Two PhD studentships in INTELLIGENT AGENTS FOR BELIEVABLE WORLDS
sponsored by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
School of Computer Science & IT
University of Nottingham, UK
Applications are invited for two PhD studentships in the School of Computer
Science & IT at the University of Nottingham for research in the area of
'Intelligent Agents for Believable Worlds'. The studentships are sponsored
by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) and will provide tuition fees
for UK or EU students (approximately 2,740 pounds pa) and living expenses
linked to the national EPSRC rate (approximately 7,050 pounds pa) for a
period of three years. Discretionary funds will also be available to cover
the costs of attending conferences etc.
It is a condition of the studentships that successful applicants agree to
work for SCEE Soho development studios for a period of no less than one year
on completion of their PhD. In addition, there will be opportunities for
students to work at SCEE Soho for short periods during their PhD.
The start date is October 2000, or as soon as possible thereafter, and the
deadline for applications is Friday the 25th of August 2000.
RESEARCH TOPICS
The first studentship is for research in the area of `Real-time Agent
Architectures for Believable Worlds'. The aim of this project is to develop
intelligent agents that can run in real time on limited hardware in complex,
dynamic `game-like' or `life-like' simulated environments (e.g., 3D terrain
containing objects and other agents) about which only limited information is
available and where decisions must be made under time pressure. Possible
topics include (but are not limited to):
* reactive planning, plan monitoring, plan repair and replanning;
* plan recognition, e.g., working out what a human player is trying to do,
critiquing and debugging a human player's plans;
* generating team plans and monitoring for failures in team plans;
* pursuing several goals at the same time, e.g., the ability to pursue one
or more tasks while responding appropriately to changes in the
environment and interruptions from other players.
The second studentship is for research in the area of `Conversational
Agents'. The aim of this project is to develop intelligent agents that can
generate natural language with content relating to, for example:
* their mental state (senses, goals, plans, knowledge);
* others' mental states, including others' goals and plans; or
* inconsequential `small talk' about the world they inhabit.
The project will address both issues of competence (is the conversation
useful) and performance (is the conversation interesting).
INFORMATION AND APPLICATIONS
For more information please contact:
Dr Brian Logan
School of Computer Science & IT
University of Nottingham
Jubilee Campus
Nottingham NG8 1BB
email: [log in to unmask]
Phone: +44 115 846 6509
Fax: +44 115 951 4254
The deadline for applications is Friday the 25th of August. Application
forms are available from:
Postgraduate Admissions
School of Computer Science & IT
University of Nottingham
Jubilee Campus
Nottingham NG8 1BB UK
email: [log in to unmask]
Phone: +44 115 951 4242
Fax: +44 115 951 4254
or
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/gradschool/prospective/pgapp.html
and should be sent to Dr Brian Logan at the above address.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|