Automating & Integrating Airport Operations
PhD Studentship in the School of Computer Science, The University of 
Nottingham

Studentships normally start in early October (2010), but flexibility is 
possible here.
There is no closing date on this vacancy, but early application is 
recommended.

Applications are invited for the above studentship, to be supervised by 
Professor Edmund K. Burke and Dr Jason Atkin. The successful student 
will join the current Integrating and Automating Airport Operations 
project in the Automated Scheduling, Optimisation and Planning research 
group (see: http://www.asap.cs.nott.ac.uk/) in the School of Computer 
Science at the University of Nottingham. The group is currently involved 
in a number of air transportation-related projects, further details of 
which can be found here: http://www.asap.cs.nott.ac.uk/atr.

This studentship will join a large project across four UK universities, 
to investigate the opportunities for increasing the level of automation 
at airports. A number of airport operations are of particular interest 
at Nottingham, including arrival and departure scheduling and 
sequencing, the ground movement problem at airports, and the stand 
allocation and stand resource allocation problems. These problems are 
typically solved independently, and the two main areas of investigation 
in this project are to increase the applicability of the problems to the 
real world situations (considering increasingly realistic problems 
rather than forming academic problems of interest by ignoring important 
objectives and constraints) and to investigate the ways in which 
simultaneous consideration of multiple problems (such as stand 
allocation plus ground movement, rather than considering them 
independently) can improve the overall efficiency of the system. This 
project is supported by both Manchester and Zurich airports and some 
site visits should be expected in order to understand the real details 
of the problems under consideration. Further researchers on this 
project, at Loughborough, Lincoln and Liverpool universities, will be 
considering the human interaction issues, the multi-objective nature of 
the problems and the baggage handling systems respectively. It is 
currently envisaged that the successful student would, at least 
initially, consider the stand allocation side of the system, including 
the effects of stand allocation upon the other problems and the eventual 
integration of this problem with the ground movement and sequencing 
problems.

Students should have at least the equivalent of a UK upper second-class 
honours degree (ideally a first class degree).  They should preferably 
have an undergraduate or Masters Degree in computer science, operational 
research, mathematics or a closely related area. Students with a 
mathematical background and good programming experience are especially 
encouraged to apply.

This studentship is available for 3 years and includes an approximate 
maintenance grant of 13,300 per year, and UK/EU tuition fees. 
(Mantenance grants are not income and thus not subject to taxation, so 
this is equivalent to a much higher income.) Due to funding 
restrictions, this studentship is only open to UK/EU students.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr J Atkin, tel: 0115 846 6531 or 
Email: [log in to unmask] Please note that applications sent directly to 
this Email address will not be accepted.

Applications, with a detailed CV, any supporting information (such as 
why you wish to do a PhD, why this PhD in particular, along with any 
details illustrating your suitability and skills) and the names and 
addresses of two referees, should be sent to Ms D Pitchfork, School of 
Computer Science, The University of Nottingham, Jubilee Campus, Wollaton 
Road, Nottingham, NG8 1BB.  Tel: 0115 846 6543.  Email: 
[log in to unmask] Please quote ref. SCI/874.