PhD Studentship: On the simulation of advanced computer networks

The project:

The High Performance Computing (HPC) services of today provide the computational density to perform groundbreaking science. These services facilitate the distribution of a problem space across numerous compute units, yielding performance improvements through parallelising the execution of a workload. Although the design of any one of the computational units in use can significantly impact the performance of a scientific workload, the network that provides the communication between them can serve as an equally disruptive bottleneck for a workload’s performance.

From the perspective of modern HPC networks, various topologies, routing logics, and advanced features, such as in-network computation, combine to form a multitude of options an architect or researcher must consider. Of the tooling used by architects and researchers to navigate this design space, simulators are commonplace and offer a powerful methodology for investigating the efficiencies and pitfalls of potential solutions.

During the PhD programme, a student would be expected to explore the design of advanced computer networks, both through simulation and the direct execution of workloads on real-world implementations. As part of such exploration, the procurement or development of relevant workloads that are representative of real-world behaviours impacted by the design decisions of the networks under study should also be carried out. Additionally, all aspects of simulation and the underlying creation of network models represent a non-trivial exercise. The learnings of such explorations may be applied through the refinement of theoretical network models, representative of possible next-generation HPC networks.

Alongside the University of Bristol's High Performance Computing research group, the PhD programme will be associated with the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS), home to Isambard-AI. BriCS is delivering over 300 million pounds of AI compute, and a successful applicant will be able to work closely with the BriCS team and their collaborators while delivering world-class supercomputer services.

How to apply:

Please select <programme title> on the Programme Choice page. You will be prompted to enter details of the studentship in the Funding and Research Details sections of the form.

Candidate requirements:  Applicants must hold/achieve a minimum of a merit at master’s degree level (or international equivalent) in a science, mathematics or engineering discipline. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree. Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of readiness to pursue a research degree. If English is not your first language, you need to meet this profile level: Profile E Further information about English language requirements and profile levels.

Funding: 4 year University Scholarship - Minimum tax-free stipend at the current UKRI rate (for 2025/26 standard stipend is £20,780, RTSG £7,000, full Tuition Fee covered), plus enhanced stipend per year.

Contacts: For questions about the research topic, please contact Jack Jones at jj16791@bristol.ac.uk . For questions about eligibility and the application process please contact Engineering Postgraduate Research Admissions admissions-engpgr@bristol.ac.uk

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