Applications are invited for a PhD Studentship starting in September 2013, affiliated to our new Cognitive Science group and to the Centre for Digital Music, under the supervision of Prof. Geraint A. Wiggins, Professor of Computational Creativity.  Computational creativity research aims to understand human and machine creativity through methods of simulation.  This studentship is focused either on the study of musical creativity or of linguistic creativity.  There is a particular interest in using statistical and information-theoretic methods, in which the brain is viewed as an optimising information processor. However, the competition is also open to other approaches.

This studentship, funded by a Queen Mary EPSRC Doctoral Training Account, is for 3.5 years and will cover student fees and a tax-free stipend starting at £15,590 per annum. Further details of the EPSRC scheme see,  (http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/students/dta/Pages/default.aspx) including terms and conditions. Applicants must be UK nationals or residents as defined here: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/students/pages/eligibility.aspx

Candidates should have a first or upper second class honours degree or equivalent, or a strong Masters Degree, in computer science, mathematics, cognitive science (or similar), and/or music.  Applications from candidates with formal interdisciplinary qualifications are particularly welcome;  however, background in music to some level is a requirement in all cases, as is some ability to program, whether or not these are formal qualifications.

How to Apply

Please contact Prof. Geraint Wiggins geraint.wiggins@eecs.qmul.ac.uk, if you would like to know more details, or to discuss eligibility.   Please note that we are unable to advise in advance on the suitability of a particular candidate, beyond eligibility, because selection is by fair comparison between all candidates, after the deadline.