Horizon CDT My Life in Data – PhD studentships

University of Nottingham

Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute – Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training in My Life in Data

 PhD studentships

We are interested in students from a wide variety of backgrounds including computer science, engineering, mathematics, human factors, psychology, sociology, business, geography, social science and the arts. Applicants must have an excellent first degree and demonstrate an enthusiasm for transdisciplinary research.

The technologies of digital identity and personal data raise some of the most profound technical and social challenges facing our digital society today. Our digital identities will define the interfaces to the future services that we will use for entertainment, wellbeing, government, transport, energy, retail and finance – indeed for every aspect of our lives. They will be constructed from our personal data, digital records that capture who we are and the histories of our digital, physical and social interactions.

The Horizon CDT offers you the opportunity to shape the future by recognising a growing public awareness of the value of personal data, the exciting opportunities that this presents and addressing concerns over how data are being created, analysed and used. Our vision is to create digital identity technologies that operate in a fair and transparent manner to empower their users. This is a transdisciplinary challenge, one that needs to bring together expertise in digital technologies, digital identity and a deep understanding of real-world applications.

We do not expect that every student will be an expert in all of the areas mentioned above; our aim is to train people to work in transdisciplinary teams, ready to become future leaders in industry, the third sector and academia.

Our students also work closely with world leading industry and international partners through supervision, internships, access to resources and expertise and sponsorship. You will join an established programme led by Professor Steve Benford, previously an EPSRC Dream Fellow, Visiting Researcher at Microsoft, the BBC’s first Visiting Professor, and the recipient of four BAFTA nominations; and Professor Sarah Sharples, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, who led the Human Factors Research Group, and is Past President of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics.

You will benefit from:

• A fully-funded four year PhD programme that integrates a leading-edge research project with research training in transdisciplinary skills.
• An internship with one of our partners.
• A stipend of up to £17,000 per annum
• Being part of a cohort of high achieving PhD researchers.
• A world class research environment with a proven track record of successful Horizon CDT graduates.

The minimum entry requirement is a 2.1 undergraduate degree. For non-native English language speakers an IELTS average score of 6.5 with no less than 6.0 in any element is required.

We have funded places for UK/Home and EU students (the exact number of places is subject to funding decisions to be made by the EPSRC in December 2018 for all CDTs). Places are also available for those in receipt of four year independent funding/scholarships.

For more information about our programme and to apply, go to the Horizon CDT website cdt.horizon.ac.uk.

Please quote reference HORIZON1
Closing date: 14^th January 2019
Proposed interview dates: 4^th and 5^th February 2019.