Scholarships for PhD study in the School of Informatics
Around fifty research scholarships are available for:
- UK students
- EU students
- students worldwide
Many of these are full scholarships, paying your tuition fees and a
stipend of £13290
to cover living expenses in your first year,
rising in second and third years. The rest pay your fees and/or a
contribution towards living expenses. Payment
of fees for non-EU students is subject to successful competition for
an
Overseas Research Student award.
PhD students are encouraged to make
contributions to teaching, for example by leading tutorial groups, and
for this you can expect to earn an additional £500-1000 per year.
Informatics
Informatics
is the study of information and computation, in both
natural and engineered systems. It comprises a vast range of
scientific and engineering endeavour and has enormous economic and
social impact.
Edinburgh University's School of Informatics
brings together the former
Departments of Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science and Computer
Science, together with the Artificial Intelligence Applications
Institute. The School possesses a combination of breadth and
strength unparallelled elsewhere in the UK and competitive world-wide;
as an intellectual endeavour it is strikingly original.
The School is the biggest and best research group in its area in the
UK: according to the results of the UK government's
2008 Research Assessment Exercise,
it is 44% larger and has 69% more world-leading (4* rated) staff than
its nearest rival. We currently have around 270 students studying for
PhD, and around 140 for MSc.
PhD study
Each PhD student is hosted within one of our six research Institutes:
ANC fosters the study of adaptive processes in both artificial and
biological systems; two themes are the study of artificial learning
systems and the analysis and modelling of brain processes. CISA
undertakes basic and applied research and development in knowledge
representation and reasoning. Through its applications institute AIAI,
it works with others to deploy the technologies associated with this
research. ICCS pursues basic research into the nature of
communication among humans and between humans and machines, using
text, speech and graphics, and the design of interactive dialogue
systems, using computational and algorithmic approaches.
ICSA seeks development of a better understanding of systems
components, both hardware and software, and their integration and
interaction; this involves not only improving their raw performance
and cost-effectiveness, but also making them more connectable and
interoperable, more reliable, more usable and more applicable. The
interests of IPAB are how to link computational perception,
representation, transformation and generation processes to external
worlds---whether real or virtual. The mission of LFCS is to achieve a
foundational understanding of problems and issues arising in
computation and communication through the development of appropriate
and applicable formal models and mathematical theories.
Projects
Below is a list of some current topics of research in the School of
Informatics;
follow the links for some information on each of them.
This is not a complete list, and you are very
welcome to propose a topic that is not on this list.
Please consult our
research directory
and individual staff members'
web pages to learn more about their research interests.
Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation
- Bioinformatics
- Machine Learning
- Neuroinformatics
Centre for Intelligent Systems and their Applications
- Improving Support for Mathematics in Mechanical Theorem Provers
- Multi-Agent Coordination in Open Environments
- Political Coordination Mechanisms
- Collaborative Task-Achieving Teams
- Constraint-based Specifications for System Configuration
- Ontology Evolution
- A Proof Management Tool
- Game-Theoretic Analysis of Multiagent Communication
- Combinatorial Optimisation
Institute for Communicating and Collaborative Systems
- Concurrency in (Computational) Linguistics
- Lexicalized Reasoning
- Building Models of the Past
- Unsupervised Language Learning using Multiple Cues
- Eyetracking Corpora as Experimental Data
- Probabilistic Models of Human Parsing
- Integrating Linguistic and Visual Processing
- Dynamic Bayesian Networks for Speech Recognition
- Probabilistic Approaches to Natural Language Generation
- Probabilistic Models of Text-to-Text Generation
- Robust Construction of Semantics
- Projecting Logical Forms in Parallel Corpora
- A Dynamic Semantic Theory of Dialogue
- A Grammar of Situated Language
- Statistical Methods in Dialogue System Design and Adaptation
- Statistical Machine Translation
- Microphone-Array Based Speech Recognition
- Language Models for Multiparty Conversations
- Hidden Speech Production Models
- Multimodal Information Access
- Head Motion Synthesis for Lifelike Conversational Agents
- Multi-Unit Acoustic Models for Speech Recognition
- Induction of Wide-Coverage Categorial Lexicon from Large Amounts of Unlabeled Text
- Use of Intonation in Spoken Language Generation for Human-Machine Dialogue
- Temporal Semantics
- Grammar-Driven Language Models
- Automated Musical Analysis
- The Statistical Semantic Web
- Extracting and Using Alternatives in Question Answering
- Projecting Discourse Annotation from Parallel Corpora
Institute for Computing Systems Architecture
- Grid Computing
- Speculative Parallelisation for Multiprocessors
- Skeletal Parallel Programming
- Memory-Hierarchy and On-Chip Network Co-Design
- Micro-Architectural Solutions for Fault-Tolerance
- Energy and Thermal-Aware Cache Optimisation
- Dynamic Spectrum Access in Heterogeneous Wireless Network Environments
- Multi-site Performance Optimisation for Parallel Programs
- Data Integration and Data Mining
- Cellular Multiprocessors
- Data-Dependent Processing for Energy-Aware Systems
- Auto-Parallelisation
- Compilers that Learn to Optimise
- Searching the Embedded Program Optimisation Space
- Energy and Area Modelling for Architecture Synthesis
- Noise-Tolerant Asynchronous Circuits
- Top-Down Testability for Self-Timed Circuits
- Delay Fault Testing of Self-Timed Circuits
- Cross-Layer and Coding Techniques for Reliable and Efficient Wireless Networking
- Low-Cost, Robust Networking and Applications for Developing Regions
Institute of Perception, Action and Behaviour
- Behaviour Composition in Video Sequence Analysis
- Fragmentary Behaviour Recognition in Video Sequence Analysis
- High Speed 3D Video Data Analysis
- Insect Robotics
- Mathematical Models of how Surfaces Deform over Time
Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science
- "Bad Smells" in Code
- A Logic of Computational Effects
- A Security Model for XML
- Algebraic and Logical Foundations of Formal Software Development
- Algorithmic Verification of Recursive Probabilistic Systems
- Algorithms for the SAT problem
- Archiving of Scientific Data
- Combinations and Abstractions of Formal Games
- Combining Model Checking and Theorem Proving
- Complexity of Approximate Counting
- Computational Models for Systems Biology
- Concurrency in (Computational) Linguistics
- Constructive Set Theories and their Applications
- Continuous-State Process Calculi: Methods and Tools
- Data Cleaning
- Data Exchange
- Databases and Verification
- Decision Procedures for Higher-Order Grammars
- Decision Procedures for Infinite State Systems
- Deterministic Approximation of Counting Problems
- Engineering Electronic Proof
- Formal Verification Methods for Quantum Systems
- How Liquid is Biological Signalling?
- Hybrid System modelling with HYPE
- Improving Support for Mathematics in Mechanical Theorem Provers
- Incomplete XML and Relational Data and Applications in Data Integration and Exchange)
- Independence-Friendly Temporal Logic
- Information Preserving Schema Mapping
- Integrity Constraints for XML and Beyond
- Keys for XML
- Links: Web Programming, Faster, Better, Cheaper
- Mathematical Models for Concurrent and Mobile Computation
- Modalities for Name Generation: Logic, Proof and the Meaning of New
- Next Generation Authentication
- Partial Evaluation and Distributed Query Processing
- Performance Modelling with Process Algebras
- Proof Carrying Code for the Grid
- Proof Theory for Programs and Processes
- Provenance in Databases
- Questions on Modal mu-Calculi
- Random Structures, Spin Glasses, and Efficient Algorithms
- Randomized Algorithms for Transportation Polytopes
- Rewired: A Computational Approach to the Design of Synthetic Protein
- Rule-Based Models of Biological Signalling
- Schema Matching, Mapping and Embedding
- Schema-Directed XML Publishing
- Security for Mobile Devices
- Spectral Methods in Graph Algorithms
- Topics in Pseudorandomness and Circuit Lower Bounds
- Topological Models of Computation
- Type Systems for Computational Effects
- Vectorizing XML
- Verification of Priced Infinite-state Real-time Systems
- Verses - In Numero Investigation of Very Early Response Systems
- XML Query Languages
Further information
You can email queries about admissions
our Graduate Secretary, while
queries about the research topics above can be sent to individual members of
teaching staff.
Your
application
should be submitted, including transcripts and referee reports, by mid-March.
Earlier applications have access to a
wider range of sources of financial aid. Some important early
application deadlines are as follows:
See our
PhD application FAQ
for detailed information about the application process, and our
PhD funding FAQ
for information about financial aid.
