Private Data Integration and Sharing: Algorithms and Platforms

A fully-funded 4-year PhD studentship on Integration and Sharing of Private Data, at the University of Southampton, a top university for Computer Science in the UK and worldwide.

A data integration system provides unified access via a common interface to multiple and heterogeneous sources of information, such as remote or legacy databases, websites, sensor readings, or even spreadsheet documents. The common interface exposed to the user for querying can be a web interface, a database schema, a knowledge graph, or an ontology.

Often, data integration is performed by building data warehouses, i.e., fetching data from all data sources, and storing it centrally for further processing, or alternatively, by querying the data sources at run time. Data sharing is a similar setting where rather than obtaining data from a central interface, each organisation is interested in exchanging data with other organisations in a pairwise or peer-to-peer fashion.

Moreover, in these scenarios, some data is private or personal. To date, exchanging proprietary data relies in legal agreements written in natural language, however there is an increased necessity for machine-processable and automatically enforceable data sharing agreements.

This research project studies algorithms, techniques and systems for the above problems. It will involve developing algorithmic and theoretical tools, and implementing platforms and systems that will allow for efficient private data sharing. The project is open to customisation based on the particular interests of the student.

The student will have the option to do joint work with the Alan Turing Institute in London, and spend considerable time in their facilities. The student will be strongly encouraged and supported to publish in academic journals and travel to conferences to present his/her research.

For further details, please contact: Dr George Konstantinidis ([Email Address Removed]), attaching a CV and preferably a recent transcript in English.

Key facts

Entry requirements: first or upper second-class degree or equivalent, very good theoretical and programming skills are required, experience with one or more of the following: databases, data integration, data warehouses, data exchange, privacy, semantic web, peer-to-peer or distributed networks.

Closing date: Early application date is 30 May 2019. Depending on the funds remaining in place, formal applications should be received no later than 31 August 2019 for standard admissions.

Duration: four years (full-time)

Funding: full tuition fees, for UK/EU students, and a tax-free stipend of £15,009 per year. International students will also be considered.

Assessment: Nine month and 18 month reports, viva voce and thesis examination

Start date: typically September
Applying: www.southampton.ac.uk/postgraduate/pgstudy/howdoiapplypg.html