PhD Studentship in Creative Automated Program Synthesis

Applications are invited for a full PhD Scholarship starting October 2019 to undertake research into creative automated program synthesis. The successful applicant will be based in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science (www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk), Queen Mary University of London, UK.

Approaches in automated program synthesis [1] attempt to generate a piece of software to fit certain specifications, such as a sketch, or more usually a set of outputs for some given inputs. Such code generation has rarely been used in more creative contexts, where for example, the aim is to generate programs that the user didn’t necessarily know he/she was looking for. We have been developing such a creative system, called HR3, which is based on automated mathematical theory formation approaches, described in [2]. This PhD project will take forward the formalisation of fundamental human-like software engineering approaches being developed in HR3 into new directions; will compare and contrast the approach with other code-generation approaches such as evolutionary programming and machine learning; and will apply the implemented system to a number of creative AI applications, from pure mathematics and data mining, to visual arts and videogame design.

In Computational Creativity research, we study how to engineer software that can take on some of the creative responsibilities in arts and science projects. Automating the creative act of software engineering represents a major step forward for this field, and as such the PhD project will address some fundamental issues in our philosophical understanding of what it means for software to be creative. Particular topics to be explored could include (a) the automatic generation of videogame mechanics in code form (b) building more expressing data mining systems (c) automatic production of generative AI systems, and (d) the application of creative automated program synthesis to areas of AI such as machine vision and robotics.

Qualifications:
Applicants should have a first-class honours degree or equivalent, or an MSc degree in Computer Science or Electronic Engineering (or a related discipline). Applicants should have a good knowledge of English and the ability to express themselves clearly in both written and spoken form. The successful candidate must be strongly motivated to undertake doctoral studies, must have demonstrated the ability to work independently and to perform critical analysis. Applicants are expected to possess fundamental knowledge and skills in two or more of the following areas:

• Knowledge of artificial intelligence, in particular machine learning
• Prior experience in automated program synthesis and/or evolutionary programming
• Prior experience of creative AI applications
• Publishing of international conference or journal papers
• Good mathematical and software engineering skills

All nationalities are eligible to apply for this studentship. We offer a 3-year fully funded PhD studentship supported by Queen Mary University of London including student fees and a tax-free stipend starting at £16,777 per annum. The first supervisor is Prof. Simon Colton.

To apply, please follow the online instructions specified by the college website for research degrees: http://www.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/subjects/. At this page, please click on ‘Computer Science’ in the subject list and follow the instructions on the new page. Please note that instead of the ‘Research Proposal’ we request a ‘Statement of Research Interests’. Your statement (of no more than 500 words) should answer two questions:

(i) Why are you interested in the topic described above?
(ii) What relevant experience do you have?

In order to submit your online application you will need to visit the following webpage: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/subjects/computer-science.html. Please scroll down the page and click on “PhD Full-time Computer Science - Semester 1 (October Start)”. The successful PhD candidate is expected to be a member of the Game AI group. You should mention this in your application.

Applicants seeking further information or feedback on their suitability are encouraged to contact Prof. Simon Colton at [Email Address Removed]. All applications must be made via the website mentioned above.

The closing date for the applications is July 29th, 2019.
Interviews are expected to take place in August 2019.
Starting date: October 2019 (dates can be flexible).