[TYPES/announce] 4-year PhD studentship on "Declarative Programming for Data Science"

[James Cheney]

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EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Science, University of Edinburgh

Industry CDT Studentship on "Declarative Programming for Data Science"
Website: datascience.inf.ed.ac.uk
Project description: homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/jcheney/group/dpds.html
Deadline:
* 18 March 2016
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The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Data Science is now
inviting applications for a fully-funded, 4-year Master's + PhD
studentship in Declarative Programming for Data Science at the
University of Edinburgh, to start in September 2016.

Students with a strong background in computer science, especially with
interests in programming languages, databases, or logic, are strongly
encouraged to apply.  This studentship will be supervised by Dr. James
Cheney.  Thanks to a generous gift from LogicBlox, Inc., this
studentship is open to applicants of any nationality.


== About the project ==

This project seeks to explore the design space opened up by recent
advances by LogicBlox researchers such as the use of meta-programming
to dramatically simplify their query engine (MetaLogiQL, VLDB 2015;
incremental view maintenance using leapfrog tree join, work in
progress) and current research interests such as bidirectional data
transformations (view update/data synchronization), provenance
management, declarative Web programming and user interfaces.

LogicBlox welcomes collaboration driven by fundamental research
interests of the academic partner, and we hope to recruit an
exceptional student who aims to become a world-class researcher and
leader in declarative programming for data science.   The student
supported by this studentship would also have the opportunity to visit
LogicBlox (or other CDT industrial partners) as an intern to gain
experience applying their system to practical problems.

LogicBlox's business is founded on applying declarative programming
and database research to practical problems of large-scale data
analysis in industry. Applying machine learning models to large
datasets is a core application area for the LogicBlox system.
LogicBlox collaborates with over 50 faculty members at over 25 leading
universities, and is an industrial partner in the Data Science CDT.
The student supported by this studentship would also have the
opportunity to visit LogicBlox (or other CDT industrial partners) as
an intern to gain experience applying their system to practical
problems.

For additional information about the project and research background,
please see the project description web page:
homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/jcheney/group/dpds.html

== About the Data Science CDT ==

The CDT focuses on the computational principles, methods, and systems
for extracting knowledge from data. Large data sets are now generated
by almost every activity in science, society, and commerce --- ranging
from molecular biology to social media, from sustainable energy to
health care. Data science asks: How can we efficiently find patterns
in these vast streams of data? Many research areas have tackled parts
of this problem:

* machine learning focuses on finding patterns and making predictions from data;
* databases are needed for efficiently accessing data and ensuring its quality;
* ideas from algorithms are required to build systems that scale to
big data streams;
* the mathematical fields of statistics and optimization provide
foundational tools and theory;
* natural language processing, computer vision, and speech processing
consider the analysis of different types of unstructured data.

Recently, these distinct disciplines have begun to converge into a
single field called data science.

The CDT is a 4-year programme: the first year provides Masters level
training in the core areas of data science, along with a significant
project. In years 2-4 students will carry out PhD research in Data
Science, guided by PhD supervisors from within the centre. The CDT is
funded by EPSRC and the University of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh has a large, world-class research community in data science
to support the work of the CDT student cohort.  The city of Edinburgh
has often been voted the 'best place to live in Britain', and has many
exciting cultural and student activities.

== Application information ==

Application Deadline:
Applications will be considered now until the position is filled.
Applications must be received by
* 18 March 2016

See datascience.inf.ed.ac.uk/apply for further information and
application forms.

A complete application includes a research proposal outlining the
applicant's research interests and proposed topic.  To ensure full
consideration, prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to
contact the project supervisor, Dr. James Cheney, to discuss the
studentship topic in advance of the application deadline.

Chat with us online during the Virtual CDT Open Day on 24 February
2016 - datascience.inf.ed.ac.uk/events