University of St Andrews

Project description

Collecting and sharing real network data is vital for good network science, but it is necessary to do so in an ethical and privacy-sensitive fashion. We run the world's largest repository of wireless network data, CRAWDAD (http://crawdad.org/), used by thousands of researchers including about a hundred from Brazil. As part of building the next generation of this archive, this project will use differential privacy (Dwork, ICALP 2006) to building a privacy-aware workflow system to ensure that researchers can easily collect and share wireless network data while ensuring the privacy of the users of the networks being monitored.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Tristan Henderson

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The networks research activities focus on real-world systems and experimental evaluation to demonstrate the efficacy of our ideas. There is consideration of whole systems with is specific focus on architecture, protocols, applications and specific engineering issues. We are systems-based and undertake work on technical objectives (measurement of systems, performance evaluations, systems architectures, new applications), but are keen to address real-world priorities, such as education, security & privacy, energy, and health. We are already active in international collaborations, and see that there are synergies with our on-going work, as well as the national priorities of both the UK and Brazil.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

The idea of an ad-hoc cloud is to deploy cloud services over an organization's existing infrastructure, rather than using dedicated machines within data centres. Key to this approach is the ability to manage the use of computational and storage resources on individual machines, by the cloud infrastructure, to the extent that the cloud is sufficiently non-intrusive that individuals will permit its operation on their machines. This research will investigate how this may be achieved.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Graham Kirby & Alan Dearle

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed.

Additional notes

n/a

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

One of the reasons for the success of the World Wide Web has been the ease with which it is possible to run services and access resources. The 3D Internet offers the potential to bring new levels of engagement and awareness of presence through avatars and enhanced interaction both with the network resources and fellow participants. The infrastructure to support 3D applications in hosts, servers and the network is available and affordable. Yet accessibility is yet to be addressed and persistence of presence is in its infancy. The challenges of this research are to enable access to the 3D Internet to be as simple as following a web link and to enable users to project a consistent presence across heterogeneous 3D applications.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Alan Miller

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The networks research activities focus on real-world systems and experimental evaluation to demonstrate the efficacy of our ideas. There is consideration of whole systems with is specific focus on architecture, protocols, applications and specific engineering issues. We are systems-based and undertake work on technical objectives (measurement of systems, performance evaluations, systems architectures, new applications), but are keen to address re al-world priorities, such as education, security & privacy, energy, and health. We are already active in international collaborations, and see that there are synergies with our on-going work, as well as the national priorities of both the UK and Brazil.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

The way in which we build cloud based applications is fundamentally flawed. We are running applications within virtual machines that run operating systems whose design principles are rooted in the hardware architectures of the 1960s. This project will rethink the application stack from the ground up - starting with operating systems that run within virtual machines. The aim is to investigate new operating systems that run within virtual machines in a cloud environment. It is expected that such systems will be simpler, greener, more efficient and easier to program than is possible with current environments such as the Linux LAMP stack. This project is suitable for students with an interest in software engineering, cloud computing and operating systems.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Alan Dearle

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed.

Additional notes

n/a

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Application platforms for the 3D Internet such as Open Virtual Worlds (OVWs) offer engagement similar to computer games and the flexibility to enable the development of heterogeneous educational and business applications. They contain within the application multiple traffic types. There are avatar control packets similar to computer games, textures similar to the Web and media streams similar to Voice Over IP and video conferencing. The challenge is to design, develop and evaluate application level congestion control and QoS aware mechanisms that manage OVW traffic so that the application is responsive to user needs and is able to adapt to a wide range of network access technologies and congestion regimes.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Alan Miller

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The networks research activities focus on real-world systems and experimental evaluation to demonstrate the efficacy of our ideas. There is consideration of whole systems with is specific focus on architecture, protocols, applications and specific engineering issues. We are systems-based and undertake work on technical objectives (measurement of systems, performance evaluations, systems architectures, new applications), but are keen to address real-world priorities, such as education, security & privacy, energy, and health. We are already active in international collaborations, and see that there are synergies with our on-going work, as well as the national priorities of both the UK and Brazil.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

An increasing number of interactive displays of different sizes, portability and form factors are now in common use. We can also see people using multiple displays connected to a single machine or displays as part of different devices. However, applications are primarily designed to operate on a single computer with a single logical display. Instead applications might be realised that effectively take advantage of the wide range of input, affordances, and output capability of these multi-display, multi-device and multi-user environments. However, apart from building one-off software to support such multi-display, multi-device and even multi-user applications what are the tools, techniques and technologies needed to support software engineers, application designers, developers and interactions designers in realising applications which can logically spread from one device to many as and when they become available and can be appropriated.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Aaron Quigley

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  Simone DJ Barbosa, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC) (simone@inf.puc-rio.br)

Additional notes

We are looking for a student interested in the infrastructure and design challenges of applications in multi-display environments. This project will be undertaken in SACHI: The St Andrews Computer Human Interaction research group (a HCI Group). This group includes leading academics in the field of HCI. Our members have had central roles in conferences such as CHI, MobileHCI, UIST, ITS, LoCA and Pervasive. We publish in top-tier venues and work with leading researchers internationally. As a group we co-supervise our research students, collaborate on various funded projects and activities with industry and domain experts. We have an international HCI seminar series and our members have access to a dedicated HCI laboratory with specialist equipment including a Microsoft Surface 2 and 1, DiamondTouch, eye tracker, Optitrack and a range of mobile, tablet and novel interface technologies.  Our areas of interest and PhD topics on offer include, Ubiquitous Computing, Information Visualisation, Tactile Interfaces, Multi-display Environments and Natural Language and Gestures. We seek students curious to advance HCI research with more sophisticated interfaces and interaction, which can harness evermore powerful, embedded and interconnected computation.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

As the use of software becomes more widespread in a variety of domains, traditional assumptions about static requirements, operating conditions and resource availability no longer hold. Therefore it is important for modern software systems to be designed and implemented taking into account the possibility of uncertainty originating from stakeholders, business conditions and execution environments. Software architecture is recognised as a vital basis for both the development and evolution of systems as well as the early analysis of reliability and consistency. If we are to anticipate and manage uncertainty in software then the architecture must also capture points and types of uncertainty at a suitable level of abstraction. Most existing work on uncertainty with respect to software architecture focuses on determining or predicting reliability of systems based on structural and behavioural information from their architecture. Dynamic architecture description languages (ADLs) already allow some uncertainty to be expressed, such as variation in the cardinality and connectivity of components, while product line architectures identify explicit points of variation where one of a number of options may be chosen. However, achieving the goal of developing systems for uncertain environments requires that software architectures support a well-defined model of uncertainty, which can be used in later development and maintenance. This project aims to express uncertainty as an integral and essential aspect of software architecture, specifying ideal and acceptable properties of systems. It will involve exploring possible sources and points of uncertainty at the architectural level, expressing these in a coherent model and implementing and evaluating the model. Grasp, a general purpose ADL designed and developed at St Andrews, can be used as a starting point for the work. The quality and potential uses of the uncertainty model may be evaluated in the context of a specific application domain.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Dharini Balasubramaniam

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

n/a

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Information Visualization is a discipline whose goal is to enable people to better analyse data and obtain new insights through interactive visual representations. One fundamental but often overlooked element of visualisations is the labels and texts used within. Text and labels are interesting because they have a symbolic component (the meaning of the text), as well as a graphical component (the shape of the glyphs). This project is focused on the study of the relationship between text and font glyphs and their use in innovative ways to improve information visualisation tasks. The project involves the creation of new types of glyphs through computational procedures and their use in the context of scientific, social, and artistic data visualisations.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Miguel Nacenta

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

This project will be undertaken in SACHI: The St Andrews Computer Human Interaction research group (a HCI Group). This group includes leading academics in the field of HCI. Our members have had central roles in conferences such as CHI, MobileHCI, UIST, ITS, LoCA and Pervasive. We publish in top-tier venues and work with leading researchers internationally. As a group we co-supervise our research students, collaborate on various funded projects and activities with industry and domain experts. We have an international HCI seminar series and our members have access to a dedicated HCI laboratory with specialist equipment including a Microsoft Surface 2 and 1, DiamondTouch, eye tracker, Optitrack and a range of mobile, tablet and novel interface technologies.  Our areas of interest and PhD topics on offer include, Ubiquitous Computing, Information Visualisation, Tactile Interfaces, Multi-display Environments and Natural Language and Gestures. We seek students curious to advance HCI research with more sophisticated interfaces and interaction, which can harness evermore powerful, embedded and interconnected computation

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Constraint solvers are used in many areas where we can express constraints on a problem and need good solutions as fast as possible.  They have been used for tasks as diverse as scheduling protein assayers, parsing the Sanskrit language, and designing wildlife corridors for bears.  St Andrews is a research leader in this area, and a key interest is the design of constraint propagators.   These are the engines which deduce the consequences of a constraint very efficiently.  We have many research ideas for how to make better propagators and welcome help in doing so!

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Ian Gent

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the study of making computers able to do sophisticated tasks independently, and can range from obviously difficult tasks -- such as playing chess --  to ones which seem easier to people but which actually are incredibly difficult to automate -- like driving cars.   Huge advances have been made over decades, and now the best chess players in the world are computers and driverless cars are legal in Nevada.    At St Andrews we focus on several exciting areas of Artificial Intelligence, such as Neural Networks, Constraint Programming, Natural Language Processing, and Machine Learning.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp) is a model of computing in which computation is everywhere and computer functions are integrated into everything. Ubicomp will be built around the basic objects, environments and the activities of our everyday lives in such a way that no one will notice its presence. However, when it becomes indistinguishable will we understand how to interact with it? This project aims to explore novel interfaces to existing physical artifacts in our environment such as printed books. Instead of e-books or printed books with embedded computation can we develop the interaction styles required for digital physical processing and real-time sensing? 

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Aaron Quigley

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

We are looking for a student interested in novel interfaces and tracking techniques and algorithms and looking seeking to explore how we handle new forms of interface. This project will be undertaken in SACHI: The St Andrews Computer Human Interaction research group (a HCI Group). This group includes leading academics in the field of HCI. Our members have had central roles in conferences such as CHI, MobileHCI, UIST, ITS, LoCA and Pervasive. We publish in top-tier venues and work with leading researchers internationally. As a group we co-supervise our research students, collaborate on various funded projects and activities with industry and domain experts. We have an international HCI seminar series and our members have access to a dedicated HCI laboratory with specialist equipment including a Microsoft Surface 2 and 1, DiamondTouch, eye tracker, Optitrack and a range of mobile, tablet and novel interface technologies.  Our areas of interest and PhD topics on offer include, Ubiquitous Computing, Information Visualisation, Tactile Interfaces, Multi-display Environments and Natural Language and Gestures. We seek students curious to advance HCI research with more sophisticated interfaces and interaction, which can harness evermore powerful, embedded and interconnected computation

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

End-user programming systems allow users without programming skills to create their own programs. These systems democratize the creation of programs, similar to how blogs and Twitter democratized web journalism. However, the challenge is to design systems that enable users to create non-trivial programs. In this project we want to leverage our expertise on understanding speech and freeform gestures to conceive new innovative ways for non-programmers to create interesting programs. The project involves using our state-of-the-art technology to create a tangible programming environment that uses sensors, such as the Kinect, to provide an intuitive way for everyone to become a programmer.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Per Ola Kristensson

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

This project will be undertaken in SACHI: The St Andrews Computer Human Interaction research group (a HCI Group). This group includes leading academics in the field of HCI. Our members have had central roles in conferences such as CHI, MobileHCI, UIST, ITS, LoCA and Pervasive. We publish in top-tier venues and work with leading researchers internationally. As a group we co-supervise our research students, collaborate on various funded projects and activities with industry and domain experts. We have an international HCI seminar series and our members have access to a dedicated HCI laboratory with specialist equipment including a Microsoft Surface 2 and 1, DiamondTouch, eye tracker, Optitrack and a range of mobile, tablet and novel interface technologies.  Our areas of interest and PhD topics on offer include, Ubiquitous Computing, Information Visualisation, Tactile Interfaces, Multi-display Environments and Natural Language and Gestures. We seek students curious to advance HCI research with more sophisticated interfaces and interaction, which can harness evermore powerful, embedded and interconnected computation

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

The ICT industry has a carbon footprint that is second only to the aviation industry, and looks set to increase significantly as more people continue to make significant use of ICT systems. Much effort has been focused on improving the efficiency of data centres that provide ICT services and there is now understanding of how to build very energy-efficient data centres. However, increasing consolidation of data centres is likely to be significantly overtaken by the increase in demand from users, by both the increase in the number of users and in their individual consumption of services. So, we would like to make applications, protocols and users “energy-aware” so that they can also play a role in reducing energy usage.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Saleem Bhatti

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The networks research activities focus on real-world systems and experimental evaluation to demonstrate the efficacy of our ideas. There is consideration of whole systems with is specific focus on architecture, protocols, applications and specific engineering issues. We are systems-based and undertake work on technical objectives (measurement of systems, performance evaluations, systems architectures, new applications), but are keen to address real-world priorities, such as education, security & privacy, energy, and health. We are already active in international collaborations, and see that there are synergies with our on-going work, as well as the national priorities of both the UK and Brazil.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Security/trust issues are increasingly prevalent and commonplace, with many high-profile recent breaches.  Addressing such concerns is critical to the development and effective use of important new and emerging technologies based around e.g. cloud computing, mobile computing or the internet of things, where even basic identities may be uncertain.  In fact, 3/4 of UK Chief Information Officers see security as being the major barrier to cloud adoption.  This project will work with major national and international industry partners and academia to develop new, effective measures for dealing with security based on advanced domain-specific languages, exploiting new and advanced type mechanisms.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Kevin Hammond & Edwin Brady

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

n/a

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

This PhD will initially study the potential of the latest stages of computer and network evolution for creating the next generation of learning resources, including: virtual worlds; using the Cloud for education and management of education; mobile learning; the intelligent campus.  A particular topic will then be taken forward in depth. Past and current PhDs have focussed on the creation of novel learning resources for computer networks which are subject to network measurement, analysis and adaptivity, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the learning experience.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Colin Allison

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The networks research activities focus on real-world systems and experimental evaluation to demonstrate the efficacy of our ideas. There is consideration of whole systems with is specific focus on architecture, protocols, applications and specific engineering issues. We are systems-based and undertake work on technical objectives (measurement of systems, performance evaluations, systems architectures, new applications), but are keen to address real-world priorities, such as education, security & privacy, energy, and health. We are already active in international collaborations, and see that there are synergies with our on-going work, as well as the national priorities of both the UK and Brazil.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Software architectures provide a high level model of a system, capturing both functional and quality requirements and identifying stakeholder priorities. Formal architecture definitions, such as those specified in architecture description languages, can be checked for consistency and conformance and translated into code. However, most industrial practitioners prefer UML diagrams or informal notations to capture architectures. While this reduces learning time and effort required during development, not all benefits of software architectures can be realised without precise specifications. This project involves investigating and developing a solution to the conflict between rigour and business reality in using software architectures in industry.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Dharini Balasubramaniam

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

n/a

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

There are a growing number of areas where large data sets have to be learnt by artificial neural networks. Imitative learning of human movement for incorporation into robots through neural control is one example, neural classification or trend identification for bio-medical data is another. Such data may also increase over time so that continual learning is needed. This project investigates new approaches to large scale learning involving correspondingly large neural architectures. The aim is to attain levels of performance similar to 20Q [1] across a wide variety of applications on a generic basis. [1] http://www.20q.net

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  M. K. Weir

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the study of making computers able to do sophisticated tasks independently, and can range from obviously difficult tasks -- such as playing chess -- to ones which seem easier to people but which actually are incredibly difficult to automate -- like driving cars.   Huge advances have been made over decades, and now the best chess players in the world are computers and driverless cars are legal in Nevada.    At St Andrews we focus on several exciting areas of Artificial Intelligence, such as Neural Networks, Constraint Programming, Natural Language Processing, and Machine Learning.  

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Investigate how one can modify a finite presentation of a group (or monoid), such that it still presents an isomorphic group, but is more susceptible to Small Cancellation Theory. This is a topic which is in the context of the EPSRC funded project "Algorithmic Generalisations of Small Cancellation Theory" involving Colva Roney-Dougal, Max Neunhöffer, Steve Linton and Jeff Burdges (RA). The aim is to employ a combination of geometric, word-combinatorial and computational techniques to obtain a new generation of efficient algorithms for dealing with finitely presented groups. (this project is interdisciplinary and is also listed in maths).

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months in UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Steve Linton, Max Neunhoeffer and Colva Roney-Dougal

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed

Additional notes

Research in this theme involves close cooperation with the Algebra and Combinatorics research group in the School of Mathematics & Statistics, under the umbrella of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Computational Algebra. We study algorithms and systems for the application of computers to problems in discrete mathematics. We are a main development site of the GAP system (www.gap-system.org). Our work exploits a “virtuous circle” where theory informs algorithms, which are implemented in our systems with which we perform experiments that suggest new theory. We also work with other computer algebra systems such as Maple and applications in other sciences. GAP Interpreter enhancements The GAP system has an unusual dynamic type system in which objects may change type many times in their lives and methods for operations are chosen based on the types of all their arguments. There are a number of possible PhD projects exploring extensions to this system, and/or exploring how it interacts with standard interpreter techniques such as just-in-time compilation.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Investigate how one can modify a finite presentation of a group (or monoid), such that it still presents an isomorphic group, but is more susceptible to Small Cancellation Theory. This is a topic which is in the context of the EPSRC funded project "Algorithmic Generalisations of Small Cancellation Theory" involving Colva Roney-Dougal, Max Neunhöffer, Steve Linton and Jeff Burdges (RA). The aim is to employ a combination of geometric, word-combinatorial and computational techniques to obtain a new generation of efficient algorithms for dealing with finitely presented groups. (this project is interdisciplinary and is also listed in maths).

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months in UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Steve Linton, Max Neunhoeffer & Colva Roney-Dougal

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

Research in this theme involves close cooperation with the Algebra and Combinatorics research group in the School of Mathematics & Statistics, under the umbrella of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Computational Algebra. We study algorithms and systems for the application of computers to problems in discrete mathematics. We are a main development site of the GAP system (www.gap-system.org). Our work exploits a “virtuous circle” where theory informs algorithms, which are implemented in our systems with which we perform experiments that suggest new theory. We also work with other computer algebra systems such as Maple and applications in other sciences. GAP Interpreter enhancements The GAP system has an unusual dynamic type system in which objects may change type many times in their lives and methods for operations are chosen based on the types of all their arguments. There are a number of possible PhD projects exploring extensions to this system, and/or exploring how it interacts with standard interpreter techniques such as just-in-time compilation.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

The goal of this project is to analyse existing representations of music as used by composers of many levels (professional, classic, amateur, contemporary, children, improvised) and create new alternatives that can bring the possibilities of new interaction devices (e.g., multi-touch tables) to the realm of composition. This project will make use of information visualisation techniques to provide novel ways of representing music in graphical, sound, and interactive forms, as well as new technologies such as multi-touch, gesture, and multi-display environments to enable interactivity and performance.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Miguel Nacenta

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed.

Additional notes

This project will be undertaken in SACHI: The St Andrews Computer Human Interaction research group (a HCI Group). This group includes leading academics in the field of HCI. Our members have had central roles in conferences such as CHI, MobileHCI, UIST, ITS, LoCA and Pervasive. We publish in top-tier venues and work with leading researchers internationally. As a group we co-supervise our research students, collaborate on various funded projects and activities with industry and domain experts. We have an international HCI seminar series and our members have access to a dedicated HCI laboratory with specialist equipment including a Microsoft Surface 2 and 1, DiamondTouch, eye tracker, Optitrack and a range of mobile, tablet and novel interface technologies.  Our areas of interest and PhD topics on offer include, Ubiquitous Computing, Information Visualisation, Tactile Interfaces, Multi-display Environments and Natural Language and Gestures. We seek students curious to advance HCI research with more sophisticated interfaces and interaction, which can harness evermore powerful, embedded and interconnected computation

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Many problems require the integration of large-scale distributed data and computing. To meet the data storage and computing demands, data-centric applications are increasingly relying on cloud computing services. Clouds are however centrally hosted and managed; in order to run your application in the cloud sets of highly distributed data and computation must be moved to one centralised location for processing. In a world where data sets and computation are owned and maintained by different institutions this can be an unrealistic assumption. This research will explore the challenges of building applications consisting of multiple standalone, distributed clouds. Challenges includes: cloud interoperability, reducing wide-area network transfer between interoperating clouds through proxies and in-network data caching, and cloud resource selection given metrics such as cost and performance. A range of other projects are also available.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Professor Ian Sommerville

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed

Additional notes

Cloud computing research at St Andrews is concerned with how to create, measure and configure clouds and how to use cloud-based systems effectively for business. Current projects include projects concerned with migrating high-value software services to the cloud, cloud cost modelling, cloud energy measurement and optimisation, application modelling for cloud migration, clouds to support e-science and cloud service architectures. We have a small experimental cloud and make extensive use of cloud services from providers such as Amazon and Heroku.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Many projects are collecting huge volumes of sensor information that needs to be stored, managed, manipulated, re-purposed and presented on the web. The tools for this remain primitive, and could be massively improved by recording the provenance of the data collected, its metadata, and the processes by which it has been manipulated. This project will explore using current developments in provenance modelling to integrate the capture, recording and manipulation of provenance into large-scale sensor data stores.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Simon Dobson

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The systems, languages and networks theme encompasses the design, implementation and analysis of systems ranging from sensor networks and embedded systems, through medium- and large-scale applications, to enterprise, cloud and internet systems. The School has a deep interest in programming language and compiler design, mathematical models of system and network behaviour, protocol development, and evaluation across all scales.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Sensor networks are an essential component of much recent science, especially in areas such as environment and agriculture management, disaster warning and recovery. Such systems remain hard for scientists to program, however, since they require a detailed knowledge of low-level computing concepts to get working effectively. This project will explore a novel approach to sensor network development, focusing on creating languages and systems so that science-level "missions" can be used to drive and adapt a sensor network deployed in the field. It will this topic end-to-end, developing the software tooling needed and evaluating the resulting system in realistic scientific scenarios.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Simon Dobson

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The systems, languages and networks theme encompasses the design, implementation and analysis of systems ranging from sensor networks and embedded systems, through medium- and large-scale applications, to enterprise, cloud and internet systems. The School has a deep interest in programming language and compiler design, mathematical models of system and network behaviour, protocol development, and evaluation across all scales.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Our daily and work lives are already populated by a multitude of devices with different capabilities in terms of input, output, resolution and mobility. However, the connection and interaction with those devices is still mostly restricted to isolated operations on individual devices and, at most, transfer of files across them. This project will focus on the creation of interfaces where users and displays are aware of each other and work together to provide seamless interaction. The project will explore solutions in a range of technologies such as low-resolution high-coverage displays and attentional resource modelling.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Miguel Nacenta

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

This project will be undertaken in SACHI: The St Andrews Computer Human Interaction research group (a HCI Group). This group includes leading academics in the field of HCI. Our members have had central roles in conferences such as CHI, MobileHCI, UIST, ITS, LoCA and Pervasive. We publish in top-tier venues and work with leading researchers internationally. As a group we co-supervise our research students, collaborate on various funded projects and activities with industry and domain experts. We have an international HCI seminar series and our members have access to a dedicated HCI laboratory with specialist equipment including a Microsoft Surface 2 and 1, DiamondTouch, eye tracker, Optitrack and a range of mobile, tablet and novel interface technologies.  Our areas of interest and PhD topics on offer include, Ubiquitous Computing, Information Visualisation, Tactile Interfaces, Multi-display Environments and Natural Language and Gestures. We seek students curious to advance HCI research with more sophisticated interfaces and interaction, which can harness evermore powerful, embedded and interconnected computation

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Home networking stands at the boundary of pervasive computing, next generation networks and the internet of things. This PhD will initially study all aspects of home networking, including the numerous technical and usability dimensions before identifying a particular topic to focus on more depth.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Colin Alison

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The networks research activities focus on real-world systems and experimental evaluation to demonstrate the efficacy of our ideas. There is consideration of whole systems with is specific focus on architecture, protocols, applications and specific engineering issues. We are systems-based and undertake work on technical objectives (measurement of systems, performance evaluations, systems architectures, new applications), but are keen to address real-world priorities, such as education, security & privacy, energy, and health. We are already active in international collaborations, and see that there are synergies with our on-going work, as well as the national priorities of both the UK and Brazil.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Under the EPSRC funded “HPC-GAP” project we are developing parallel extensions to the GAP system to allow mathematical computations to take advantage of modern computers and clusters. There is scope for a number of PhD projects applying this framework to major areas of computational algebra, such as permutation groups, exact linear algebra and finitely-presented groups. Sandwich projects in this area could surely be developed in cooperation with the excellent algebra group at the University of Brazilia (Sidki).

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Steve Linton & Max Neunhoeffer

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed.

Additional notes

Research in this theme involves close cooperation with the Algebra and Combinatorics research group in the School of Mathematics & Statistics, under the umbrella of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Computational Algebra. We study algorithms and systems for the application of computers to problems in discrete mathematics. We are a main development site of the GAP system (www.gap-system.org). Our work exploits a “virtuous circle” where theory informs algorithms, which are implemented in our systems with which we perform experiments that suggest new theory. We also work with other computer algebra systems such as Maple and applications in other sciences. GAP Interpreter enhancements The GAP system has an unusual dynamic type system in which objects may change type many times in their lives and methods for operations are chosen based on the types of all their arguments. There are a number of possible PhD projects exploring extensions to this system, and/or exploring how it interacts with standard interpreter techniques such as just-in-time compilation.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Modelling is a key element in reducing the complexity of software systems during their development and maintenance. In model-driven engineering (MDE), models and model transformations play essential roles in software development. A model is an abstract description of an artifact, and model transformations are used to generate new models out of existing ones. Model-to-model transformations, for instance, can be used to normalise, weave, optimise, simulate and refactor models, as well as to translate between modelling languages.

This project is about specifying a choice of non-functional properties of a system (performance and /or dependability attributes such as reliability, security, safety, etc) as (parametric) model annotations and implement a model-driven parametric transformation between the annotated model and the underlying model used in an analysis tool (e.g., UPPALL, PIPE2, etc). The idea is that different kinds of annotations (and hence their associated models), can be mapped onto different formal models for different analyses.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Juliana Bowles

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed

Additional notes

n/a

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

---

Project description

Ubiquitous computing environments that can sense users' activities introduce a raft of new privacy threats. Building on our previous work in privacy metaphors (Pervasive 2007) and more recent work on privacy recommender systems for location-aware services (RecSys PeMA2011), this project will use machine-learning to build systems that can dynamically predict privacy preferences for ubicomp users. There are two research questions: is it possible to predict a user's privacy preferences accurately and without leaking private data; can prediction help build systems that observe users' actual privacy preferences, rather than the limited ones that can be expressed through existing systems.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Tristan Henderson

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The networks research activities focus on real-world systems and experimental evaluation to demonstrate the efficacy of our ideas. There is consideration of whole systems with is specific focus on architecture, protocols, applications and specific engineering issues. We are systems-based and undertake work on technical objectives (measurement of systems, performance evaluations, systems architectures, new applications), but are keen to address real-world priorities, such as education, security & privacy, energy, and health. We are already active in international collaborations, and see that there are synergies with our on-going work, as well as the national priorities of both the UK and Brazil.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Worldwide, a huge amount of money and resources is put into health services. To improve efficiency of the existing service, to provide new services, and to cope with growing demand, there is great interest in moving to more ICT support in health systems – eHealth. One particular interest is in remote collection of biomedical data through personal devices such as smartphones. Enabling remote monitoring of patients – gathering biomedical data from patients using public infrastructure – would help provide better care, but also relieve pressure on existing health services. Such remote monitoring raises critical concerns for personal privacy. This project would explore how eHealth systems can be integrated in to existing Internet infrastructure, with a specific focus on respect to privacy and security.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Saleem Bhatti

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The networks research activities focus on real-world systems and experimental evaluation to demonstrate the efficacy of our ideas. There is consideration of whole systems with is specific focus on architecture, protocols, applications and specific engineering issues. We are systems-based and undertake work on technical objectives (measurement of systems, performance evaluations, systems architectures, new applications), but are keen to address real-world priorities, such as education, security & privacy, energy, and health. We are already active in international collaborations, and see that there are synergies with our on-going work, as well as the national priorities of both the UK and Brazil.

 

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

---

Project description

Multicore/manycore computers represent a shift in computer architecture, offering cheap, high-performance, low-energy computing. New, heterogeneous systems (e.g. Knights' Landing) massively complicate the problem. Programming such systems effectively represents a major challenge (according to some key industrial figures, the only real challenge in Computer Science). Programmers need to go beyond their current models, and start to think parallel using new approaches that can deal with hundreds of thousands or millions of parallel computations. The project will involve working with our industrial partners in the UK and overseas to develop new programming models and tools for the latest hardware developments.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Kevin Hammond

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

n/a

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

The semantic web offers enormous promise as a way of letting us place scientific data on the web and manipulate it using automated tools, as well as improving businesses' and governments' abilities to share data effectively. The programming tools for creating programs with the semantic web are primitive, however, and it is by no means clear how we should integrate data using ontologies, RDF and other technologies effectively into programming languages. This project will develop programming language approaches to programming with highly enriched, semantically complex data. It will develop the types, structures and other aspects needed to program effectively with such data, and demonstrate them against concrete semantic web problems.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Simon Dobson

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s): To be confirmed.

Additional notes

The systems, languages and networks theme encompasses the design, implementation and analysis of systems ranging from sensor networks and embedded systems, through medium- and large-scale applications, to enterprise, cloud and internet systems. The School has a deep interest in programming language and compiler design, mathematical models of system and network behaviour, protocol development, and evaluation across all scales.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

---

Project description

Ubiquitous computing environments that can sense users' activities introduce a raft of new privacy threats. Building on our previous work in privacy metaphors (Pervasive 2007) and more recent work on privacy recommender systems for location-aware services (RecSys PeMA 2011), this project will use machine-learning to build systems that can dynamically predict privacy preferences for ubicomp users. There are two research questions: is it possible to predict a user's privacy preferences accurately and without leaking private data; can prediction help build systems that observe users' actual privacy preferences, rather than the limited ones that can be expressed through existing systems.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Tristan Henderson

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

This crosses the areas of networks and HCI and a student undertaking this project will bridge both areas.

 

The networks research activities focus on real-world systems and experimental evaluation to demonstrate the efficacy of our ideas. There is consideration of whole systems with is specific focus on architecture, protocols, applications and specific engineering issues. We are systems-based and undertake work on technical objectives (measurement of systems, performance evaluations, systems architectures, new applications), but are keen to address real-world priorities, such as education, security & privacy, energy, and health. We are already active in international collaborations, and see that there are synergies with our on-going work, as well as the national priorities of both the UK and Brazil.

SACHI: The St Andrews Computer Human Interaction research group (a HCI Group). This group includes leading academics in the field of HCI. Our members have had central roles in conferences such as CHI, MobileHCI, UIST, ITS, LoCA and Pervasive. We publish in top-tier venues and work with leading researchers internationally. As a group we co-supervise our research students, collaborate on various funded projects and activities with industry and domain experts. We have an international HCI seminar series and our members have access to a dedicated HCI laboratory with specialist equipment including a Microsoft Surface 2 and 1, DiamondTouch, eye tracker, Optitrack and a range of mobile, tablet and novel interface technologies.  Our areas of interest and PhD topics on offer include, Ubiquitous Computing, Information Visualisation, Tactile Interfaces, Multi-display Environments and Natural Language and Gestures. We seek students curious to advance HCI research with more sophisticated interfaces and interaction, which can harness evermore powerful, embedded and interconnected computation.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

---

Project description

Large-scale data streams, such as Twitter feeds, are 'bursty' i.e. the number of messages in the stream can vary enormously over a very short time period. Setting up an infrastructure to analyse such data in real-time is impractical and the ability to create an elastic infrastructure in the cloud offers an attractive solution to the problem. However, satisfying real-time constraints, such as response time requirements, in a cloud environment is challenging and the aim of this work is to investigate management and control mechanisms for elastic clouds that will enable predictable real-time processing of large volumes of data.

Availability

September 2012 or February 2013

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Professor Ian Sommerville

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed

Additional notes

Cloud computing research at St Andrews is concerned with how to create, measure and configure clouds and how to use cloud-based systems effectively for business. Current projects include projects concerned with migrating high-value software services to the cloud, cloud cost modelling, cloud energy measurement and optimisation, application modelling for cloud migration, clouds to support e-science and cloud service architectures. We have a small experimental cloud and make extensive use of cloud services from providers such as Amazon and Heroku.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

This investigates support for application systems that store large amounts of data whose structure must evolve as it is discovered incrementally. In database terms this requires that the data be mapped in complex ways to an evolving schema. It is also necessary to accommodate uncertainty in data and structure, by allowing new relationships to be added without overwriting. One motivating example is a virtual time capsule capturing university life, modelling the evolving temporal and anthropological relationships within the university. Another is the analysis and linkage of large sets of individual genealogical records, which contain significant uncertainty in content and provenance.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Graham Kirby & Alan Dearle

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

n/a

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

---

Project description

In this project we propose to extend the approach of cloud computing to encompass sensing-as-a-service in which sensor platforms and data processing can be virtualised to allow the appropriate functionality to be deployed at the appropriate level in the system. The project’s key scientific innovations are the virtualisation of sensor systems controlled and managed using rich programming models, embedded within a value chain allowing specialisation, cost- and risk-sharing.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Alan Dearle & Simon Dobson

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

n/a

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

---

Project description

In this project the goal is to create a high-resolution haptic display that can be used to provide data to users, but also to serve as input device. The project has a double side: the construction and exploration of several iterations of novel mechanical-electronic devices that provide relatively high-resolution touch, as well as the development and study of novel interaction techniques that would allow people with visual disabilities as well as people without disabilities to improve their interaction with graphical elements in computers.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Miguel Nacenta

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

This project will be undertaken in SACHI: The St Andrews Computer Human Interaction research group (a HCI Group). This group includes leading academics in the field of HCI. Our members have had central roles in conferences such as CHI, MobileHCI, UIST, ITS, LoCA and Pervasive. We publish in top-tier venues and work with leading researchers internationally. As a group we co-supervise our research students, collaborate on various funded projects and activities with industry and domain experts. We have an international HCI seminar series and our members have access to a dedicated HCI laboratory with specialist equipment including a Microsoft Surface 2 and 1, DiamondTouch, eye tracker, Optitrack and a range of mobile, tablet and novel interface technologies.  Our areas of interest and PhD topics on offer include, Ubiquitous Computing, Information Visualisation, Tactile Interfaces, Multi-display Environments and Natural Language and Gestures. We seek students curious to advance HCI research with more sophisticated interfaces and interaction, which can harness evermore powerful, embedded and interconnected computation

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

---

Project description

There is an increasing need for dedicated programming and specification formalisms that address aspects such as (code and agent/object) mobility, remote execution, dynamic distribution of resources over a network, security, reliability and performance.  Ideally such high-level modelling languages allow us to select the best design for a system, and rank alternatives on the basis of particular metrics for non-functional properties of interest. For instance, in the case of performance common metrics include response time, throughput and utilisation. If specification formalisms allow the statement of required dependability and performance measures (the later for example are increasingly used for service-level agreements), efficient and reliable computation of these measures should then become common practice for distributed mobile application development. This projects proposes a high-level specification language and a formal framework for the verification and computation of dependability and performance measures.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Juliana Bowles

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed

Additional notes

n/a

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

---

Project description

Societies growing reliance on information and communications technologies has resulted in organisations producing, gathering, and storing raw electronic data at an increasing rate. Such data is often available as a realtime bi-product of other processes such as phone calls, email traffic, sales records, server logs or online interactions. The increasing flow of such data is rapidly outstripping our ability to effectively analyse, explore, and understand such voluminous data or “big data”.  While data mining offers many insights this project explores visual analysis not possible through automation alone. The context is the study of real-time data streams from industry, with an underlying social construct, which can be modelled as a graph. Data here is not collected with the explicit purpose of being studied from a social network perspective; yet it is these underlying structures, which can be built on to, develop new graph layout techniques and information visualisation methods and algorithms.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Aaron Quigley

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  Hugo Do Nascimento, Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG) (diretor@cercomp.ufg.br)

Additional notes

We are looking for a student interested in information visualisation techniques and algorithms and looking seeking to explore how we handle big-data (and hence big and rapidly evolving graphs) in real-time. This project will be undertaken in SACHI: The St Andrews Computer Human Interaction research group (a HCI Group). This group includes leading academics in the field of HCI. Our members have had central roles in conferences such as CHI, MobileHCI, UIST, ITS, LoCA and Pervasive. We publish in top-tier venues and work with leading researchers internationally. As a group we co-supervise our research students, collaborate on various funded projects and activities with industry and domain experts. We have an international HCI seminar series and our members have access to a dedicated HCI laboratory with specialist equipment including a Microsoft Surface 2 and 1, DiamondTouch, eye tracker, Optitrack and a range of mobile, tablet and novel interface technologies.  Our areas of interest and PhD topics on offer include, Ubiquitous Computing, Information Visualisation, Tactile Interfaces, Multi-display Environments and Natural Language and Gestures. We seek students curious to advance HCI research with more sophisticated interfaces and interaction, which can harness evermore powerful, embedded and interconnected computation

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

The Brazilian researchers have expertise in designing, implementing and evaluating computational simulations of groups of molecules. Underlying symmetries are either modelled out, or remain poorly understood. The aim of this studentship is to identify and exploit the potential for the computational algebra software developed at St Andrews to be used to enhance the Brazil-based simulations.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Tom Kelsey

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  Kaline Coutinho (Instituto de Física da Universidade de São Paulo)

Additional notes

Research in this theme involves close cooperation with the Algebra and Combinatorics research group in the School of Mathematics & Statistics, under the umbrella of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Computational Algebra. We study algorithms and systems for the application of computers to problems in discrete mathematics. We are a main development site of the GAP system (www.gap-system.org). Our work exploits a “virtuous circle” where theory informs algorithms, which are implemented in our systems with which we perform experiments that suggest new theory. We also work with other computer algebra systems such as Maple and applications in other sciences. GAP Interpreter enhancements The GAP system has an unusual dynamic type system in which objects may change type many times in their lives and methods for operations are chosen based on the types of all their arguments. There are a number of possible PhD projects exploring extensions to this system, and/or exploring how it interacts with standard interpreter techniques such as just-in-time compilation. 

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

---

Project description

Constraints are a natural, powerful means of representing and reasoning about combinatorial problems that impact all of our lives. For example, in the production of a university timetable many constraint occur, such as: the maths lecture theatre has a capacity of one hundred students; art history lectures require a venue with a slide projector; no student can attend two lectures at once. Constraint solving offers a means by which solutions to such problems can be found automatically. In constraint solving, a critical bottleneck is the formulation of an effective constraint model of a given problem to be input to a constraint solver. Without help, it is very difficult for a novice user to formulate an effective (or even correct) model. This can lead to very long solution times, or to incorrect solutions, both of which are unacceptable in a commercial setting. Our approach to this problem is to allow the user to describe a problem in the specification language Essence without committing to a model. This specification is then refined automatically into a constraint model using our Conjure system. At present Conjure is able to produce a large set of possible models, but is not able to select the best from among those produced. This project is to tackle this problem, equipping Conjure with the ability to discern model features that are likely to lead to the best performance during constraint solving. This will allow this powerful technology to be used by experts in their own field without the need for them to learn the intricacies of constraint modelling and solving.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Ian Miguel

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the study of making computers able to do sophisticated tasks independently, and can range from obviously difficult tasks -- such as playing chess -- to ones which seem easier to people but which actually are incredibly difficult to automate -- like driving cars.   Huge advances have been made over decades, and now the best chess players in the world are computers and driverless cars are legal in Nevada.    At St Andrews we focus on several exciting areas of Artificial Intelligence, such as Neural Networks, Constraint Programming, Natural Language Processing, and Machine Learning.  

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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Project description

Ubiquitous computing is a vision of computing non-intrusively assisting us in our daily activities. Several years of dedicated research has resulted in impressive systems that can infer users’ activities, locations, contexts and emotions. In addition, researchers have created several new input interfaces, such as speech and gesture recognition. However, all these technologies are controlled by data-driven machine learning algorithms and it is difficult for users to understand how these systems work. In this project you will develop visualization techniques that reveal how these algorithms operate, thereby empowering users to understand how these systems use sensor data to assist us.

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  Per Ola Kristensson

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

This project will be undertaken in SACHI: The St Andrews Computer Human Interaction research group (a HCI Group). This group includes leading academics in the field of HCI. Our members have had central roles in conferences such as CHI, MobileHCI, UIST, ITS, LoCA and Pervasive. We publish in top-tier venues and work with leading researchers internationally. As a group we co-supervise our research students, collaborate on various funded projects and activities with industry and domain experts. We have an international HCI seminar series and our members have access to a dedicated HCI laboratory with specialist equipment including a Microsoft Surface 2 and 1, DiamondTouch, eye tracker, Optitrack and a range of mobile, tablet and novel interface technologies.  Our areas of interest and PhD topics on offer include, Ubiquitous Computing, Information Visualisation, Tactile Interfaces, Multi-display Environments and Natural Language and Gestures. We seek students curious to advance HCI research with more sophisticated interfaces and interaction, which can harness evermore powerful, embedded and interconnected computation

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

---

Project description

A recent industry report [1] points out that the programming cost of a robotic system often exceeds the robot cost and that safety is a growth area. The Dog series of robots by Boston Dynamics, e.g. [2], stand out in robustly and flexibly maintaining balance under perturbation. Their design is a military secret but is known to rely on hardware such as special gyroscopes. The aim of this project is to attain similar degrees of flexibility in coordinating multiple task actions besides balance such as collision avoidance by developing plug-and-play generic software systems with inbuilt safety.

[1] Forge, S. Blackman, C., Joint Research Centre Scientific and Technical Report on Robotics, European Commission, 2010.

[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJJQ0zNNOM

Availability

Co-tutelle PhD (12 months UK, 24 in Brazil) or Full PhD (36 months UK)

Supervisers

• University of St Andrews Supervisor(s):

  M. K. Weir

• Brazilian University Supervisor(s):

  To be confirmed.

Additional notes

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the study of making computers able to do sophisticated tasks independently, and can range from obviously difficult tasks -- such as playing chess --  to ones which seem easier to people but which actually are incredibly difficult to automate -- like driving cars.   Huge advances have been made over decades, and now the best chess players in the world are computers and driverless cars are legal in Nevada.    At St Andrews we focus on several exciting areas of Artificial Intelligence, such as Neural Networks, Constraint Programming, Natural Language Processing, and Machine Learning.

Start date

September 2012 or February 2013

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