10 PhD places in Data Science at the University of Edinburgh

EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Science, University of Edinburgh

10 funded PhD places in Data Science

Web site: http://datascience.inf.ed.ac.uk/

Application deadline: 12 December (non-EU); 30 January (UK and EU)

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Data Science is now inviting applications for 10 fully-funded PhD studentships at the University of Edinburgh, to start in September 2015. Students with a strong background in computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics, or engineering are particularly encouraged to apply.

The CDT focuses on the computational principles, methods, and systems for extracting knowledge from data. Large data sets are now generated by almost every activity in science, society, and commerce — ranging from molecular biology to social media, from sustainable energy to health care. Data science asks: How can we efficiently find patterns in these vast streams of data? Many research areas have tackled parts of this problem:

* machine learning focuses on finding patterns and making predictions from data; * databases are needed for efficiently accessing data and ensuring its quality;
* ideas from algorithms are required to build systems that scale to big data streams;
* the mathematical fields of statistics and optimization provide foundational tools and theory;
* natural language processing, computer vision, and speech processing consider the analysis of different types of unstructured data.

Recently, these distinct disciplines have begun to converge into a single field called data science.

The CDT is a 4-year programme: the first year provides Masters level training in the core areas of data science, along with a significant project. In years 2-4 students will carry out PhD research in Data Science, guided by PhD supervisors from within the centre. The CDT is funded by EPSRC and the University of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh has a large, world-class research community in data science to support the work of the CDT student cohort. The city of Edinburgh has often been voted the ‘best place to live in Britain’, and has many exciting cultural and student activities.

Because of constraints from funding agencies, there are different rules for funding depending on your fee status:

* UK and EU students: Full funding (fees and stipend) is available.
* Non-EU students: Funding is significantly more competitive; for details, please see http://datascience.inf.ed.ac.uk/apply/information-for-non-eu-students/

There are three deadlines for applications:

* 12 December 2014 — all non-EU applicants should apply by this deadline for full consideration
* 30 January 2015 — all UK and EU applicants should apply by this deadline for full consideration
* 13 March 2015 — any remaining UK and EU studentships will be allocated in the third round

See http://datascience.inf.ed.ac.uk/apply/ for further information and application forms.

Enquiries can be sent to datascience@inf.ed.ac.uk