1. Music PhD Programme

University of Sheffield | Department of Music

Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

About the Programme

We have a global reputation for our world-leading research in composition, ethnomusicology, musicology, music technology, performance and psychology of music. Join our inspirational research community as a PhD student and start making a difference.

The University is rated 69th in the 2014 QS World University Rankings and is in the top ten UK research-intensive universities (latest Research Assessment Exercise). Our academics produce world class and internationally recognised research and the University takes pride in its research-led critical thinking that aims to make an impact in the world.

Central to this is our large body of postgraduate research students of over 2000 across our departments and more than 240 in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Our Doctoral Academy at Sheffield offers postgraduate researchers personalised skills training, expert careers advice and the opportunity to become part of an inspiring, collaborative group of researchers from across the disciplines.

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities
The Faculty is recognised for our world class research, our diverse range of research centres and our highly employable postgraduates. We explore, share and recreate expressions of the human experience and are known for our interdisciplinary and diverse approaches, our extensive public engagement and collaborative work, and our innovations in the digital humanities.

The Department of Music
The Department is independently ranked among the top music departments in the UK, for both research and the wider student experience. With 15 permanent members of academic staff, a varying number of fellows and assistants allied to research projects, and well over 100 graduate students, the Department of Music has a strong and diverse research profile.

Our research is organised into six main areas of activity: performance, composition, musicology, ethnomusicology, psychology of music, and music technology. Most research students pursue their own individual projects, although we do host large-scale research projects supporting research studentships.

We have excellent opportunities to share and present research to peers and the wider academic community. We run Graduate Study Days, a Visiting Research Seminar series and several reading groups, which foster a sense of community and a culture of lively engagement and intellectual enquiry.

Research activity is supported by fully equipped practice facilities, electroacoustic and recording studios, as well as facilities for empirical research in the psychology of music and the transcription of fieldwork materials.

There are many opportunities for performers within the University, including the Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Choir, New Music Ensemble and Wind Orchestra, as well as jazz and folk music. The city of Sheffield supports numerous amateur and semi-professional choirs and orchestras. The department hosts regular lunchtime and evening concerts series, and beyond the University there is all manner of musical fare on offer, including the celebrated Music in the Round series at the Crucible, the Sheffield Jazz season and larger scale events held in the City Hall and Cathedral.

Funding Opportunities 

The Department has a variety of sources of postgraduate funding available including fully funded PhD scholarships.

For further information please visit: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/music/phd

Funding Notes

Some or all of the PhD opportunities in this programme have funding attached. Applications for this programme are welcome from suitably qualified candidates worldwide. Funding may only be available to a limited set of nationalities and you should read the full programme details for further information.

2. PhD studentship in Wireless Technologies in Agri. Tech

Waterford Institute of Technology | Research Support Unit

Supervisor：Dr N Ashraf , Dr B Butler , Dr S Balasubramaniam

Application Deadline：Thursday, October 01, 2020

Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

About the Project

Post summary

Applications are invited for a platform PhD position funded by the Science Foundation Ireland VistaMilk “Dairy by Design” Research Centre. VistaMilk is a multi-disciplinary Research Centre that focuses on Agri Tech, bringing together the disciplines of ICT and Agriculture. The research centre consists of TSSG-Waterford Institute of Technology, Tyndall National Institute, INSIGHT research centre for data analytics, and Teagasc. The candidate is expected to be highly self-motivated, and willing to work in future emerging topics in Agri. Tech.

Position Description: Ambient Energy Harvesting for Wireless Internet of Things in Agri-Tech.

Description: The Internet of Things (IoT) aims to enable connections of various wireless devices to the Internet. From the perspective of smart agriculture, IoT will play a major role in connecting various types of sensor devices on the farm, animal, as well as facilities, where they will sense vital data that can be transmitted to the cloud for processing to improve farm management. In a number of cases, most of these sensors will be miniature and will be embedded into the farming environment, such as sensing devices in the pasture or even on the animals. An essential requirement is to ensure that these sensors have sufficient energy in order to minimize any intervention from the farmer that will require charging/changing the power supply. In recent years, the concept of energy harvesting has been extensively used in wireless IoT devices, where they are able to collect energy from the environment (e.g., vibrations) as well as other sources. This PhD research will focus on ambient energy harvesting for wireless IoT devices, where the IoT devices are able to sense the electromagnetic waves in the air and convert this into energy. This could come through the interactions with base stations (e.g., macro or micro cells), as well as other emerging infrastructure such as the Intelligent Reflector Surfaces (IRS). The research will require design of ambient energy harvesting circuits as well as protocols for sensors in harsh environment using analytical modeling and simulations, as well as development of a prototype to demonstrate the concept.

The PhD project will be for 4 years and will cover fees in addition to a personal stipend (and research expenses).

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics (specializing in communication engineering and circuit design)

Desirable

• Masters of Engineering degree in Electrical and Electronics (specializing in communication engineering and circuit design).

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

• Strong mathematical modelling skills in communication engineering and electronic circuit theory (in particular strong background in wireless communication engineering).

• Strong interpersonal and communications skills.

• Good programming skills with experience in MATLAB, python programming skills, or other tools used for modelling.

• Experience in assembling wireless transmitter circuits based on off-the shelf components.

Desirable

• Experience in mathematical modelling and analysis of wireless communication systems, and this may include physical layer (e.g., modulation or coding) to networking layer.

• Experience with simulation tools used in circuit design for wireless systems-

• Development of circuitries for energy harvesting wireless IoT devices.

Skills & Competencies

Essential

• Applicants whose first language is not English must submit evidence of competency in English, please see WIT’s English Language Requirements for details.

• Highly motivated, demonstrate initiative and ability to work within multi-disciplinary project team to achieve results

• Have an academic record of excellence and good writing skills.

Desirable

• Paper Publications/ Journal writing and submission experience in wireless communications.

• Full list of publications, if any.

Further information

For any informal queries, please contact Jane Mahony at email: jmahony@tssg.org or telephone: +00353 (0) 51 834173

For queries relating to the application and admission process please contact the Postgraduate Admissions Office via email pgadmissions@wit.ie or telephone +353 (0)51 302883.

Application procedure

Download the Research Postgraduate Application Form and return completed applications to pgadmissions@wit.ie, quoting WD_2020_23 in the email subject line. Please note that paper submissions will not be accepted

Funding Notes

Stipend: €18,000 per annum for 4 years

Fees: covered for 4 years

3. Privacy-preserving and Trusted Threat Information Sharing using Distributed Ledgers

Edinburgh Napier University | School of Computing

Supervisor：Prof B Buchanan , Dr J Ahmad , Dr Z Jaroucheh

Application Deadline：Applications accepted all year round

Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

About the Project

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Blockpass Identity Lab at Edinburgh Napier University and the University of Oslo are collaborating on a project named CyberHunt, and which is co-funded by the Norwegian Research Council. CyberHunt aims to development innovative cyber technologies which can sense, detect, analyse, disrupt and outmanoeuvre adversaries. A core part of creating this infrastructure is the sharing of threat intelligence information. This studentship aims to implement a sharing infrastructure within a permissioned ledger infrastructure, and which creates an ecosystem for the trust sharing of threats. This includes creating a consensus around the validity of the threat information. An important focus of the research will be on the implementation privacy-preserving methods, will include areas of zero-knowledge proof (ZKP), delegated credentials, trusted signing, homomorphic encryption, and in creating rapid consensus mechanisms. It is expected that the work will also look at scaling into other threat reporting areas such for pandemic reporting.

Academic qualifications

A first degree (at least a 2.1) or MSc ideally in Computer Science-related area with a good fundamental knowledge of computer science and computer security.

English language requirement

IELTS score must be at least 6.5 (with not less than 6.0 in each of the four components). Other, equivalent

qualifications will be accepted. Full details of the University’s policy are available online.

Essential attributes:

• Strong focus on applying computer security concepts, such as for the classification of threat information, trusted digital signing, data protection, and data privacy.

• Good written and oral communication skills.

• Strong motivation, with evidence of independent research skills relevant to the project.

• Good organisation and time management skills.

Desirable attributes:

• Excellent in programming and software testing.

• Good knowledge and understanding of public key encryption methods.

• Experience developing back-end web-based applications, using web APIs.

• Knowledge of cryptography fundamentals and their application.

Funding Notes

This is a fully funded positions, with an associated stipend.

References

Kang, J., Yu, R., Huang, X., Wu, M., Maharjan, S., Xie, S., & Zhang, Y. (2018). Blockchain for secure and efficient data sharing in vehicular edge computing and networks. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 6(3), 4660-4670.

Fan, K., Wang, S., Ren, Y., Li, H., & Yang, Y. (2018). Medblock: Efficient and secure medical data sharing via blockchain. Journal of medical systems, 42(8), 136.

Wang, S., Zhang, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2018). A blockchain-based framework for data sharing with fine-grained access control in decentralized storage systems. IEEE Access, 6, 38437-38450.