PhD Studentship in Computer Science: Deep Learning and Foundation Models

Award Summary

100% Home fees covered and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £17,668 (2022-23 UKRI rate) 

Overview

A unique studentship opportunity to join a team with a world-class reputation is offered by the School of Computing, Newcastle University. You will work on Deep Learning and Foundation Models in this fully funded PhD project. The project expects you to work on Deep Neural Networks focusing on Adversarial Deep Learning and Self Supervised Learning. Self-supervised learning, the so-called Dark Matter of Intelligence, is the future of AI. In this project, a novel deep neural network architecture design will take inspiration from neuroscience and complex network fields to solve computer vision tasks such as scene understanding in autonomous vehicles (AV) and self-driving cars using large vision models. Scene understanding using deep learning remains an open challenge, and we aim to solve a few challenging computer vision problems. We partner with companies and international institutions with self-driving testbeds, and you will have a chance to visit partners to perform validations in the AV testbed. We will also closely work with Newcastle Urban Observatory. AV will become an area of great industrial and academic research interest with increasing demand for highly talented people in the UK and world. This project aims to prepare one such talent. You work along with highly talented researchers already working on AV and similar research projects. You have training available each year through International Summer Schools and Conferences at leading machine-learning venues.

Number Of Awards

1

Start Date

September 2023

Award Duration

3.5 years

Application Closing Date

15 June 2023

Sponsor

School of Computing, Newcastle University 

Supervisors

Dr Varun Ojha 

Eligibility Criteria

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in Computer Science or related subject relevant for this project. 

Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills. 

The studentship covers fees at Home rate (UK and EU applicants with pre-settled/settled status and meet the residency criteria). International applicants are welcome to apply but will be required to cover the difference between Home and International fees. 

International applicants may require an ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) clearance certificate prior to obtaining their visa and to study on this programme. 

How To Apply

You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal 

Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’. 

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study: 

• Search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8050F 
• Research Area: Computing Science  
• Select PhD Computer Science as the programme of study 

You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Questions’ section: 

• A ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) - upload a document or write a statement directly in to the application form 
• A CV, optionally with a list of publications 
• The studentship code COMP2143 in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field 
• When prompted regarding your research proposal - select ‘Write Proposal’. You should then type in the title of the research project from this advert. Candidates with reelvant expereince are welcome to write their research proposals (max one page) on the mentioned research lines. 

Contact Details

Dr Varun Ojha 

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