Hi, I would be grateful if anyone can circulate this around their departments. Best wishes, James Marshall Applications are invited for a 3.5-year CASE (PhD) studentship in Novel Approaches to Logistics Network Optimisation, to be co-supervised by Eurobios, and the Machine Learning and Biological Computation group in the Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol. The studentship will seek to apply novel approaches to optimisation problems in logistics networks, and is an exciting opportunity to work closely with one of the world's foremost consultants in the application of complexity science to business problems. The project will involve very close co-supervision by Dr Vince Darley and Dr Proshun Sinha-Ray at Eurobios, with the successful applicant spending on average two months per year working in Eurobios' London office. The successful applicant will have a background in a numerate discipline such as mathematics, physics or computer science. The project will emphasise both application to real-world problems, with industrial data and tools provided by Eurobios, and advancing the state of the art and underpinning theory of the optimisation approaches used. Therefore an ability to tackle both practical and theoretical problems will be essential. Sound software engineering abilities, particularly in Java, will also be required. No particular optimisation approach will be prescribed for the project, but investigations may include such areas as co-evolutionary algorithms, ant-inspired algorithms, simulated annealing, etc. Applicants must meet the eligibility requirements for an EPSRC studentship (UK or EU citizen). Financial support will be provided in line with EPSRC support levels (currently £12,500 per annum for UK citizens, EU citizens receive fees-only support). The anticipated start date is on or around October 2nd 2006, but an earlier start date may be possible. For further details see http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobfiles/ZA061.html -- Dr James A. R. Marshall Department of Computer Science University of Bristol http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~marshall