experience is also desirable. These positions are open to both UK citizens and overseas students.
Full details of the University's entrance requirements and scholarships are specified on the following link: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/
Application Process
Please make your application through the University Application Portal: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/cscspdpcs Your online application will need to include: Two academic references, an academic transcript, a CV, a developed research proposal of no more than 3,000 words in one of the general areas of research defined above. Please indicate the relevant Professor as a potential supervisor.
Note that you are also encouraged to apply for all available University scholarships in the standard way with your application.
Scope-related enquiries can be made directly to the relevant supervisor by email (Prof Jon Crowcroft jac22@cam.ac.uk or Prof Richard Mortier rmm1002@cam.ac.uk).
Deadline for applications is 4th December 2023. Interviews will take place via Zoom in January 2023.
Please quote reference NR39015 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.
The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.
The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.