The Edinburgh Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Data Science

The Edinburgh Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Data Science is now inviting applications for 10 fully-funded PhD studentships, to start in September 2014. Students with a strong background in mathematics, computer science, physics, or engineering are particularly encouraged to apply.

The CDT focuses on the computational principles, methods, and systems for extracting knowledge from data. Large data sets are now generated by almost every activity in science, society, and commerce - ranging from molecular biology to social media, from sustainable energy to health care. Data science asks: How can we efficiently find patterns in these vast streams of data?  Many  research areas have tackled parts of this problem: machine learning focuses on finding patterns and making predictions from data; optimization is needed to find best combination of factors for achieving a certain result, databases are needed for efficiently accessing data and ensuring its quality; ideas from algorithms are required to build systems that scale to big data streams; and separate research areas have grown around different types of unstructured data such as text, images, sensor data, video, and speech.  Recently, these distinct disciplines have begun to converge into a single field called data science.

The CDT is a 4-year programme: the first year provides Masters level training in the core areas of data science, along with a significant project. In years 2-4 students will carry out PhD research in Data Science, guided by PhD supervisors from within the centre. The CDT is funded by EPSRC and the University of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh has a large, world-class research community in data science to support the work of the CDT student cohort.  The city of Edinburgh has often been voted the 'best place to live in Britain', and has many exciting cultural and student activities.

Because of constraints from funding agencies, there are different rules for funding depending on your fee status:

    * UK and EU students: Full funding (fees and stipend) is available.

    * Non-EU students: Funding is significantly more competitive;  see

      http://datascience.inf.ed.ac.uk/apply/information-for-non-eu-students/

      for details.

See http://datascience.inf.ed.ac.uk/apply/ for further information and application forms. Enquiries via datascience@inf.ed.ac.uk .

There are two deadlines for applications:

  * First round deadline for full consideration. Apply by 27 January 2014. (Any non-EU candidates must apply by this date, as well as following the specific instructions for non-EU residents.)

  * Second round: Any remaining scholarships will be awarded in a second round of applications. The deadline for the second round is 31 March 2014.