The Industry and Innovation Research Institute (I2Ri) draws on talents, expertise and facilities across Sheffield Hallam University. The vision is to be the leading provider of applied research excellence delivering materials, computing, science and engineering innovations meeting the development needs of industry.
This project is part of a Graduate Teaching Assistants scheme, in which the successful applicant will undertake certain teaching duties associated with the student experience, in addition to working towards a PhD qualification. They contribute to up to 180 hours of support for research or teaching related activity per academic year. This activity forms part of the scholarship award and there is no additional payment.
PhD Research Topic
The core aim of this project is to develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) system for detecting and preventing food safety issues and assessing food product quality.
Food and drink manufacturing is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK – larger than both automotive and aerospace combined – and contributes £30bn to the UK economy per year. The scale and complexity of the food supply chain – combined with difficult to control external factors such as temperature, humidity, and potential micro-organism contamination – makes ensuring food safety a significant challenge, not just in the UK but worldwide. In fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate that 600 million people world-wide become ill through eating contaminated food every year resulting in 420,000 deaths.
Traditional approaches to assessing food safety are laborious and time-consuming, with laboratory-based techniques used to detect contamination often taking days or weeks to provide results. Not only does this put consumers at risk through contaminated food, but it also creates reputational risks for food manufacturers and retailers associated with product recalls. In addition to this, the storage, transportation, and handling of food products (particularly fresh produce such as fruit and vegetables) can have a significant impact on their quality and thus on consumer satisfaction. Factors such as ripeness and internal bruising of fresh fruit can be almost impossible to detect with the naked eye but can be significant factors in wastage of food products by growers, manufacturers, and consumers. As a result of these two factors, a method of rapid, non-destructive testing of food products would create significant benefit for food manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.
Hyperspectral imaging can capture images across hundreds of different spectral bands – not just the RGB channels present in conventional imaging. Recent studies have shown that information gathered in these discrete spectral bands can provide insights into a range of food safety and quality issues - including detection of microorganism contamination in food products and bruising in fruit and vegetables. However, a key difficulty in applying HSI in real-world applications is the size of the “data-cube” produced by the HSI system.
Working in world-leading facilities with active industrial partners, the student will blend laboratory-based analysis with the development of state-of-the-art AI-enabled Hyperspectral Imaging approaches to detect and identify both known and unknown safety and quality issues. The advances made within this PhD project will have a considerable impact on this emerging field of research.
Eligibility
Applicants should hold a 1st or 2:1 Honours degree in either Computer Science, Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Food Science or a related discipline. A Master’s degree in a related area is desirable. Practical experience in laboratory-based analysis techniques is preferred. We are offering this as a full-time PhD scholarship. We welcome applications from all candidates irrespective of age, pregnancy and maternity, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, or marital or civil partnership status. We particularly invite candidates from Black, Asian and minority ethnic British students.
Information for International applicants
We have a mandatory English language requirement of IELTS 7 with a score of at least 6.5 in all test areas, or equivalent language qualification, for all applicants to whom English is not their first language. This qualification should have been taken within the last two years.
Further information about equivalent English language qualifications can be found here
Generally, the shortfall between the Home and International fee, currently around £10,300 per year, will need to be covered by the student for the duration of the studentship. As part of the Sheffield Hallam PhD scholarship programme, additional funding may be made available to assist International students with this fee gap. This additional funding is limited, though, and will only be offered to exceptional International applicants. Allocation of this additional funding will be based on information obtained through the standard GTA recruitment process, and no additional application will be required.
How to apply
We strongly recommend you contact a member of the supervisory team before making an application.
To apply for this GTA scholarship, please use our online application form.
You must ensure that you upload:
1. A letter of intent (1 page maximum) detailing why you are interested in the project and how your experience and background can make you the best candidate for this project. Please also identify potential areas you can contribute to within the teaching departments associated with this project. (Please upload this in place of a proposal)
2. Two letters of reference, one must be from an academic and both must be dated within the last 2 years (if you are not able to collate these by the application deadline please include referee details and these can follow afterwards).
3. Copy of your highest degree certificate (if available).
4. Non-UK applicants must submit IELTs results (or equivalent) taken in the last two years and a copy of their passport.
The closing date for all applications is 11:59pm (UK time) 12 May 2023. Ensure that applications are submitted before the deadline as late applications will not be accepted.
Interviews are scheduled for: 6 June 2023 onwards
Further information about our research degrees can be found here
An Overview of the GTA scheme can be found here
The Conditions of the Award can be found here
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