School of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of 
Nottingham, UK
VACANCY
 
Post Doctoral Research Assistant and PhD Studentship
in Scheduling, Artificial Intelligence & Operations Research
 
Title of the project
Novel Approaches to Radiotherapy Planning and Scheduling in the NHS
Start Date: October 1, 2005
 
Applications are invited for one Post Doctoral Research Assistant for 4 
years and one fully funded PhD studentship for 3 years, to work with the 
Automated Scheduling, Optimisation and Planning Research Group (ASAP) in 
the School of Computer Science and Information Technology at the 
University of Nottingham, on an EPSRC-funded project entitled "Novel 
Approaches to Radiotherapy Planning and Scheduling in the NHS"
 
Project Description
The main aim of this research is to investigate the potential of a 
variety of operational research and artificial intelligence techniques 
in both the efficient generation of treatment plans and the 
scheduling/rescheduling problems that arise in the delivery of 
radiotherapy treatments. This project concerns both the problem of 
efficient radiotherapy planning in terms of the generation of possible 
radiotherapy treatments for patients and the scheduling of multiple 
resources (staff, patience and equipment) in oncology departments.The 
various activities, starting from patient referral through to the 
delivery of the appropriate treatment, form a complex system, for which 
generating a high quality planning and scheduling solution is a 
challenging real-world problem that significantly impacts on healthcare 
staff and patients.
The project requires a multidisciplinary effort, aiming at combining 
different operational research and artificial intelligence disciplines 
within a complex real-world medical environment. It comprises both 
theoretical analysis and practical software implementation.
The research will be carried out under the supervision of Dr Sanja Petrovic
 http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~sxp.
 
Collaborators
This is a joint research proposal with Coventry University. Two large 
hospitals, Nottingham City Hospital and the UHCW NHS Trust in Coventry, 
which are both providing radiotherapy treatment to a large population 
throughout their respective regions, are acting as collaborators on the 
project. They will provide real-world data and expertise in the domain 
of radiotherapy treatment.
 
Research Group
The Automated Scheduling, Optimisation and Planning Research group 
(ASAP) is one of four major groupings within the School. The School 
obtained a grade 5 in the 2001 Research Assessment exercise. ASAP is 
concerned with investigating and developing Artificial Intelligence and 
Operational Research approaches to a vide variety of scheduling and 
optimisation problems. It has been at the forefront of research in this 
area over the last few years and is internationally recognised for its 
research work. The group comprises 9 members of academic staff, 11 Post 
Doctoral Research Associates, 35 PhD students and 1 secretary. Further 
details are available on the WWW at:  http://www.asap.cs.nott.ac.uk/ 
<http://www.asap.cs.nott.ac.uk/ASAP/>
 

Post Doctoral Research Assistant
Post Doctoral Research Assistant will investigate the potential of a 
variety of novel artificial intelligence and operational research 
methods, with an emphasis on case-based reasoning, in generating the 
most appropriate treatment plan for a patient. Case-based reasoning has 
been successfully applied to a wide range of domains, but its 
application to radiotherapy planning has been very limited up to now. 
The ideal candidate for this project will hold a PhD in a subject 
related to the project. The starting salary is 21,640 per annum. This 
post will be offered on a fixed-term contract for a period of four 
years.  Please quote ref. SanjaPetrovic/01 and the title of the project.
 
PhD Studentship
The studentship provides a living allowance at the standard EPSRC rate 
(12,300 per annum) and tuition fees at the UK/EU student rate. 
Applicants must hold, or expect to obtain a good honours degree (or 
equivalent) in Computer Science or a related discipline. Please ensure 
your CV includes your degree subject together with the classification 
achieved or expected, and your English language qualifications with the 
score obtained, if applicable. In addition to your CV, you will also be 
required to complete a University application form. This can be 
downloaded from the WWW at: https://pgapps.nottingham.ac.uk/.  Please 
quote ref. SanjaPetrovic/02 and the title of the project.
 
Applications
Applicants should send a detailed curriculum vitae together with the 
names and addresses of two referees who can support their application. 
Applications should be sent to:

Ms Emma-Jayne Dann
School of Computer Science & IT, University of Nottingham
Jubilee Campus Wollaton Road
Nottingham NG8 1BB, UK
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
 
Closing date for applications is 26 August, 2005.



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