PhD Studentship on Complex Networks

Applications are invited for a full PhD Studentship starting in September 2020 to undertake research in the area of Complex Networks. The studentships will include both theoretical and applied research in the Networks Research Group at Queen Mary University of London, a leading European research group which publishes in top journals and conferences in the networking field. The project will be at the centre of a collaboration with Moogsoft Ltd (www.moogsoft.com).

This PhD is about equality and social mobility in complex networks. Consider a network (perhaps a network of people who are friends with each other or a network of mentions on an online social network). We can measure “importance” in this network in various ways, for example, the number of connections, the position in the network or Google’s famous PageRank algorithm. In this project you will study how importance changes and how equally it is distributed between different members of the network. This has important consequences both for models of networks and for real life networks. How easy is it for a new member of a network to rise to be the most important? Are “late joiners” always likely to be unimportant? You will study a variety of networks including specialist communications networks provided by and of interest to Moogsoft.

The student will be based in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science (www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk) at Queen Mary University of London, and will be a member of the Networks research group (networks.eecs.qmul.ac.uk). There is an opportunity to spend up to three months on placement with the sponsors Moogsoft if the student wants this.
Informal enquiries can be made by email to Dr Richard Clegg ([Email Address Removed]), you are strongly encouraged to email if you are interested in this post.

To apply, please follow the online process www.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/howtoapply/ by selecting ‘Electronic Engineering’ in the ‘A-Z list of research opportunities’ and following the instructions on the right-hand side of the web page.

Please note we request a ‘Statement of Research Interests’. Your statement should answer three questions: (i) Why are you interested in the topic? (ii) What relevant experience do you have? and (iii) a research proposal. Your statement should be brief: no more than 750 words or one side of A4 paper. In addition we would also like you to send a sample of your written work. This might be a chapter of your final year dissertation, or a published conference or journal paper. More details can be found at: www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/phd/apply.php

The closing date for the applications is 15 July 2020.
Interviews are expected to take place in late July 2020.

Queen Mary University of London is one of the few institutions holding a Silver Athena SWAN Award. We are committed to the equality of opportunities and advancing women’s careers. We encourage applications from women in all stages of life, including pregnancy, recent maternity and holding caring responsibilities. We have policies to support staff returning from long-term absence, for flexible arrangements for staff and for childcare support.