Object-based production and audio-visual tracking for spatial audio

Applications are invited for two three-year PhD studentships to pursue research in the area of audio-visual signal processing in connection with a £5M research programme "S3A: Future Spatial Audio for an Immersive Listener Experience at Home" (s3a-spatialaudio.org), led by the University of Surrey in collaboration with University of Southampton, University of Salford and BBC Research. PhD research will investigate novel techniques to capture, analyse and manipulate audio-visual content with a focus on challenges associated with object-based 3D audio.

The successful applicant will join CVSSP (surrey.ac.uk/cvssp), one of the primary centres for audio-visual signal processing & computer vision in Europe with over 130 researchers. CVSSP has a grant portfolio of £12M, a track-record of pioneering research leading to technology transfer in collaboration with UK industry, and world-class audio and video facilities. CVSSP forms part of the Department of Electronic Engineering (surrey.ac.uk/ee), recognized as one of the top departments for teaching and research in the UK.

Candidates should have a 1st or 2:1 Bachelor’s degree and preferably a Masters with distinction in an appropriate discipline (e.g., engineering, computer science, signal processing, applied mathematics, physics). They should be able to demonstrate excellent mathematical, analytical and computer programming skills. Advantage will be given to applicants with experience in one or more areas of: music and media production, audio and speech signal processing, image and video processing, computer vision, acoustics, array processing, blind source separation, detection and tracking, statistical signal processing, machine learning.