About the Project
Applications are invited for an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in the Department of Computer Science at the University College London (UCL) in conjunction with Anthropics Technology Ltd. The EngD post in this project will be based at both UCL (central London) and Anthropics Technology Ltd. (15 min away by Tube). The post is offered under the Virtual Environments, Imaging and Visualization programme, which is run by the EngD VEIV Centre, UCL Computer Science.
PROJECT
This project aims at looking between the pixels: many image-editing operations require values sampled between pixel centres, let it be simple resizing operations, content-sensitive image enhancement or alpha matting. Usually, such values are determined using interpolation. The field of super-resolution, however, aims at inferring content between the pixel samples. Super-resolution of single images is an ill-posed problem. This project should research meaningful ways to infer, or to "hallucinate", inter-pixel content, by drawing from principles of human perception. A key component of the work shall investigate preferences of many human observers to crowd source a model of the additional details people would expect to appear when massively up-scaling an image. Such human-sourced image understanding may facilitate other novel image editing operations. The work is conducted in collaboration with Anthropics Technology Ltd., London, who are experts in putting powerful, high-level image operations at the fingertips of inexperienced users.
REQUIREMENTS
Applicants are required to have
• A bachelor degree (1st or 2.1 honours) or an MSc in Computer Science or related field;
• Good knowledge of computer graphics, image processing and mathematics;
• Strong programming skills, particularly C++, C, and Matlab;
• Good communication and presentation skills.
Informal enquiries on the project can be made to Dr Tim Weyrich (http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/T.Weyrich/). For further information on the EngD Programme, see http://web4.cs.ucl.ac.uk/teaching/engd/ or contact Dr Jamie O'Brien ([Email Address Removed]).
FUNDING
This is a 4-year studentship, leading to the award of an Engineering Doctorate, which offers the opportunity to conduct research within an industrial context. This EPSRC (UK Research Council) funded studentship is available to UK citizens and EU nationals if a relevant connection with the UK has been established (usually by being resident for a period of three years immediately before the EngD). Applicants must fulfil EPSRC eligibility criteria and the normal academic requirements for admission to study in the Department. This studentship will pay a tax-free stipend of approximately £18,000 per year, plus tuition fees. EU students without a relevant connection to the UK can receive an award to cover tuition fees only.