PhD STUDENTSHIP: Insect Computational Neuroscience - Neuromorphic Control Systems

A PhD studentship is available as part of the 5-year £4.8m “Brains on Board” EPSRC Programme Grant (http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/NGBOViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/P006094/1), to start in September 2018. This project will develop neuromorphic control systems for autonomous flying robots, based on studies of the honeybee brain and behaviour, that integrate a suite of important behaviours: flight control, multi-modal learning, navigation, sensory integration and decision-making. When deployed, such autonomous robots will be able to explore novel, unstructured terrain, learn the spatial layout of the environment and identify and localise key items of interest based on learned multimodal signatures.

We are offering a PhD in computational neuroscience to contribute to the goal of understanding how the honeybee brain generates a rich behavioural repertoire. This is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic. The successful candidate will be able to build neural models using our in-house tools SpineCreator and SpineML (http://spineml.github.io), which can then be deployed on aerial robotic hardware for real world testing. Applicants should have a first class or Masters degree in a numerate discipline such as mathematics, physics, or computer science, and strong programming skills e.g. Matlab or C. Some knowledge of robotics would be beneficial.

Applicants should apply using the University of Sheffield application system online at: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/apply/applying including a covering statement and CV. Applications must be received by Thursday 1st March.

Informal enquiries should be directed to:
Prof James Marshall (james.marshall@sheffield.ac.uk)

The Department of Computer Science, within the Faculty of Engineering, was established in 1982 and has since attained an international reputation for its research and teaching. In REF2014, the Department was ranked 5th out of 89 computer science departments in the UK, indicating that the large majority of our research is nationally or internationally leading. Further information about the Department can be found at http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/dcs.

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