CSEE DRIVE & SORT PhD Studentship 2024-25

The School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering at the University of Essex is offering one PhD research Studentship for an exceptional student, starting in October 2024 studying PhD Computer Science or PhD Electronic Systems.

The student will work on the project entitled “Waveform Design for Integrated Sensing, Localization, and Communications (ISLAC) in 6G” under the supervision of Dr Zilong Liu. The project aims for a systematic investigation on analysis, design, and evaluation of enhanced ISLAC waveforms. Specifically, we will exploit a number of multicarrier waveforms (e.g., OTFS, OCDM, OFDM, DFT-spread-OFDM) to design novel ISLAC systems. Starting from the 5G New Radio framework, we will further optimize the multicarrier waveforms to improve the sensing and localization performances. We will develop nove signal processing algorithms to 1) faciliate low-complexity and low-latency sensing and localization; 2) enhance the receiver robustness against various hardware impairments as well as the complex vehicular wireless channels. We will leverage the recent advances in machine learning science to address certain challenging sensing and localization problems (e.g., under NLOS transmission) that cannot be modelled/tackled in a traditional way.

The student will be a key researcher for the two projects funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC):

• New Signal Design and Processing for Future Vehicular Communications (DRIVE)
• Evolving Sequences for Beyond-5G Machine-Type Communications (SORT)

Besides working with many excellent researchers at Essex, the student will collaborate with several world-leading universities (e.g., NTU Singapore, HKUST) associated to these two projects as well as our prestigious industrial partners, i.e., CONIGITAL, VIAVI Solutions, AccelerComm, Samsung Cambridge. Potentially, the student can be secondmented to these universities/companies for groundbreaking research outcomes that can truly transform the wireless industry.

Please see the Terms and Conditions for further details of these projects.

This is an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated student with a solid background in wireless communications and signal processing, who is keen to learn new skills to design the upcoming 6G mobile systems. The candidate is also expected to have a strong mathematical foundation and excellent programming skills (e.g., C, Python, MATLAB).

The successful applicant will receive a full PhD studentship, including

• Home or Overseas tuition fee waiver.
• Living costs stipend at the UK Research and Innovation recommended level per year. The stipend amount for 2024-25 has not yet been announced, but to give an indication, the 2023-24 was £18,622.
• £2,500 (in total) in the University of Essex Proficio funding, which may be used to ‘buy’ advanced skills training, including conferences and travel.

How to apply

You should apply separately for the PhD course, and the Studentship.

To apply for the studentship, please email a cover letter, research proposal (capped to 2000 words), CV, academic transcripts to zilong.liu@essex.ac.uk by 11:59pm on Friday 31st May 2024.

You will also need to apply for PhD Computer Science or PhD Electronic Systems. Our online course application process is quick and straightforward, and the following pages give you all the details: PhD application information | University of Essex

You can learn about postgraduate research at the University of Essex more generally here: https://www.essex.ac.uk/postgraduate/research.

You should apply for a place to study as soon as possible, and at the latest by 11:59pm on Friday 31st May 2024.

Terms and conditions

Please read the full terms and conditions before applying for or accepting a studentship or bursary. They contain important information about eligibility, how to apply and how you'll receive your funding.

If you're a current student looking for information about an award you received, see our terms and conditions for previous years.