Applications are invited for a three-and-half year, fully-funded full-time PhD studentship. The successful applicant will carry out inter-disciplinary theoretical and applied research in the areas of computational intelligence, expert systems, decision support systems, software intelligent agents, natural language processing and multi-modal human computer interfaces, and usability and clinical testing. Specifically, the researcher will develop new intelligent expert system-based natural human computer interaction methods for primary health care with a prototype for cardiovascular preventative care. The project will be supervised by the principal academic supervisor, Dr. A. Hussain (Stirling), the two external academic supervisors: Dr. C. MacRae (Harvard Medical School) and Dr. J. Moore (MIT Media Lab, USA) and the industrial supervisor: Chris Eckl (Sitekit). The successful candidate will also spend significant periods based in the Isle of Skye as part of an adjunct industrial appointment/placement at Sitekit Solutions Ltd.

Entry Requirements:

Qualifications: Ideally, applicants should have a Masters degree in the field of Advanced/Natural Computing/Medical/Bio-Informatics or similar. However, applicants must have at least a 2:1 or 1st Class Bachelors degree in the above or a closely related discipline.

Skills/Experience: The ideal applicant will have experience in developing and applying intelligent software methods and tools (such as artificial intelligence and natural language processing) to mathematical and logical problems. The applicant should also preferably have applied knowledge in at least some of the following software languages: Python and IronPython; Matlab; C and C#; VB.net. Experience of working with Linux systems is a bonus but not required.

Funding: The successful applicant will have the University tuition fees paid in full, and receive a maintenance bursary expected to be approximately £15,000 per year (tax-free). Funding is available to UK citizens, other EU citizens with at least three years UK residence, and non-EU citizens with at least three years UK residence (excluding residence for full-time education). The successful applicant is expected to start as soon as possible.

How to apply: For further information, please contact Dr. Amir Hussain (E-mail: ahu@cs.stir.ac.uk). Alternatively, applicants should email a CV with covering letter to Dr. Hussain as soon as possible (Closing Deadline: Until the post is filled).

RESEARCH THAT SHAPES AND IMPROVES LIVES