Fully Funded PhD Studentship in Trustworthy Machine Intelligence for Robotics and Autonomous Systems

How to apply: All applications should be made online. Under Campus, select “London”. Under programme name, select “Institute for Digital Technologies (Full Time)”. Please quote the advertised reference number: “2023/LUL/2/IDT” in your application under “Advert Reference” in the Financial Support section.

Please makes sure to include a Research Proposal with your application (Create your own research proposal | Postgraduate study | Loughborough University (lboro.ac.uk))

To avoid delays in processing your application, please ensure that you submit the minimum supporting documents. 

We invite applications for a PhD studentship in the area of Trustworthy Machine Intelligence for Robotics and Autonomous systems.

Robotics and Autonomous systems are at the very heart of digital innovations in many sectors of global activity such as in healthcare, manufacturing, military and transportation. Machine intelligence is a branch of digital technologies that relate to the use of Artificial Intelligence in perception (e.g. computer vision), control, and actuation of systems, towards autonomous intelligent behaviour. However, widescale adoption of such autonomous systems requires them to be trustworthy, responsible and accountable to their users. Solving the issues around trustworthiness requires interdisciplinary research effort. The potential projects are expected to build upon at least one pillar of the existing research on Multi-agent learning, computer vision, and imitation learning activity of the Machine Intelligence lab of Loughborough University London.

This is a project linked to a recent award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. More details of this grant award can be found here: https://gow.epsrc.ukri.org/NGBOViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/X028631/1. Those with prior hands-on experience with developing robots, drones or similar autonomous systems would bear an added advantage. You are expected to have very good experience with software development or programming in Python. Due to the nature of the topic and societal significance of trustworthiness, we highly encourage applications from under-represented groups and communities within the Artificial Intelligence domain.

Loughborough University London offers an internationally-recognised faculty of academics with teaching expertise and relevant active research. This project is fully funded, covering fees and stipend. We welcome applications from international candidates. Loughborough University has an applied research culture. In REF 2021, 94% of the work submitted was judged to be top-rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. Loughborough University London offers a vibrant research culture with a community based on mutual support and collaboration. Through our Doctoral College we provide continual opportunities for building important research skills and networks among your peers and research academics.

This studentship will be primarily supervised by Dr. Varuna De Silva of Institute for Digital Technologies, with the potential to involve supervisors from other multidisciplinary institutes across Loughborough University London. Informal inquiries can be raised to [Email Address Removed].

Entry requirements:

To undertake a PhD programme across any of our institutes you must have a minimum of an upper class honours degree (2:1) or overseas equivalent in a related subject area.

English language requirements:

Applicants must meet the minimum English language requirements. Further details are available on the International website (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/international/applicants/english/).

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion:

Equity, diversity, and inclusion are crucial elements in the Loughborough University strategy and we approach recruitment informed by our EDI strategy: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/equity-diversity-inclusion