University of Southampton: Sustainable AI PhD positions.
Shoaib Jameel
To cultivate this talented pool of researchers, we are seeking to recruit up to 15 PhD students next year (2024). If you are considering pursuing a PhD at the University of Southampton, we invite you to join us for the informative session entitled "SustAI CDT PhD Recruitment Event". This event, which will be held in person and online, will provide insights into our research programs and opportunities for doctoral studies. Here is the link to register for the event: SustAI CDT PhD Recruitment Event (office.com)
If your interests align with the intersection of sustainability and the potential of natural language processing to address environmental issues, please feel free to reach out to me. I would be happy to discuss your research aspirations and how our programs can support your goals.
We need urgent action to mitigate a climate disaster and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology will play a key part in achieving this, for example by improving transportation and energy use, optimising supply chains, reducing waste, and monitoring biodiversity. The UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for Sustainability (SustAI) is a £15M investment that will fund at least 70 PhD students over its 8-year lifetime. SustAI is a multidisciplinary and inclusive doctoral training programme that will equip students both with state-of-the-art AI technical skills and with an understanding of how these skills can be applied to address pressing environmental challenges.
The SustAI CDT is far more than a regular PhD programme. Sustainability is at the heart of the SustAI CDT, both in its research and ethos. Our students will have the opportunity to engage with over thirty business and government organisations that are at the forefront of sustainability. This will be complemented by a wide range of modules, workshops and cohort-building activities. Through this wide-ranging training programme and close engagement with stakeholders, our students will be equipped with the ability to transform academic research and make a real change in businesses and society.
The CDT focuses on 5 themes:
1. AI for Sustainable Operations and Circular Economy: This theme focuses on using AI to optimise manufacturing processes, operations, and supply chains for sustainability, including reducing waste and energy use, improving resource efficiency, waste management and recycling, and developing more sustainable products, packaging, and service delivery models within a circular economy framework. Example uses of AI include anomaly detection for improved maintenance; prediction of demand and supply enabling more efficient supply chains and reduced waste; tracking of CO2 throughout the supply chain to incentivise behavioural change; predicting and mapping particle emissions in urban areas.
2. AI for Transportation and Logistics: This theme focuses on using AI to optimise transportation and logistics operations for sustainability, including reducing energy and resource use, improving smart mobility services, and developing more sustainable transportation systems. Example applications include intelligent intersection management for connected and autonomous vehicles; ride sharing and dynamic bus routing; micro-tolling to reduce congestion; personalised electric vehicle charging and routing; optimising shipping routes and fleet management using digital twins.
3. AI for Sustainable Energy and Buildings: This theme focuses on using AI to optimise and improve the management of sustainable energy technologies such as solar, wind, and hydro, including forecasting and predicting energy demand, improving efficiency and reducing costs, smart grid and energy markets, and managing energy use in smart buildings. Examples include optimising energy use and storage based on occupancy prediction and price forecasts; creating novel community energy markets to efficiently use local production; and understanding and managing the trade-offs between cost and comfort in homes and offices.
4. AI for Biodiversity: This theme focuses on using AI to protect and conserve biodiversity, including monitoring and predicting changes in ecosystems, identifying and mitigating threats to endangered species, and developing sustainable agricultural, fisheries and land management practices. For example, AI can process geodata and optimise resource use through data-driven modelling of the complex interactions within ecosystems; it can help conservation through the identification and counting of species from audio and video streams; specialised ground and air robotics can assist in monitoring and land management.
5. Sustainable AI: This theme focuses on reducing the power consumption that is associated with the use of AI. It will investigate both creating more efficient machine learning algorithms to be used, e.g., in edge computing, as well as introducing a fundamentally different approach at the hardware level, such as new neuromorphic architectures that emulate the synaptic plasticity of the brain. Example projects include developing nano-electronic technologies using the University of Southampton’s world-leading clean room facilities; employing hardware acceleration for real-time AI; as well as developing novel algorithmic techniques, such as deep learning, Bayesian inference and optimisation for low-power devices.