imperial college london computer science phd

Note: Your browser does not support javascript or you have javascript turned off. Although this will not affect your accessibility to the content of this site, some of the advanced navigation features may not be available to you.

Note: Some of the graphical elements of this site are only visible to browsers that support accepted web standards . The content of this site is, however, accessible to any browser or Internet device.

• » Resources for Staff & PhD students

PhD/MPhil Research Degrees

Introduction.

The Department of Computing at Imperial College is a leading department of computer science among the UK universities and offers an exciting research environment for prospective postgraduate students. It has consistently been awarded the highest research rating (5*) in Research Assessment Exercises, including the most recent one held in 2001, and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Two research degree programmes are offered, one leading to the MPhil degree and the other to the PhD degree. All students are initially registered for MPhil but may transfer to the PhD programme if their progress is satisfactory. The programmes may be followed in either full-time or part-time modes, for which the minimum periods of registration are two or three calendar years, respectively. The time taken for a full-time student to complete the PhD programme is normally expected to be three years from the date of initial registration.

Financial Support

The funding details are different for UK, European and Overseas students.

UK students, students eligible for EPSRC funding

Each year the Department has a number of EPSRC-DTA studentships which are awarded to suitably qualified research students. These pay for the fees and bursary.

Fees: £3,010 per year Bursary: £13,200 per year

European Students

The current situation is that the Department has some scholarships to fund the fees for suitably qualified European students (this typically includes citizens from countries that joined the EU on 1 May 2004). The student or supervisor has to find the funding for the bursary. It is not likely that this situation will change in the foreseeable future.

Fees: £3,010 per year Bursary: £13,200 per year (for EU students that fulfill "residency" requirements)

Overseas Students

There are national scholarships for overseas students, called ORS awards, which cover the difference between the overseas fees (£10,850) and the home fees (£3,010). These awards are prestigious and competitive. The student or supervisor has to find the funds for the remainder of the fees and the bursary. To ensure eligibility for these awards, please apply as early as possible, e.g. in early November for the competition of the subsequent year. ORS poster and the ORS booklet for further details.  We no longer can accept ORS and LEE applications for 2005. --> Please refer to the 2005 Guidelines for the ORS Awards Scheme.

Scholarships

Please see Scholarships and Awards for other funding opportunities, in particular the Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Awards. Through its Industrial Liaison Unit, the Department is able to offer enhanced PhD scholarships to selected students. These are supported through generous donations from industrial sponsors. They are allocated early in the first year of study and are tenable for up to 3 years and renewed on an annual basis. The criteria for award and financial value differ between scholarships and are publicised at the start of the selection process.

This years Deutsche Bank PhD scholarship has been awarded to Henry Styles, who graduated with a First from our department and is now studying for a PhD under Wayne Luk's supervision.

This year's Microsoft scholarship will be shared between Tyrone Grandison, supervisor Morris Sloman, and Ioannis Xanthakos, supervisor Fariba Sadri.

Please note that the Department does not provide funding for either tuition fees or maintenance. There are sometimes Scholarships available through the Department, College, or individual supervisors. ORS poster and the ORS booklet , and information on the Lee Scholarship . --> Opportunities for Fellowships, Teaching Assistantship (TA) and Research Assistantship (RA) posts are not that frequent and you would need to refer to www.doc.ic.ac.uk/about/situationsvacant/ on a regular basis to see what (if anything) is available.

How to Apply

The Department welcomes new applications from all suitably qualified candidates. Applicants are required to have a good Honours MSc degree or equivalent degree in Computer Science, Mathematics or some IT-related discipline. Candidates who have a BSc degree only will not be considered. Additionally, applicants need to demonstrate strong research potential. Where appropriate, we may encourage applicants to register first for the MSc in Advanced Computing and then, upon successful completion of this, to apply for registration for a research degree. The MSc course includes special research-oriented provisions for students intending to take this route.

We strongly advise you to first read

• and the College admissions policy www.ic.ac.uk/P1332.htm

before sending our PhD Admissions Team any questions by email phdadmissions "at" doc.imperial.ac.uk or Cristina Novakovic using cmn "at" doc.imperial.ac.uk. Please read item 4 carefully to assess whether your achievements would meet the college's expectations. Strong candidates increase their change of acceptance or facilitate the processing of their application by

• indicating in their application general research topics of interest and the research groups or  --> supervisors under which they would like to carry out their PhD work. 

If you have any problems accessing electronic information regarding taught postgraduate degrees please email the Postgraduate Admissions Secretary Mrs. Barbara Claxton or write to:

The Assistant Registrar (Admissions), Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ.

We no longer can accept ORS and LEE applications for 2006. ORS poster and the ORS booklet . -->

Applicants with Disabilities

Website navigation

In this section

• Imperial Home
• Faculty of Engineering
• Departments, institutes and centres
• Department of Computing
• Prospective students

Scholarships

Departmental and college scholarships.

• EPSRC doctoral training studentships
• Doctoral teaching scholarships
• President's, CSC, and College scholarships
• UKRI CDT studentships in AI for Healthcare

UK Students and EU Students Satisfying the Residency Requirement

The Department of Computing has six competitive EPSRC DTP studentships available for suitably qualified students who also meet the EPSRC residency criteria starting in October 2025. More details for EU nationals on how Brexit affected residency criteria can be found on the UKCISA website .

A studentship covers home fees, a bursary of about £ 21,237 and £1,000 towards travel and equipment per annum for 3.5 years. We expect students to have completed, or expect to complete before October 2025, either a first class Masters MEng degree, or a first class Bachelors degree and distinction MSc, in an appropriate subject. The competitions are open to all eligible candidates who otherwise do not have guaranteed funds and who have applied before the last departmental deadline. The allocation is usually made by the last two weeks of June. There is no need to formally apply, as we will automatically consider you if you meet the above criteria.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Fees: H ome fees fully covered  Bursary:  £20,622 per year

The Department of Computing will award up to four doctoral teaching scholarships for PhD applicants starting in 2025/26. The period of the scholarship is four years six months.

For home fee and international students the scheme covers full fees and a full PhD scholarship of approximately £27,500 per annum in total. Doctoral teaching scholarships are also available to  overseas students.

In addition to academic excellence, applicants should have a strong commitment to teaching in higher education. They will be expected to build up a portfolio comprising a wide variety of teaching experiences in the department, for example supporting the ongoing development of modules and their coursework exercises, as well as running tutorial and laboratory sessions. They will also have access to educational resources offered by the Graduate School and Educational Development Unit at Imperial.

It is expected that the teaching activities will be equivalent to approximately 15 months full-time spread over the time of the scholarship. Exposure to these teaching experiences will be foundational in developing an academic track-record for independently seeking post-doctoral employment in the higher education sector.

The shortlisting process is in two phases: first, the candidate must be accepted for a PhD in the Department of Computing with a  named supervisor, following the normal application guidelines ; second a shortlist of accepted candidates is made and shortlisted candidates will normally be invited for an interview (*). It is recommended that applicants apply by one of these two deadlines: March 1 st  or  May 1 st . . 

How to Apply:

Please contact  Dr. Mark Wheelhouse .

*For already qualified applicants (i.e. you have completed an MEng or MSc degree) who apply early and are accepted with a named supervisor the interview date may be earlier.

The College offers a range of awards for PhD students. Please see the  student finance website for further details. 

50 research scholarships are now being offered by the college for highly talented students. For more information please visit the President’s PhD Scholarships page. Please note that, when the departmental deadline is earlier than the President's scholarship deadline, then you are asked to apply by the departmental deadline to ensure full consideration at the following President's scholarship round.

Note that these are very competitive and the Department is able to nominate up to two students for each President's scholarship funding round. 

In addition, the Chinese Scholarship Council and Imperial College London have created a scholarship programme (CSC Imperial) to enable talented Chinese students to undertake a PhD programme at Imperial. Visit the CSC Imperial Scholarships page for more information. The department can also provide support letters for a direct application to the CSC scholarship from China. To do so, you will need first to be accepted by a supervisor in the department. Please note that neither Imperial nor the department are involved in this scheme and therefore the only financial support available is the one offered by the CSC funder.

Additionally, thanks to a generous gift from Mrs Amelia Kentfield, a new scholarship programme was introduced in 2023 in the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London. The scholarships are particularly aimed at encouraging candidates from underrepresented backgrounds. For the entry year 2025/26, interested students should visit the official Amelia and John Kentfield PhD Scholarships call . Applicants in Computing are asked to apply by 15 December 2024 to ensure full consideration for this scheme.

Further information

• Scholarship search tool
• Non-Imperial College Scholarships
• Visit the postgraduate scholarships website

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people.   We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

For details on our AI4Health CDT programme, how to apply and the funding opportunities, please check our Centre website . Entry requirements and eligibility criteria are detailed on our website.

The CDT offers fully funded studentships for regular PhDs and also clinical PhD fellows, typically starting every year in October. A studentship can provide support for at least 3 years. The studentship covers a tax-free stipend at standard UKRI rate, the tuition fees (Home/UK Fee level) including Writing-up fee in the fourth year. The stipend rates usually increase slightly each year in line with inflation rates. Our CDT students are strongly encouraged to participate in leading AI conferences to understand the state-of-the-art AI research and network with their global peers; this is normally also supported by the CDT funding, subject to approvals.

Our Centre values diversity and equality and is committed to providing an inclusive environment in which all students can thrive, and we particularly encourage applications from candidates who identify themselves as women, and/or  be  black and/or minority ethnic . Our students will be registered in the Department of Computing, which is an Athena SWAN Bronze Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people.

AI for Healthcare CDT Admissions  [email protected]

Area specific scholarships

• 2 x PhD Studentships at I-X in Affordable Deep AI for Brain Mapping and Diagnosis
• 2 x PhD Studentships in Human-Robot Interaction
• 2 x PhD Studentships in Quantum AI
• Foundations of Persistent Programming
• Funded PhD Position in Latency-Critical Systems and In-Network Compute
• Funded PhD Position in Optimisation and Machine Learning
• Hardware and OS Support for Future Smart Data Center Disaggregation
• Hardware and Software Co-Design for Security and Virtualization Performance
• Hitachi—Imperial PhD Studentship in Sustainable Blockchain Applications for Decarbonisation
• Future Mobility Systems: design and societal impact

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2022/23 figure including London weighting plus home/overseas tuition fees)

Applications are invited for 2 fully funded 3.5 year PhD studentships (home or overseas) in “Affordable Deep AI for Brain Mapping and Diagnosis” under the supervision of Dr Islem Rekik, the Director of the Brain And SIgnal Research & Analysis (BASIRA) Laboratory and President of the RISE  Network for reinforcing inclusiveness and diversity of MICCAI researchers in low-middle income countries. You will join the international BASIRA Lab ( https://basira-lab.com/ ) at Imperial-X (I-X) as a PhD student, and collaborate at a global scale with researchers from different continents, and learn from junior and senior mentors in the group.

Our vision aims to empower students at a very early stage of their career through training them in solving exciting, meaningful and innovative research problems. At BASIRA Lab, we promote open science by sharing  50+ GitHub codes and  30+ project videos led by our undergraduate and graduate students.

The 3-year project aims at designing innovative deep learning models that are not only generalizable and reproducible but also affordable. The application of such models will primarily focus on brain mapping and diagnosis using both image and graph-based representations —with potential extension to other types of datasets (e.g., biological/molecular).

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships have an interest and an existing background in:

- Computer science or related fields

- Programming (Python, PyTorch libraries, etc)

- Linear algebra and statistics

- Deep learning and graph theory

The individual being sought for should be highly motivated and have a particular interest in neuroscience, good coding skills and method development as well as curiosity and patience for conducting research projects.

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2021 REF assessment, the Department claimed the top spot for computer science and informatics. Overall, Imperial College London ranked first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and overseas students.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at:  http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please write “Affordable Deep AI for Brain Mapping and Diagnosis” in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Islem Rekik in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Islem Rekik < [email protected] >. For further information see https://basira-lab.com/

This position will be based either at the South Kensington or White City campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit  http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2022/23 figure including London weighting plus home/overseas tuition fees)

Applications are invited for 2 PhD students in Human-Robot Interaction under the supervision of Dr Nicole Salomons, as part of the Department of Computing and the exciting new Imperial-X initiative.

One of the studentships will be focused on robotic tutoring systems. The second studentship will focus on building long-term in-home social robotic systems.

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships will have an interest and an existing background in: Human-Robot Interaction, User Modelling, Artificial Intelligence, applied Machine Learning, Robotics, and/or Intelligent Tutoring Systems.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and international students.

In the application form, please write “IX HRI PhD Studentships” in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and “Nicole Salomons” in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Nicole Salomons ( [email protected] ), using “IX HRI PhD Applications” as the subject line. For further information see nicolesalomons.com

This position will be primarily based at the Imperial College London White City campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit  http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2022/23 figure including London weighting plus home fees)

Applications are invited for a PhD student in “Quantum AI” under the supervision of Dr. Roberto Bondesan. You will join the recently founded Quantum AI lab at Imperial-X and benefit from a vibrant community in quantum computing and machine learning in the group and at Imperial College.

The two advertised projects aim at developing new fundamental insights into the application of quantum computing and machine learning to solve hard computational problems. In one of the projects, you will develop novel quantum algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems. You will develop a theoretical analysis of the algorithms and investigate their performance on current quantum devices. In the other project, you will research the power of machine learning to simulate quantum physics. You will develop theoretical insights into the learning algorithms and apply the methods to study impactful problems in quantum chemistry and material science. As a PhD student in the Quantum AI group, you will also have the opportunity to pursue your research ideas.

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships will have an interest and an existing background in at least one of these topics:

- Quantum computing

- Machine learning

- Quantum physics

- Combinatorial optimization

In the application form, please write Quantum AI in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Dr. Roberto Bondesan in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Dr. Roberto Bondesan. For further information see  https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/r.bondesan

This position will be based at the White City campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2020/21 figure including London weighting plus home/EU fees)

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science among UK Universities and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2014 REF assessment, The Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher), and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Applications are invited for a PhD student to develop theoretical and practical foundations for persistent programming over the emerging non-volatile memory technology under the supervision of Dr Azalea Raad ( http://www.soundandcomplete.org ).

The aim of this project is to develop rigorous theoretical and practical foundations for the cutting-edge paradigm of persistent programming in the context of the emerging non-volatile memory technology. The project has both theoretical and practical components, such as devising a formal model for persistent programming in mainstream languages such as C/C++, as well as designing and implementing persistent programming support through higher-level libraries.

To apply for this position, you will need to have a strong background in at least one of the following areas:

Formal Semantics

Computer Architecture

Specification and Verification

Concurrency Theory and Concurrent Programming

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home/EU students.

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines .

In the application form, please write Foundations of Persistent Programming in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Azalea Raad in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Dr Azalea Raad ( [email protected] ). For further information see http://www.soundandcomplete.org/projects.html .

This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London.

Applicants are advised to visit our  PhD webpage for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2021/22 figure including London weighting plus home/EU fees)

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science among UK Universities and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2014 REF assessment, The Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher) and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Applications are invited for a PhD student on latency-critical datacenter systems and in-network compute under the supervision of Dr. Marios Kogias ( Marios Kogias ). The goal of this project is to build datacenter systems that can operate with microsecond scale latency and take advantage of emerging network devices, such as programmable switches and smartNICs.

· Operating Systems

· Computer Networks

· Distributed Systems

Experience in any of the following will also be considered in addition to those described above:

· Low-level C programming

· Kernel-bypass frameworks (e.g. DPDK, SPDK, etc)

· P4 programming language

· Queueing Theory

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical disciplines, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds, and a stipend/bursary.

In the application form, please write “Latency-Critical Datacenter Systems” in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Dr. Marios Kogias in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Dr. Marios Kogias. For further information see  Marios Kogias

This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to

promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668   per annum (2021/22 figure including London weighting plus home/overseas fees)

Applications are invited for a PhD student in computational optimisation, focusing on applications in machine learning, under the supervision of Calvin Tsay ( https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/c.tsay ).

This project studies mathematical formulations and algorithms for optimisation over trained machine learning (ML) models. In contrast to optimisation schemes for training the parameters of ML models, optimisation over the inputs of a pre-trained model can be used to investigate extreme behaviour. Applications include embedding ML models in larger decision-making problems and finding adversarial inputs. This project can involve both theoretical developments, such as new formulations, and practical contributions, such as incorporating new developments into software implementations. 

Potential collaborators include the Computational Optimisation Group ( https://optimisation.doc.ic.ac.uk ), the OMLT team ( https://github.com/cog-imperial/OMLT ), and the Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering ( https://www.imperial.ac.uk/process-systems-engineering ).

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships will have an interest or existing background in: applied mathematics, mixed-integer programming, mathematical optimisation, algorithms, and/or machine learning. Exact experience is not necessary, but a strong mathematical background is desirable.

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2021 REF assessment, the Department claimed the top spot for computer science and informatics. Overall, Imperial College London ranked first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities.  

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please write Optimisation and Machine Learning in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Calvin Tsay in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Calvin Tsay ([email protected]). For further information see https://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~ctsay/research/

Applicants are advised to visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/ for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing.

PhD Scholarship in Hardware and OS Support for Future Smart Data Center Disaggregation

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £19,668 per annum (2020/21 figure including London weighting plus home/EU fees)

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science among UK Universities, and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2014 REF assessment, The Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher), and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Applications are invited for a PhD student to analyze and develop hardware and OS support for future data centers under the supervision of Lluis Vilanova ( https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/vilanova ). The end-goal of this project is to build a forward-looking, smart data center-scale infrastructure using bleeding-edge smart/programmable components, as well as proposing new hardware and operating system abstractions to push the security and efficiency guarantees of data centers further into the future.

To apply for this position, you will need to have solid programming and analytical skills and a strong background in at least one of the following areas:

• Operating systems

• Computer architecture (hardware-software co-design preferred)

• Development in programmable accelerators

• Security (especially regarding formal methods)

Skills in any of the following areas will also be considered in addition to those described above:

• Machine learning

• Resource management (metering, placement, scheduling)

• Live state migration

This work will be performed in the LSDS lab (https://lsds.doc.ic.ac.uk), where you will also have the opportunity to interact with its other members and the many exciting projects we are working on. Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English. The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and EU students.

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at:  https://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/phd/phd-application-guidelines/  In the application form, please write SDCD in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Lluis Vilanova in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Lluis Vilanova ( [email protected] ). This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London.

Applicants are advised to visit  https://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/phd/  for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing. We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

PhD Scholarship in Hardware and Software Co-Design for Security and Virtualization Performance

Applications are invited for a PhD student to analyze and co-design hardware and software support to improve the performance of trusted execution environments and virtual machines under the supervision of Lluis Vilanova ( https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/vilanova ).

This project aims to analyze the existing system and hardware support for trusted execution environments (e.g., Intel SGX) and virtualization core technologies, in order to fundamentally improve their performance by proposing and developing new solutions that span across the hardware, operating system and application layers.

• Computer architecture (micro-architecture and hardware-software co-design preferred)

• Machine virtualization

• Secure execution environments (e.g., Intel SGX, AMD SEV, ARM TrustZone)

• Memory design

• Encryption

This work will be performed in the LSDS lab ( https://lsds.doc.ic.ac.uk ), where you will also have the opportunity to interact with its other members and the many exciting projects we are working on.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English. The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and EU students.

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at:  https://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, please write CSVP in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Lluis Vilanova in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field. Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Lluis Vilanova ( [email protected] ).

This position will be based at the South Kensington campus in central London. Applicants are advised to visit  https://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/phd/  for general information on becoming a PhD student in the Department of Computing. We are committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer, and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Hitachi—Imperial PhD Studentship in Sustainable Blockchain Applications for Decarbonisation

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of £21,237 per annum (plus home/overseas tuition fees)

Start Date: As soon as possible after 1 January 2025                                            End Date: 31 March 2028

Applications are invited for a fully-funded PhD studentship (home or overseas) in sustainable blockchain applications for decarbonisation under the supervision of Prof William Knottenbelt (Department of Computing) and Prof Enrico Biffis (Imperial College Business School). You will join the Department of Computing as a PhD student, and collaborate with faculty members, post-doctoral researchers and PhD students from the Department of Computing, Imperial College Business School and the Hitachi-Imperial Centre for Decarbonisation and Natural Climate Solutions, who are providing the funding for this studentship.

The use of digital technologies such as blockchain offers opportunities for scaling up and robustifying capital deployment by promoting and tracking decarbonization across various layers of complex value chains. The particular goal of the PhD research will be to develop a comprehensive framework that integrates climate finance, agricultural development budgets, and private sector investments to facilitate the transition of agriculture towards a low-carbon future. The framework will focus on identifying and implementing financial instruments that are most effective at delivering triple-bottom-line benefits—environmental, economic, and social. Additionally, the project aims to create robust protocols for measuring and tracking the impact of investments, as well as enhancing transparency and accountability in agricultural financing. A combination of novel integrated use of digitalization, tokenization, asset tracking, carbon accounting and risk sharing agreements will be explored with a view toward scalability and transferability across sectors.

Ideal candidates for the PhD studentships will have an interest and existing background in computer science, and a strong interest in climate finance, climate risk analytics and blockchain. 

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the previous REF assessment, the Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher) and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in a relevant scientific or technical discipline, such as computer science or mathematics. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English. As well as co-authoring scientific publications, the candidate will be required to deliver an annual report and presentation on the progress of the research.

The PhD studentship is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds, equipment and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and overseas (international) students.

To apply for this PhD studentship, please follow the application guidelines at: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/computing/prospective-students/courses/phd/phd-application-guidelines/

In the application form, write “Hitachi-Imperial  PhD Studentship” in the “Proposed Research Topic” field and select “William Knottenbelt” in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position can be directed to Prof William Knottenbelt . For more information about the Hitachi-Imperial Centre for Decarbonisation and Natural Climate Solutions see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/hitachi-centre/

This position is expected to be based at the South Kensington campus in central London.

Studentship: Untaxed bursary of  £19,668 per annum (2020/21 figure including London weighting plus home/EU fees)

Topic and requirements

Applications are invited for PhD candidates that are excited to shape the next generation of mobility systems and shed light on their societal impact. Toards this goal, you will be working under the supervision of Dr Dario Paccagnan, develop and analyse theoretically-sound tools/models/algorithms.

Autonomous Mobility on Demand – a mode of transportation wherein fleets of self-driving vehicles transport passengers on demand within a city -  is forecasted to revolutionise the way we move. Yet its impact on our society is not fully understood. For example, how will autonomous vehicles integrate with the existing public transportation infrastructure? Will competition between multiple operators worsen the congestion?

You will have the opportunity to tackle these questions (and many more) in a principled way, and at the same time develop novel tools and algorithms to shape the future of intelligent transportations systems. As the interests of different parties are involved (e.g., traffic authority, municipalities, systems’ operators), you will exploit models and tools in game theory, optimisation, control theory.

To apply for this position, we are looking for outstanding PhD candidates with a strong mathematical background. Familiarity with any of the following is desirable: convex optimization, algorithms, game theory, control theory.

Applicants are expected to have a First Class or Distinction Masters level degree, or equivalent, in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Systems and Control, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering. Applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English.

The position is fully funded, covering tuition fees, travel funds and a stipend/bursary. The position is available to home and EU students.

To apply for this position, please follow the application guidelines at this link .

In the application form, please write Future Mobility Systems in the “Proposed Research Topic” field, and Dr Dario Paccagnan in the “Proposed Research Supervisor” field.

Early applications are encouraged. Informal inquiries about this position are also encouraged and can be directed to Dr Dario Paccagnan. For further information see link .

Research in the Department

PhD Admissions Tutor

Dr. Giuliano Casale

PhD Programme Administrator Dr. Amani El-Kholy