PhD viva success: Alexander Murashko

Congratulations to Alexander Murashko, who successfully defended his thesis last week. Alexander is pictured with External Examiner, Professor Paul McKevitt from Ulster University, Internal Examiner Dr Kasim Terzic, Convener Professor Alan Dearle and Supervisor Dr John Thomson.

Image courtesy of Annemarie Paton.

School of Computer Science – PhD Scholarships

The School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews offers funding for up to six students to undertake PhD research starting in the Fall of 2017 in any of the areas of research carried out by its academic faculty (which includes, but is not limited to, Artificial Intelligence and Symbolic Computation, Computer Systems Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, and Programming Languages).

We are looking for highly motivated research students willing to be part of a diverse and supportive research community.

Applicants must hold a BSc or MSc in an area appropriate for their proposed topic of study (usually Computer Science, but not restricted to it). The Scholarship covers PhD fees and provides a tax-free maintenance stipend of £14,296 per year for 3.5 years. Exceptional students can apply for an additional £2,000 per year. International applications are welcome.

We especially encourage female applicants and underrepresented minorities to apply. Admission is competitive but candidate selection takes into account the motivation, skills and previous experience of the candidates. If you are interested, please get in contact with us by e-mail even if you are not sure of your eligibility or strength as a candidate (write an e-mail to pg-admin-cs@st-andrews.ac.uk Subject: Informal PhD Inquiry). We will facilitate contact with a member of research staff in your area of interest (for a list of existing faculty and areas of research see http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/prospective-pg/postgraduate-supervisors).

For further information, including the step-by-step procedure on how to apply please check our postgraduate-research web page (http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/prospective-pg/research-degrees). The closing date for applications is March 31st 2017 and we will make decisions on studentship allocation by April 30th 2017. Before preparing a full application we recommend that you contact us by e-mail at pg-admin-cs@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Graduation November 2016

Congratulations to the Masters Class of 2016, and PhD students Dr Vinodh Sampath and Dr Oche Ejembi, who graduated last month. Each year, students are invited to a reception in Computer Science to celebrate their achievement and reflect on their time in the School, with staff and guests.

Our graduates have moved on to a wide variety of interesting and challenging employment and further study opportunities, and we wish them all well with their future careers.

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oche

vinod

PhD Reading Party 2015

The 2015 PhD Reading Party was held at the Burn, a Georgian Mansion at the foot of Glenesk in the North East of Scotland in December last year. It was an opportunity for research students to network, brainstorm and talk about their research and interests with colleagues in a relaxed atmosphere.

There were twenty-two (22) student talks, each of which lasted for up to 10 minutes including time for questions and discussions. Two members of staff – Ruth Letham and Ozgur Akgun – also gave talks, the former on teaching opportunities and career paths and the latter on reproducible research and research streams in academia. At the end of the talks, the staff members provided feedback and facilitated small group brainstorming sessions based on the interests and research themes that emerged.

It wasn’t all work and no play, as the gang explored the scenic landscape, wandered through the nearby woods and streams, and contemplated the complexities of the universe while star-gazing at night. Indoors, the gang played pool, table tennis, darts and cards, and participated in organised activities including a pub quiz (because there’s no such thing as too much trivia knowledge), presentation karaoke (because extemporising is fun and useful) and a host of board games (because why not?).

PhD Reading Party 2015

PhD Reading Party 2015

Images and text courtesy of Adeola Fabola, Haifa Al Nasseri and Shyam Reyal