Dear colleagues, 

please kindly forward this to any interested students

PhD studentship: “Personal Data, Thinking Inside the Box”

Application closing date: 15/09/2015

Start date: 01/01/2016 (earlier start negotiable)

Research group: Centre for Intelligent Sensing (CIS)

Duration: 3 years Funding available (International students), plus a period of time spent in University of Genoa, Italy

Applications are invited for a fully-funded PhD studentships, allied to the collaboration agreement between QMUL (CIS) and University of Genoa (DITEN).

The research is in the general area of Personal Data & Human-Data Interaction. There is a critical need to provide technologies that enable alternative practices, so that individuals can participate in the collection, management and consumption of their personal data. In this studentship, we will investigate the feasibility of having a Databox, a personal networked device (and associated apps/services) that collates and mediates access to personal data, allowing us to recover control of our online lives. We hope the Databox is a first step to re-balancing power between us, the data subjects, and the corporations that collect and use our data. The Databox can act as a hub for individuals’ mobility and physical activity data, social media data, third party tracking, and ambient data from the environment.

All nationalities are eligible to apply for this studentship, which will start in January 2016. The studentships are for 3 years, and cover student fees as well as a tax-free stipend of £16,057 per annum. The candidate will spend a period of time in University of Genoa.

Candidates must have a first-class honours degree or equivalent, or a good MSc Degree in Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, HCI or equivalent. Candidates should be confident in data measurement and API programming, and/or machine learning, and have programming experience in, e.g. Python, R/MATLAB or similar. Prior experience with data collection and processing, analysis, and visualisation is welcome. Experience in research and a track record of publications is very advantageous. Although the skills and ability to perform conventional data collection and analysis methods is a must, the candidate should be able to think independently and creatively about the way they would envision a novel and user-centric personal data ecosystem.

Informal enquiries can be made by email to Dr Hamed Haddadi ([log in to unmask]) who will lead the PhD supervision.

To apply, please follow the on-line process (www.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply) by selecting ‘Computer Science’ in the ‘A-Z list of research opportunities’ and following the instructions.

Please note that instead of the ‘Research Proposal’ we request a ‘Statement of Research Interests’. Your statement should answer two questions: (i) Why are you interested in the topics above? (ii) What relevant experience do you have? Your statement should be brief: no more than 500 words or one side of A4 paper. In addition we would also like you to send a sample of your written work. This might be a chapter of your final year dissertation, or a published conference or journal paper. More details can be found at: http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/phd/apply.php

The closing date for the applications is 15/09/15. Interviews are expected to take place between 20 and 30 September 2015.

References:

Hamed Haddadi, Heidi Howard, Amir Chaudhry, Jon Crowcroft, Anil Madhavapeddy, Richard Mortier, "Personal Data: Thinking Inside the Box”, The 5th decennial Aarhus conferences (Aarhus 2015), August 2015, available on arXiv [paper , MIT Technology Review, Guardian]

Richard Mortier, Hamed Haddadi, Tristan Henderson, Derek McAuley, and Jon Crowcroft, "Human-Data Interaction: The Human Face of the Data-Driven Society”, (October 1, 2014). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2508051 (paper , MIT Technology Review)

Hamed Haddadi, Richard Mortier, Derek McAuley, Jon Crowcroft, “Human-Data Interaction”, Technical Report 837, University of Cambridge, Computer Laboratory (PDF)

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