<div dir="ltr"><br><div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The <a href="https://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/">School of Electronics and Computer Science</a> (ECS) at the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a>, UK is offering a 3 years fully-funded (fees and stipend) PhD studentship to UK/EU applicants for the development of resilient robot swarms. Ranked in the top one percent of universities globally, the University of Southampton has an international reputation for its research, teaching and enterprise activities. <a href="https://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/research">ECS</a> is the leading department of its kind in the UK, with an established track record for world-leading research across computer science, electronics, and electrical engineering. The student will be supervised by Dr Danesh Tarapore (<a href="mailto:d.s.tarapore@soton.ac.uk">d.s.tarapore@soton.ac.uk</a>) of the <a href="https://www.aic.ecs.soton.ac.uk/">Agents, Interaction and Complexity group</a> (AIC) based at ECS at the University of Southampton.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Robot swarms are large-scale multirobot systems with decentralised control which means that each robot acts solely based only on local perception and on local coordination with neighbouring robots. The decentralised approach to control confers a number of benefits in harsh environments. Robot swarms have the potential to take on numerous real-world tasks. In particular, tasks that require sensing or action over large areas or at a high spatiotemporal resolution, such as environmental monitoring, are candidates for application of future swarm robotics systems. However, robotic systems must be dependable and display a high degree of tolerance to faults before they can be deployed in real-world scenarios. This PhD project aims to develop algorithms for low-cost robot swarms to rapidly recover -- in no more than a few minutes -- from faults and damages sustained </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;white-space:pre-wrap">during operation</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;white-space:pre-wrap">. The project will take insights from various research disciplines including evolutionary computation, data-efficient machine learning, and swarm robotics. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Prospective candidates should have a first class degree and/or master's degree in computer science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, or a closely related discipline.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Application procedure:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Formal applications can be completed online: </span><a href="https://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/phd/how-to-apply" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/phd/how-to-apply</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. You should select “</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">PhD Computer Science”</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> as your research programme (</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering)</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. Please note Dr Danesh Tarapore as supervisor and Agents, Interaction and Complexity as research group in your online application.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Informal inquiries can be made to Dr Danesh Tarapore (<a href="mailto:d.s.tarapore@soton.ac.uk">d.s.tarapore@soton.ac.uk</a>) with a copy of your curriculum vitae and cover letter indicating your interest in the project and why you wish to undertake it.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap">References: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">A. Cully, J. Clune</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, D. Tarapore and J.-B. Mouret.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> "Robots that can adapt like animals." </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Nature</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> 521.7553 (2015): 503-507.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">D. Tarapore, A. Lyhne Christensen  and J. Timmis. "Generic, scalable and decentralized fault detection for robot swarms." </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">PloS one</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> 12.8 (2017): e0182058.</span></p><div><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></div><div><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:"times new roman";font-size:12pt;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent">Danesh Tararpore</span><br></div><div><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><p dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;white-space:normal;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";color:rgb(136,136,136);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Assistant Professor</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;white-space:normal;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";color:rgb(136,136,136);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">School of Electronics and Computer Science</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;white-space:normal;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";color:rgb(136,136,136);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">University of Southampton</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;white-space:normal;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";color:rgb(136,136,136);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;white-space:normal;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";color:rgb(136,136,136);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">URL: </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";color:rgb(17,85,204);text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/people/dst1m17" target="_blank">http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/<wbr>people/dst1m17</a></span></p></span></div></div></div>