PhD Study : George Moore PhD scholarship in Intelligent Data Analytics

Summary

Within the School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems, the Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC) vision is to develop a bio-inspired computational basis for Artificial Intelligence to power future cognitive technologies. Our mission is to understand how the brain works at multiple levels, from cells to cognition and apply that understanding to create realistic models and construct technologies that solve the complex issues that face people and society.

To accomplish our mission we use a variety of research strategies that include big data and machine learning, brain imaging and neural interfacing, human-computer interaction and robotics. Bioinspired artificial intelligence and machine learning have spurred an era of data analytics that has the potential to revolutionise the way we work and live and many industries and companies are realising that the data they collect have substantial value but they require expertise in data analytics to extract meaningful information from often unstructured data and/or advanced learning capabilities to learn from the data to create intelligent machines and devices that act autonomously to improve products, processes, services and productivity.

The ISRC is the centre of operations for the Cognitive Analytics Research Laboratory (CARL), an Ulster University wide initiative focused on exploiting the centre’s 20-year track record of research excellence into neuro-inspired cognitive analytics, machine learning and computational intelligence, to establish Northern Ireland as a world leading location for data science and analytics, to aid local and global industry exploit data which is now abundant, ubiquitous and increasingly more valuable, across diverse domains such as health, financial technology, media, civic and government, energy and advanced manufacturing.

The successful candidates for these PhD projects will work within CARL and focus on innovations in intelligent systems and data analytics to develop novel analytical methods in one or more the following areas  :

*Self-organising fuzzy neural networks

*Deep learning

*Novel times-series representation methods for deep learning applications

*Mixtures of neural experts

*Hidden Markov Models

*Monte Carlo Methods

*Bayesian Networks

*Reinforcement learning

*Predictive modelling

*Spiking Neural Networks

*Natural language processing/understanding.

The application domain for these methods will be in biosignal processing, time series analytics, language/text evaluation, document analysis, real-time analytics and other data analytics challenges posed by CARL industrial partners. The project will therefore involve contributions to fundamental methods and validation of these methods on challenging real-world datasets.

The PhD candidates will have access to state-of-the-art neuroimaging technologies, hardware and software for data analytics, a high performance computing facility as well computational modelling techniques and will be integrated within and learn from the CARL team of data scientists and engineers with specialist knowledge in various domains as well as from multi-disciplinary teams of researchers at the Intelligent Systems Research Centre. There is significant demand for expertise in data analytics.

The PhD opportunity will enable the successful candidates to gain that expertise and to push the boundaries on the state-of-the-art, and apply their knowledge to develop solutions to challenging industry led problems that will have a significant short-term impact.

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

• Experience using research methods or other approaches relevant to the subject domain

Desirable Criteria

If the University receives a large number of applicants for the project, the following desirable criteria may be applied to shortlist applicants for interview.

• First Class Honours (1st) Degree
• Masters at 70%
• For VCRS Awards, Masters at 75%
• Publications - peer-reviewed

Funding and eligibility

This project is funded by:

• Dr George Moore Scholarship

The scholarships will cover tuition fees and a maintenance award of £15,009 per annum for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance). Applications are invited from UK, European Union and overseas students.