Award Award | Duration Duration | Start dates Start dates | Application Application |
|---|
PhD (MPhil also available) PhD (MPhil also available) | Full-time: 3–4 years
Part-time: 6–8 years
Full-time: 3–4 years
Part-time: 6–8 years
| February and October February and October | January to April January to April |
We have many leading roles in major international sky survey projects throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, including Euclid, Vera C,Rubin Observatory, LOFAR, Athena, JWST, ALMA, JCMT and more. These projects often create very large, very complex datasets, approaching the scale and complexity of the “Big” petabyte-scale datasets encountered by terrestrial high-technology industries. The Square Kilometre Array will generate two Exabytes per year, for example.
This has driven an rapid growth in artificial intelligence / machine learning and other data mining technologies in astronomy. We have led the application of many AI techniques to mining giant astronomical datasets, including finding strong gravitational lenses (using convnets), deconvolving and super-resolving far-infrared extragalactic images (using autoencoders), predicting multi-wavelength JWST images of high-redshift galaxies (using generative adversarial networks), and finding star-forming clumps in distant galaxies (using convnets). We collaborate with leading AI/ML computer scientists in the OU School of Computing and Communications, and the OU Knowledge Media Institute.
Minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent). There are also some DISCnet-specific entry requirements. If you are not a UK citizen, you may need to prove your knowledge of English.
We are part of the DISCnet consortium, a nationally top-rated Centre for Doctoral Training that has funded ten OU PhD students in data-intensive science projects including astronomical applications of machine learning. All our DISCnet PhD students have two 3-month industry placements. In total DISCnet has run over 50 placements in 40 organisations and led to the founding of two start-up companies, recognised through three national prizes for real-world impact on local and national economies.
UK fee UK fee | International fee International fee |
|---|
Full-time: £5,006 per year Full-time: £5,006 per year | Full-time: £16,420 per year Full-time: £16,420 per year |
Part-time: £2,503 per year Part-time: £2,503 per year | Part-time: £8,210 per year Part-time: £8,210 per year |
Some of our research students are funded via the UKRI Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Doctoral Training Partnership; others are self-funded.
For detailed information about fees and funding, visit Fees and studentships.
To see current funded studentship vacancies across all research areas, see Current studentships.
