About the Project
Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years.
Closing date: Fri, February 2, 2018
A PhD studentship and a research position is available from October 2018 in the Department of Computer Science and Technology (The Computer Laboratory) at the University of Cambridge to work on redundancy in perceptual cues to scene structure and realism.
The successful candidate will join a Marie Sklodowska-Curie funded Innovative Training Network, RealVision: Hyper-REAListic VISual Experience (http://www.realvision-itn.eu/). The network is focused on innovation in hyper-realistic imaging, encoding and display technologies. It comprises research groups across Europe specialising in Multimedia, Optics, Visual Communication, Visual Computing, Computer Graphics and Human Vision.
As the part of the training, the candidate is expected to spend in total about 8 months in collaborating institutions: Bangor University under the supervision of Dr. Simon Watt; University of California, Berkeley under the supervision of Prof. Martin Banks; and at Technicolor Rennes. The candidate is expected to register as a full-time PhD student and study for the degree. However, the position has also the benefits of becoming an employee of the University. The successful candidate will be eligible to pay staff rate tuition fees for the PhD.
Applications will be accepted from candidates of any nationality, but please be aware that the funding guidelines specify that candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activity in the UK for more than 12 months in the three years before recruitment.
The salary will comprise a living allowance of €44,895.96 and a mobility allowance of €7,200.00. An additional allowance of €6,000.00 may be payable but is dependent on individual family circumstances.
Project overview: It is now established that the brain combines information about scene structure from various ‘cues’ (binocular disparity, motion parallax, focus cues, perspective, shading etc.) in a near-optimal way. At present, the understanding of sensory integration in the perception of scene structure is limited to highly abstract, psychophysical stimuli (random-dot stereograms etc.), typically presented in isolation. The aim of the project is to study the integration of perceptual cues that contribute to the impression that perceived scenes look highly realistic. This will involve series of experiments on a novel hyper-realistic display, proposing a model explaining the data (possibly with some machine learning component) and applying the model to address practical problems, such as how to optimally capture and display hyper-realistic video, or optimize algorithms for virtual reality displays.
Essential requirements: Candidates should have a 1st class or equivalent degree in computer science, electronic engineering, mathematics or a closely related discipline, with experience and interest in Computer Graphics, Computer Vision or Applied Visual Perception. Candidates with a degree in vision science (Psychology) will also be considered if they can demonstrate excellent programming skills.
Candidates need to meet all prerequisites for admission to the PhD in Computer Science (please refer to: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/admissions/phd/). They are advised to make a separate application for a PHD admission at their earliest convenience, preferably before the deadline of the application for this position. The PhD application must include a research proposal that is aligned with the topic of the project and presents the candidate's approach to the problem. The research proposal should include a note “This proposal is a response to the Marie Curie ITN studentship NR14027, advertised by Dr. Rafal Mantiuk”. Please refer to http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rkm38/jobs.html and http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/admissions/phd/ for the details on the format of the research proposal.
Desirable skills: It is desirable that a candidate has a relevant industrial experience or Msc degree. The expertise in OpenGL and programming real-time graphics is also desirable. If a candidate has a track record of publications, it should be included in the application as a link to Google Scholar or ORCID profile.
In the Faculty of Computer Science and Technology, all first-year research students are admitted on a probationary basis, and will be registered for the Certificate of Postgraduate Studies in Computer Science. Funding in the second and subsequent years will be conditional upon successful completion of the first and second years' progress reviews and registration for the PhD Degree.
Applicants should contact Dr Rafal Mantiuk (http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rkm38/) for further information.
To apply online for this vacancy, please click on the 'Apply' button below. This will route you to the University's Web Recruitment System, where you will need to register an account (if you have not already) and log in before completing the online application form.
Please ensure you upload your Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a covering letter, stating the date when the application for the PhD admission was submitted. If no application for a PhD admission has been submitted, the application must also include a research proposal, transcripts (BSc and MSc if completed) and evidence of competence in English if English is not your first language. If you upload any additional documents which have not been requested, we will not be able to consider these as part of your application.
Please quote reference NR14027 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.
The University values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity. The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.
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