Departmental and College scholarships

The Wendy Tan White and Joe White Scholarship

The Department of Computing is pleased to announce the availability of The Wendy Tan White and Joe White Scholarship to support a full PhD scholarship starting in the academic year 2024-25. The scheme is available to Home Female PhD students. The scholarship is made available thanks to a generous donation of the Tan White family. Recipients of the scholarship will receive funding to cover fees and maintenance for the duration of their doctoral studies, up to four years.
 
Eligibility criteria
 
In order to be eligible, applicants must:
- Identify as female
- Be classified as Home for fees
- Have accepted an offer to study a PhD in the Computing Research degree at Imperial College London starting in the academic year 2024-25
 
How to apply
 
Interested applicants should apply for admissions to the 'Computing Research' doctoral degree by 15 February 2024. In order to be considered for this award, the application must clearly indicate in the PhD application that the applicant identifies as female.

EPSRC doctoral training studentships

UK Students and EU Students Satisfying the Residency Requirement

The Department of Computing has six competitive EPSRC DTP studentships available for suitably qualified students who also meet the EPSRC residency criteria starting in October 2024. More details for EU nationals on how Brexit affected residency criteria can be found on the UKCISA website.

A studentship covers home fees, a bursary of about £20,622 and £1,000 towards travel and equipment per annum for 3.5 years. We expect students to have completed, or expect to complete before October 2024, either a first class Masters MEng degree, or a first class Bachelors degree and distinction MSc, in an appropriate subject.

The competitions are open to all eligible candidates who otherwise do not have guaranteed funds and who have applied before the last departmental deadline. The allocation is usually made by the last two weeks of June. There is no need to formally apply, as we will automatically consider you if you meet the above criteria.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Fees: Home fees fully covered 
Bursary: £20,622 per year

Doctoral teaching scholarships

The Department of Computing will award up to four doctoral teaching scholarships for PhD applicants starting in 2024/25. The period of the scholarship is four years six months.

For home fee and international students the scheme covers full fees and a full PhD scholarship of approximately £26,500 per annum in total. Doctoral teaching scholarships are also available to overseas students.

In addition to academic excellence, applicants should have a strong commitment to teaching in higher education. They will be expected to build up a portfolio comprising a wide variety of teaching experiences in the department, for example supporting the ongoing development of modules and their coursework exercises, as well as running tutorial and laboratory sessions. They will also have access to educational resources offered by the Graduate School and Educational Development Unit at Imperial.

It is expected that the teaching activities will be equivalent to approximately 15 months full-time spread over the time of the scholarship. Exposure to these teaching experiences will be foundational in developing an academic track-record for independently seeking post-doctoral employment in the higher education sector.

The shortlisting process is in two phases: first, the candidate must be accepted for a PhD in the Department of Computing with a named supervisor, following the normal application guidelines; second a shortlist of accepted candidates is made and shortlisted candidates will normally be invited for an interview. (*) It is recommended that applicants apply by one of these two deadlines: March 15th or May 1st

How to Apply:

Please contact Dr. Mark Wheelhouse.

*For already qualified applicants (ie you have completed an MEng or MSc degree) who apply early and are accepted with a named supervisor the interview date may be earlier than June.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

President's and CSC scholarships

The College offers a range of awards for PhD students. Please see the student finance website for further details. 

50 research scholarships are now being offered by the college for highly talented students. For more information please visit the President’s PhD Scholarships page. Please note that, when the departmental deadline is earlier than the President's scholarship deadline, then you are asked to apply by the departmental deadline to ensure full consideration at the following President's scholarship round.

Note that these are very competitive and the Department is able to nominate up to two students for each President's scholarship funding round. 

In addition, the Chinese Scholarship Council and Imperial College London have created a scholarship programme (CSC Imperial) to enable talented Chinese students to undertake a PhD programme at Imperial. Visit the CSC Imperial Scholarships page for more information. The department can also provide support letters for a direct application to the CSC scholarship from China. To do so, you will need first to be accepted by a supervisor in the department. Please note that neither Imperial nor the department are involved in this scheme and therefore the only financial support available is the one offered by the CSC funder.

Further information

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

EPSRC CDT scholarships in smart medical imaging

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Smart Medical Imaging at King's College London and Imperial College London continues the successful partnership of two world-class institutions, to provide PhD training within an embedded hospital environment in Central London, with state-of-the-art research laboratories across the Universities, and in close interaction with the healthcare industry.

The CDT in Smart Medical Imaging will adopt a flexible training approach. However, most students will normally follow a 1+3 pathway (1-year MRes at King's, followed by 3-year PhD at King's or Imperial). Over the four years of study within the CDT the aim is to equip students with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to explore a range of career options in research and academia.

The CDT offer fully funded PhD studentships, starting every year in September, including generous research consumables and conference travel, with exposure to international imaging labs and healthcare industry placements.

For more information about the CDT programme and how to apply, please check the CDT website.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

UKRI CDT studentships in AI for Healthcare

logoThe UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare based at the  Department of Computing focusses on training AI PhDs and Clinical PhD Fellows in healthcare applications of core AI. Our large and diverse PhD cohorts benefit from an integrated training programme which offers a unique PhD training and inspiring research environment. Our CDT students will be the next-generation researchers and innovators in AI, driving knowledge and application of AI to healthcare.

For details on our AI4Health CDT programme, how to apply and the funding opportunities, please check our Centre website.
Entry requirements and eligibility criteria are detailed on our website.

The CDT offers fully funded studentships for regular PhDs and also clinical PhD fellows, typically starting every year in October. A studentship can provide support for at least 3 years. The studentship covers a tax-free stipend at standard UKRI rate, the tuition fees (Home/UK Fee level) including Writing-up fee in the fourth year. The stipend rates usually increase slightly each year in line with inflation rates. Our CDT students are strongly encouraged to participate in leading AI conferences to understand the state-of-the-art AI research and network with their global peers; this is normally also supported by the CDT funding, subject to approvals.

Our Centre values diversity and equality and is committed to providing an inclusive environment in which all students can thrive, and we particularly encourage applications from candidates who identify themselves as women, and/or be black and/or minority ethnic. Our students will be registered in the Department of Computing, which is an Athena SWAN Bronze Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people.

AI for Healthcare CDT Admissions ai4health-admissions@imperial.ac.uk

Area specific scholarships

2 x PhD Studentships at I-X in Affordable Deep AI for Brain Mapping and Diagnosis

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2022/23 figure including London weighting plus home/overseas tuition fees)

Applications are invited for 2 fully funded 3.5 year PhD studentships (home or overseas) in “Affordable Deep AI for Brain Mapping and Diagnosis” under the supervision of Dr Islem Rekik, the Director of the Brain And SIgnal Research & Analysis (BASIRA) Laboratory and President of the RISE Network for reinforcing inclusiveness and diversity of MICCAI researchers in low-middle income countries. You will join the international BASIRA Lab (https://basira-lab.com/) at Imperial-X (I-X) as a PhD student, and collaborate at a global scale with researchers from different continents, and learn from junior and senior mentors in the group.

Our vision aims to empower students at a very early stage of their career through training them in solving exciting, meaningful and innovative research problems. At BASIRA Lab, we promote open science by sharing 50+ GitHub codes and 30+ project videos led by our undergraduate and graduate students.

The 3-year project aims at designing innovative deep learning models that are not only generalizable and reproducible but also affordable. The application of such models will primarily focus on brain mapping and diagnosis using both image and graph-based representations —with potential extension to other types of datasets (e.g., biological/molecular).

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships have an interest and an existing background in:

- Computer science or related fields

- Programming (Python, PyTorch libraries, etc)

- Linear algebra and statistics

- Deep learning and graph theory

The individual being sought for should be highly motivated and have a particular interest in neuroscience, good coding skills and method development as well as curiosity and patience for conducting research projects.

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2021 REF assessment, the Department claimed the top spot for computer science and informatics. Overall, Imperial College London ranked first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and overseas students.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please write “Affordable Deep AI for Brain Mapping and Diagnosis” in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Islem Rekik in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Islem Rekik <islem.rekik@gmail.com>. For further information see https://basira-lab.com/

This position will be based either at the South Kensington or White City campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

 

2 x PhD Studentships in Human-Robot Interaction

Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2022/23 figure including London weighting plus home/overseas tuition fees)

Applications are invited for 2 PhD students in Human-Robot Interaction under the supervision of Dr Nicole Salomons, as part of the Department of Computing and the exciting new Imperial-X initiative.

One of the studentships will be focused on robotic tutoring systems. The second studentship will focus on building long-term in-home social robotic systems.

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships will have an interest and an existing background in: Human-Robot Interaction, User Modelling, Artificial Intelligence, applied Machine Learning, Robotics, and/or Intelligent Tutoring Systems.

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2021 REF assessment, the Department claimed the top spot for computer science and informatics. Overall, Imperial College London ranked first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and international students.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please write “IX HRI PhD Studentships” in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and “Nicole Salomons” in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Nicole Salomons (n.salomons@imperial.ac.uk), using “IX HRI PhD Applications” as the subject line. For further information see nicolesalomons.com

This position will be primarily based at the Imperial College London White City campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

2 x PhD Studentships in Quantum AI

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2022/23 figure including London weighting plus home fees)

Applications are invited for a PhD student in “Quantum AI” under the supervision of Dr. Roberto Bondesan. You will join the recently founded Quantum AI lab at Imperial-X and benefit from a vibrant community in quantum computing and machine learning in the group and at Imperial College.

The two advertised projects aim at developing new fundamental insights into the application of quantum computing and machine learning to solve hard computational problems. In one of the projects, you will develop novel quantum algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems. You will develop a theoretical analysis of the algorithms and investigate their performance on current quantum devices. In the other project, you will research the power of machine learning to simulate quantum physics. You will develop theoretical insights into the learning algorithms and apply the methods to study impactful problems in quantum chemistry and material science. As a PhD student in the Quantum AI group, you will also have the opportunity to pursue your research ideas.

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships will have an interest and an existing background in at least one of these topics:

- Quantum computing

- Machine learning

- Quantum physics

- Combinatorial optimization

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2021 REF assessment, the Department claimed the top spot for computer science and informatics. Overall, Imperial College London ranked first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and international students.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please write Quantum AI in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Dr. Roberto Bondesan in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Dr. Roberto Bondesan. For further information see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/r.bondesan

This position will be based at the White City campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

3 x PhD Studentships in Operating Systems Research

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £24,000 per annum (2021/22 figure including London weighting plus home/overseas tuition fees)

Applications are invited for 3 fully funded 3.5-year PhD studentships (home or overseas) in operating systems research under the supervision of Prof. Peter Pietzuch. You will join the Large-Scale Data and Systems (LSDS) group as a PhD student, and collaborate with the existing faculty members, post-doctoral researchers and PhD students in the group.

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships will have an interest and an existing background in systems research, which includes, but is not limited to, operating systems (OS) design and implementation, virtualisation and cloud computing stacks, software/hardware co-design, compiler technologies, computer architecture and hardware/software security.

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the previous REF assessment, the Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher) and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The PhD studentships are fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds, equipment and a stipend/bursary. The positions are available to home and overseas (international) students.

How to apply

To apply for these PhD studentships, please follow the application guidelines at: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, write  “OS PhD Studentships” in the “Proposed Research Topic” field and select “Peter Pietzuch” in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position can be directed to Peter Pietzuch <prp@imperial.ac.uk>. For more information about the LSDS group and its past research work, please see https://lsds.doc.ic.ac.uk.

This position will be based either at the South Kensington or White City campus in central London.

Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

EPSRC INDUSTRIAL CASE PhD Studentship in Memory model formalisation

Scholarship: A full-time EPSRC Industrial CASE PhD research studentship, including full stipend and tuition fee costs, in Memory model formalisation (communications between a CPU and a Peripheral, or between several Peripherals) is available for 4 years starting April 2024 (or shortly thereafter). EPSRC Industrial CASE Awards are flagship collaboration projects between industry and academia, aiming to create the research scientists of tomorrow and deliver real value to all stakeholders.  

Project title: Formalising Arm's memory model: communications between a CPU and a Peripheral, or between several Peripherals 

The Arm architecture defines several types of Memory, amongst which Normal and Device Memory.  Normal Memory is used for example in the context of user space applications running on a CPU: it is the type of memory an application would get from an operating system's memory allocator, e.g. after using a malloc. Device Memory is used for example in the context of communications between CPUs and Devices, e.g. GPUs or Network Interface Cards. 

Describing the legitimate behaviours of concurrent applications over various types of memory can be done by developing a memory model. A memory model determines which values a concurrent application can see. Arm is formalising its memory model since 2016: https://developer.arm.com/Architectures/Memory%20Model%20Tool  

Concretely, Arm develops a formal artefact called a cat file which describes the behaviours of concurrent applications which are allowed by the Arm architecture. This artefact can be executed using the herd7 tool, which allows a user to learn which Behaviours are allowed by the Arm architecture, by experimenting with small concurrent applications called litmus tests:http://diy.inria.fr/www/?record=aarch64 

So far, the scope of this formalisation has been limited to user space applications communicating via Normal Memory. This initial formalisation also did not account for Virtual Memory. Virtual Memory provides in particular the illusion that applications have access to more memory than is actually physically available. The correspondence between Virtual Memory addresses and Physical Memory is recorded in page table entries (PTEs).In the last 3 years, Arm has extended its formal memory model to account for the orderings due to accessing PTEs:https://github.com/herd/herdtools7/pull/466 

This extension again has its own limitations. In particular, PTEs can record Memory Attributes, which indicate which type of Memory the entry points to, for example Normal or Device. 

We propose to expand the Arm memory model formalisation to account for communications between a CPU and a Device, or between several Devices. Some informal record of intent on the matter can be found in Section B2.3.7 Out-of-band-ordered-before of the Arm ARM.  

This PhD studentship is sponsored by ARM and will be co-supervised by Professor Jade Alglave at ARM and Dr Azalea Raad at Imperial College. 

The Department of Computing at Imperial College is one of the largest computing departments in the UK and is consistently ranked as world leading for computer science research. Well known for our work on across all areas of computer science, the British Research Excellence Framework ranks the Department at number one in terms of Research Impact. 

Applications are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science, computer engineering or mathematics. Candidates who have only a Bachelor’s degree will not normally be considered. For candidates in possession of a Masters level degree at Distinction, we also assess prior undergraduate degrees, for which the normal departmental acceptance level is 2.1 UK equivalent or above. 

The studentship will commence in April 2024 and will be available for up to four years, with a stipend equivalent to UKRI rates (approx. £20,622 tax free for 2023/24 and subject to change for future years), plus an industrial top-up stipend, subject to contract. This also covers full university tuition fees (at Home level), and travel support for fieldwork, conferences and industrial visits.   

How to apply: Please forward your CV to both Dr Azalea Raad azalea.raad@imperial.ac.uk and  Professor Jade Alglave Jade.Alglave@arm.com by 1st September 2023. 
 

Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student.  

Closing date: 1st September 2023 

Foundations of Persistent Programming

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2020/21 figure including London weighting plus home/EU fees)

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science among UK Universities and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2014 REF assessment, The Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher), and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Applications are invited for a PhD student to develop theoretical and practical foundations for persistent programming over the emerging non-volatile memory technology under the supervision of Dr Azalea Raad (http://www.soundandcomplete.org).

The aim of this project is to develop rigorous theoretical and practical foundations for the cutting-edge paradigm of persistent programming in the context of the emerging non-volatile memory technology. The project has both theoretical and practical components, such as devising a formal model for persistent programming in mainstream languages such as C/C++, as well as designing and implementing persistent programming support through higher-level libraries.

To apply for this position, you will need to have a strong background in at least one of the following areas:

Formal Semantics

Compilers

Computer Architecture

Specification and Verification

Concurrency Theory and Concurrent Programming

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home/EU students.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines.

In the application form, please write Foundations of Persistent Programming in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Azalea Raad in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Dr Azalea Raad (azalea@imperial.ac.uk). For further information see http://www.soundandcomplete.org/projects.html.

This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London.

Applicants are advised to visit our PhD webpage for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Funded PhD Position in Latency-Critical Systems and In-Network Compute

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2021/22 figure including London weighting plus home/EU fees)

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science among UK Universities and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2014 REF assessment, The Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher) and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Applications are invited for a PhD student on latency-critical datacenter systems and in-network compute under the supervision of Dr. Marios Kogias (Marios Kogias). The goal of this project is to build datacenter systems that can operate with microsecond scale latency and take advantage of emerging network devices, such as programmable switches and smartNICs.

To apply for this position, you will need to have a strong background in at least one of the following areas:

· Operating Systems

· Computer Networks

· Distributed Systems

Experience in any of the following will also be considered in addition to those described above:

· Low-level C programming

· Kernel-bypass frameworks (e.g. DPDK, SPDK, etc)

· P4 programming language

· Queueing Theory

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical disciplines, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds, and a stipend/bursary.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please write “Latency-Critical Datacenter Systems” in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Dr. Marios Kogias in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Dr. Marios Kogias. For further information see Marios Kogias

This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to

promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Funded PhD Position in Optimisation and Machine Learning

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2021/22 figure including London weighting plus home/overseas fees)

Applications are invited for a PhD student in computational optimisation, focusing on applications in machine learning, under the supervision of Calvin Tsay (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/c.tsay).

This project studies mathematical formulations and algorithms for optimisation over trained machine learning (ML) models. In contrast to optimisation schemes for training the parameters of ML models, optimisation over the inputs of a pre-trained model can be used to investigate extreme behaviour. Applications include embedding ML models in larger decision-making problems and finding adversarial inputs. This project can involve both theoretical developments, such as new formulations, and practical contributions, such as incorporating new developments into software implementations. 

Potential collaborators include the Computational Optimisation Group (https://optimisation.doc.ic.ac.uk), the OMLT team (https://github.com/cog-imperial/OMLT), and the Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/process-systems-engineering).

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships will have an interest or existing background in: applied mathematics, mixed-integer programming, mathematical optimisation, algorithms, and/or machine learning. Exact experience is not necessary, but a strong mathematical background is desirable.

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2021 REF assessment, the Department claimed the top spot for computer science and informatics. Overall, Imperial College London ranked first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities.  

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and overseas students.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please write Optimisation and Machine Learning in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Calvin Tsay in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Calvin Tsay (c.tsay@imperial.ac.uk). For further information see https://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~ctsay/research/

This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London.

Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Hardware and OS Support for Future Smart Data Center Disaggregation

PhD Scholarship in Hardware and OS Support for Future Smart Data Center Disaggregation

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2020/21 figure including London weighting plus home/EU fees)

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science among UK Universities, and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2014 REF assessment, The Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher), and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Applications are invited for a PhD student to analyze and develop hardware and OS support for future data centers under the supervision of Lluis Vilanova (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/vilanova). The end-goal of this project is to build a forward-looking, smart data center-scale infrastructure using bleeding-edge smart/programmable components, as well as proposing new hardware and operating system abstractions to push the security and efficiency guarantees of data centers further into the future.

To apply for this position, you will need to have solid programming and analytical skills and a strong background in at least one of the following areas:

• Operating systems

• Computer architecture (hardware-software co-design preferred)

• Development in programmable accelerators

• Security (especially regarding formal methods)

Skills in any of the following areas will also be considered in addition to those described above:

• Machine learning

• Resource management (metering, placement, scheduling)

• Live state migration

This work will be performed in the LSDS lab (https://lsds.doc.ic.ac.uk), where you will also have the opportunity to interact with its other members and the many exciting projects we are working on. Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English. The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and EU students.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/phd/phd-application-guidelines/ In the application form, please write SDCD in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Lluis Vilanova in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Lluis Vilanova (vilanova@imperial.ac.uk). This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London.

Applicants are advised to visit https://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing. We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Hardware and Software Co-Design for Security and Virtualization Performance

PhD Scholarship in Hardware and Software Co-Design for Security and Virtualization Performance

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2020/21 figure including London weighting plus home/EU fees)

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science among UK Universities, and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2014 REF assessment, The Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher), and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Applications are invited for a PhD student to analyze and co-design hardware and software support to improve the performance of trusted execution environments and virtual machines under the supervision of Lluis Vilanova (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/vilanova).

This project aims to analyze the existing system and hardware support for trusted execution environments (e.g., Intel SGX) and virtualization core technologies, in order to fundamentally improve their performance by proposing and developing new solutions that span across the hardware, operating system and application layers.

To apply for this position, you will need to have solid programming and analytical skills and a strong background in at least one of the following areas:

• Operating systems

• Computer architecture (micro-architecture and hardware-software co-design preferred)

• Machine virtualization

• Secure execution environments (e.g., Intel SGX, AMD SEV, ARM TrustZone)

Skills in any of the following areas will also be considered in addition to those described above:

• Memory design

• Encryption

This work will be performed in the LSDS lab (https://lsds.doc.ic.ac.uk), where you will also have the opportunity to interact with its other members and the many exciting projects we are working on.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English. The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and EU students.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please write CSVP in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Lluis Vilanova in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field. Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Lluis Vilanova (vilanova@imperial.ac.uk).

This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit https://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing. We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Future Mobility Systems: design and societal impact

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2020/21 figure including London weighting plus home/EU fees)

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science among UK Universities, and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2014 REF assessment, The Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher), and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Topic and requirements

Applications are invited for PhD candidates that are excited to shape the next generation of mobility systems and shed light on their societal impact. Toards this goal, you will be working under the supervision of Dr Dario Paccagnan, develop and analyse theoretically-sound tools/models/algorithms.

Autonomous Mobility on Demand – a mode of transportation wherein fleets of self-driving vehicles transport passengers on demand within a city -  is forecasted to revolutionise the way we move. Yet its impact on our society is not fully understood. For example, how will autonomous vehicles integrate with the existing public transportation infrastructure? Will competition between multiple operators worsen the congestion?

You will have the opportunity to tackle these questions (and many more) in a principled way, and at the same time develop novel tools and algorithms to shape the future of intelligent transportations systems. As the interests of different parties are involved (e.g., traffic authority, municipalities, systems’ operators), you will exploit models and tools in game theory, optimisation, control theory.

To apply for this position, we are looking for outstanding PhD candidates with a strong mathematical background. Familiarity with any of the following is desirable: convex optimization, algorithms, game theory, control theory.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Systems and Control, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and EU students.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at this link.

In the application form, please write Future Mobility Systems in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Dr Dario Paccagnan in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Dr Dario Paccagnan. For further information see link.

This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London.

Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

PhD studentship in Compiler Testing, Verifier Testing and Mutation Testing

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £20,662 per annum (2023/24 figure including London weighting plus home fees)

Applications are invited for a PhD student in Compiler Testing, Verifier Testing and Mutation Testing under the supervision of Professor Alastair Donaldson.

I am looking to recruit two PhD students to continue my research group’s line of work on compiler testing, which has included tools for testing GPU compilers (e.g. GLFuzz, OOPSLA 2017, which led to the GraphicsFuzz startup company that was later acquired by Google), methods for testing C compilers (e.g. the GrayC tool, to appear at ISSTA 2023), as well as new techniques to help with test-case reduction (e.g. this PLDI 2023 paper). Topics for the PhD positions could focus on any combination of:

  • Compiler testing: using randomised testing to automatically find bugs in the implementations of compilers and related tools (such as interpreters and programming language virtual machines)
  • Verifier and analyser testing: adapting techniques that have been successful in compiler testing to find bugs in formal verification tools (such as deductive verification engines and model checkers)
  • Mutation testing: investigating the use of randomised testing to automatically grow high quality test suites, where quality is measured by the ability of the test suite to kill “mutants”: synthetic defects injected into the system under test
  • The application of mutation testing to the compiler and verifier testing
  • Fuzzing more generally: while I have many ideas about compiler fuzzing, I am open to supervising a PhD topic on other applications of randomized testing.

The studentships will include exciting opportunities to contribute to the reliability of a number of widely-used open source projects and open standards. Examples include (but are not limited to) the Clang/LLVM compiler infrastructure, the Dafny verified programming language, and the WebGPU standard.

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships will have an interest and an existing background in:

  • Software reliability or software testing
  • The basic workings of compilers or verification tools
  • Programming, with strong skills and an enthusiasm for building high quality software

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2021 REF assessment, the Department claimed the top spot for computer science and informatics. Overall, Imperial College London ranked first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home students.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please write Compiler Testing, Verifier Testing and Mutation Testing in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Alastair Donaldson in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to alastair.donaldson@imperial.ac.uk. For further information see https://multicore.doc.ic.ac.uk.

This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London.

Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

PhD Studentship in Security of Foundation Models funded by EPSRC and IBM

Applications are invited for a PhD student in "Security of Foundation Models for Code" under the academic supervision of Dr Sergio Maffeis (Imperial) and industrial supervision by IBM Research. The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, a generous travel and expenses allowance, and an enhanced stipend/bursary starting at £23k (tax free, subject to annual increases) for up to 4 years.

This project will focus on improving the robustness and security of Large Language Models (LLMs), starting with general solutions for the NLP domain, and then progressing to the more challenging modality of source code generation. LLMs are effective in generating computer programs and analysing them for vulnerabilities. However, code has a rigid, and significantly more brittle structure compared to natural language, thus we anticipate significant challenges in progressing from NLP to code.

We will focus in particular on two key stages of the model life-cycle:

  1. Trained Model Verification: Large pre-trained models are often downloaded by users from untrusted model repositories, introducing the need to ensure that the model is not poisoned or backdoored. The first objective is to research poisoning attacks and defences for LLMs. Defences could be implemented as part of a fine-tuning phase.
  2. Deployment: In deployment, LLMs are vulnerable to prompt injection attacks. For example, an attacker can craft malicious prompts that look benign, but lead the LLM to generate harmful content or vulnerable code. The second objective is to investigate prompt injection techniques, evaluate their cost, and develop strategies to harden deployed LLMs against such attacks.

Environment

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2021 REF assessment, the Department claimed the top spot for computer science and informatics. Overall, Imperial College London ranked first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities.

Dr Maffeis leads the Security and Machine Learning lab, which focusses on how security techniques can make machine learning systems more robust and trustworthy, and how machine learning techniques can help address concrete security problems. See https://github.com/ICL-ml4csec/ and https://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~maffeis/ for further details.

This PhD is co-funded by IBM Research, a leading international organisation at the forefront of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, with strong research groups in the security of machine learning. The student will be given the opportunity to spend at least 3 months at IBM Research during the course of the PhD, with expenses covered by IBM. IBM Research will also provide access to powerful computing infrastructure as relevant during the PhD. 

Applicants

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English. Overseas applicants will be considered only in exceptional cases, and will need to cover the difference between Home and Overseas tuition fees.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please specify "Security of Foundation Models for Code" in the "Proposed Research Topic" field, and "Sergio Maffeis" as the "Proposed Research Supervisor".

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to sergio.maffeis@imperial.ac.uk.

This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit https://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing. We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.