Full time PhD Studentships

Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

Based in Milton Keynes
Please quote reference: 11996
Three years to start October 2019; Stipend: £15,028 pa plus fee bursary

The Open University’s Knowledge Media Institute (KMi) is a distinct research unit within the Faculty of STEM, and is home to internationally recognized researchers in semantic technologies, data science, educational multimedia, collaboration technologies, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and human-computer interaction. KMi offers students an intellectually challenging environment with exceptional research and computer facilities, located at the OU headquarters in Milton Keynes, which is 30 minutes by train from central London. Past KMi PhD students pursue successful careers in academia and industry, and have won a number of distinguished awards, including the 2016 and 2017 SWSA Distinguished Dissertation Awards.

Applications are invited from the United Kingdom, European Union and the Rest of the World for a full-time, three-year funded studentship commencing October 2019, study one of the following PhD topics. For further information, contact details are provided for each topic. We strongly recommend that you contact the researcher(s) associated with the topic to discuss your interest prior to writing your proposal.

Please make a choice of one of the following topics:-

• Blockchains and Decentralised Systems
  • Blockchains and decentralised data analytics for verified personal data. Contact: Prof John Domingue (john.domingue@open.ac.uk) and Dr Allan Third (allan.third@open.ac.uk).
  • Blockchain for education. Contact: Prof John Domingue (john.domingue@open.ac.uk) and Dr Alexander Mikroyannidis (alexander.mikroyannidis@open.ac.uk).
• Computational Social Science
  • Impact of online misinformation. Contact: Prof. Harith Alani (h.alani@open.ac.uk).
  • Spread of misinformation. Contact: Prof Harith Alani (h.alani@open.ac.uk).
  • Analysing, identifying and preventing online hate. Contact: Dr Miriam Fernandez (miriam.fernandez@open.ac.uk) and Dr Tracie Farrell (tracie.farrell@open.ac.uk).
  • Data ironing on Twitter. Contact: Dr Danica Vukadinovic-Greetham (danica.vukadinovic-greetham@open.ac.uk).
• Data Science and Machine Learning
  • Discovering semantic relationships in large textual collections with applications to recommender systems for distance education and research. Contact: Dr Martin Hlosta (martin.hlosta@open.ac.uk).
  • Discovering facts to support claims. Contact: Dr Petr Knoth (petr.knoth@open.ac.uk).
  • Large-scale information extraction from unstructured textual resources. Contact: Dr Petr Knoth (petr.knoth@open.ac.uk).
  • Supporting scientific research with knowledge graphs. Contact: Dr Francesco Osborne (francesco.osborne@open.ac.uk).
• Extended Intelligence
  • The role of machine learning in computer vision for biodiversity monitoring. Contact: Prof Stefan Rueger (stefan.rueger@open.ac.uk).
  • Communicating complex data. Contact: Dr Advaith Siddharthan (advaith.siddharthan@open.ac.uk).
  • Co-learning between humans and machines. Contact: Dr Advaith Siddharthan (advaith.siddharthan@open.ac.uk).
• New Media in Society
  • Personal and social storytelling for engaging with cultural heritage. Contact: Dr Trevor Collins (trevor.collins@open.ac.uk), Dr Enrico Daga (enrico.daga@open.ac.uk) and Dr Paul Mulholland (paul.mulholland@open.ac.uk).
  • Improving social tolerance in online media discourse. Contact: Dr Anna De Liddo (anna.deliddo@open.ac.uk).
• Smart Living and Robotics
  • Energy efficiency for individual users. Contact: Dr Danica Vukadinovic-Greetham (danica.vukadinovic-greetham@open.ac.uk).
  • Towards a new generation of urban robots. Contact: Prof. Enrico Motta (enrico.motta@open.ac.uk).

You will have a first or upper second-class degree from a UK university or the overseas’ equivalent and ideally a relevant Master’s degree. Unless from a majority English-speaking country, non-EEA applicants will require an IELTS score of 6.5 with a minimum of 6 in each element of Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. IELTS Certificates are valid for a period of two years.

Closing date: 17:00 on 15 March 2019
Interviews: to be held between 25 March and 5 April 2019

For detailed information and how to apply go to www.open.ac.uk/about/employment/vacancies/full-time-phd-studentships-11996, call the KMi Senior Services Assistant on +44 (0)1908 654774 or email kmi-phd-recruitment@open.ac.uk quoting the reference number.

Equal Opportunity is University Policy