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Overview of the CDT
This project is being offered as part of the STFC Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science, called NUdata, which is a collaboration between Northumbria and Newcastle Universities, STFC, and a portfolio of over 40 industrial partners, including SMEs, large/multinational companies, Government and not-for profit organisations, and international humanitarian organisations. Please visit https://research.northumbria.ac.uk/nudata/ for full information.
Project Description
We invite applications for a 4 year fully-funded PhD project that will enable you to gain expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning in order to address a key problem in the field of space weather forecasting.
The Sun is the most powerful particle accelerator in our Solar System as it regularly produces eruptions that can shock-accelerate particles (SEPs, protons, electrons and ions) to high-energies. These SEP events that are associated with high-energy protons can cause hazardous space weather conditions in the near-Earth environment, posing a severe radiation risk for crewed spaceflight and a significant threat to our technological assets. The problem with these events is that the most energetic particles arrive at Earth within several minutes of the associated eruption being identified in solar observations, which does not give the users of space weather forecasts sufficient warning to react. The key solution to mitigate the risk of SEPs is to predict these events prior to eruption and the generation of SEPs, which requires their source regions to be identified in advance.
This project will allow you to develop expertise in artificial intelligence, particularly in machine learning and data science. You will use a wealth of observations from multitude of satellite missions such as the Solar Dynamics Observatory and Solar and Heliospheric Observatory in order to increase our understanding of SEP source regions and hence improve predictions of SEP occurrence. The skills that you will develop during your PhD will ensure that you are in a strong position to pursue a career in either solar physics research and/or data science after your PhD.
Applicant
You will join a strong and diverse Solar and Space Physics group, which conducts high-impact research, plays a leading role in multiple solar instruments and missions, and provides a supportive and welcoming environment to carry out your research. This PhD project is suitable for applicants that have an undergraduate and/or Masters degree in related fields such as Physics, Astrophysics, Mathematics and Computer Science. Prior experience in the analysis of solar datasets and/or machine learning techniques would be beneficial for the project but all of the required relevant training will be provided. You will be expected to conduct research that will result in journal publications, engage in scientific collaborations, and present your work at national and international conferences.
Academic Enquiries
This project is supervised by Dr Stephanie Yardley. For informal queries, contact Professor James McLaughlin ([Email Address Removed]). For all other enquiries relating to eligibility or application process contact Admissions at [Email Address Removed].
You will join a strong and supportive research team. The very best way to get a taste of this is to come and visit the Research Group in person, meet your fellow PhD students, and meet the PhD supervisors. We have funding to support all UK National applicants who wish to visit the research group (with funding to fully cover reasonable travel and accommodation costs). Please contact Head of Group Professor James McLaughlin [Email Address Removed] if you are interested in visiting the Group, and we can arrange travel arrangement (and cover these costs). Also feel free to contact individual PhD supervisors if this is better for you.
Eligibility Requirements:
To be classed as a Home student, candidates must:
If a candidate does not meet the criteria above, they would be classed as an International student.
For further details on how to apply see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/
You must include the relevant advert reference/studentship code (e.g. NUDATA24-R/…) in your application.
If you are interested in more than one of the Northumbria-hosted NUdata research projects, then you can say this in the cover letter of your application and you can rank all the projects you are interested in (e.g. first choice, second choice, third choice). You are strongly encouraged to do this, since some projects are more popular than others. You only need to submit one application even if you are interested in multiple projects (we recommend you submit your application to your first choice).
Deadline for applications : 2nd June 2024
Start date of course : 23rd September 2024
Northumbria University is committed to creating an inclusive culture where we take pride in, and value, the diversity of our postgraduate research students. We encourage and welcome applications from all members of the community. The University holds a bronze Athena Swan award in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality, we are a Disability Confident Leader, a member of the Race Equality Charter and are participating in the Stonewall Diversity Champion Programme. We also hold the HR Excellence in Research award for implementing the concordat supporting the career Development of Researchers and are members of the Euraxess initiative to deliver information and support to professional researchers.
Research output data provided by the Research Excellence Framework (REF)
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