Wednesday, January 20, 2016

[DMANET] PhD Studentships - University of Nottingham

PhD Studentships - Theoretical Analysis of Evolutionary Processes

Applications are invited for PhD studentships funded by the
School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham.
Studentships are available from October 2016 for a period of
three years and include a stipend of £14,057 per year and tuition
fees, and are available to students of any
nationality. Applicants are expected to have a first-class
Masters or Bachelors degree in Computer Science or related
discipline, and must obtain support from a potential
supervisor. I will support strong applicants interested in the
following topic.

Evolutionary algorithms and other randomised search heuristics
have been successfully applied to various industrial optimisation
domains. However, the theoretical understanding of these methods
has been limited. Recently, there has been significant progress
in analysing the runtime (also called optimisation time) of
randomised search heuristics using rigorous techniques from
probability theory and theoretical computer science including
analysis of randomised algorithm. Results about the runtime give
insights into how the behaviour of a randomised search heuristic
depends on its parameter-settings and on the characteristics of
the underlying optimisation problem.

The successful candidate(s) will contribute to this exciting
research area, which lies at the interface between probability
theory and theoretical computer science. The aim is to develop
theory that aids in predicting and controlling the behaviour of
evolutionary processes, both natural processes as well as
evolutionary algorithms.

The topic is mathematically challenging and requires an excellent
degree in mathematics or computer science. In particular, the
candidate should have a strong background in probability theory,
discrete mathematics, and/or theoretical computer science.

The research will be carried out in the context of the EU-funded
project Speed of Adaptation in Population Genetics and
Evolutionary Computation (SAGE) which brings together researchers
from population genetics and evolutionary computation. The
studentship is locally associated with the Automated Scheduling,
OptimisAtion and Planning (ASAP) research group, one of the
Research Groups within the School of Computer Science at
Nottingham.

For more information, please send me an email, or see

http://nottingham.ac.uk/jobs/currentvacancies/ref/SCI1498


---
Dr. Per Kristian Lehre
Assistant Professor in School of Computer Science
University of Nottingham
Nottingham NG8 1BB
United Kingdom

+44 (0)115 846 8376
PerKristian.Lehre@nottingham.ac.uk
http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~pkl
http://www.project-sage.eu
@pklehre on Twitter


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