The giCentre conducts world-leading research in information visualisation and visual analytics, with a particular interest in multivariate geographical data

Fully funded PhD in Visual Analytics

  • Fully waived tuition costs (including for international students)

  • £16,000 p.a. stipend.

  • Up to £4,000 p.a. teaching-support opportunities,

  • Application deadline: 15th January (extended from 1st January)

  • Expected start date: 1st February 2022

Visual Analytics to support data-driven decision making in energy networks

Project Description

The UK government plans to reach “net zero” (in terms of carbon dioxide emissions) by 2050. As part of the drive to meet it, stakeholders across all sectors of the UK economy are seeking access to data and decision- making software that can inform their strategies for deploying Low Carbon Technology (LCT) infrastructure - whether for electric vehicle charging stations, household-level solar panels, wind farms - in ways that are feasible, impactful, and cost-effective.

The project seeks to design and develop effective Visual Analytics techniques that support such decision-making, in particular ones that support the use and interpretation of large-scale, multi-faceted data at multiple levels of geographic and temporal granularity. The project will require the successful candidate to (a) help characterise the types of data and decision making underlying such strategies through direct engagement with a broad range of stakeholders in the energy domain and application of user research techniques; (b) design, prototype, and develop Visual Analytics techniques at multiple levels of readiness (so good coding skills essential); and (c) be involved in evaluating their effectiveness with analysts in the energy industry.

The research will be done in conjunction with Advanced Infrastructure Technology Limited, a UK based climate tech startup building software tools for the energy industry contributing to a number of innovative projects in this field. The PhD will based at City, University of London, in giCentre, an internationally leading research centre with expertise in Data Visualisation, Visual Analytics, and Geographic Information Systems, supervised by Radu Jianu and Aidan Slingsby.

Requirements

Applicants should fulfil the minimum requirements for entry into the PhD programme

They will be familiar with principles of Data Visualisation and ideally also some knowledge of Visual Data Analytics, Data Science, Human Centred Systems, and/or Geographic Information Systems.

They will be competent programmers (preferably JavaScript), ideally with Software Engineering abilities. Previous research experience is desirable.

How to apply

You will need to write a letter of intent no longer than one page explaining your interest in the research topic and how you think you could contribute to it. References to concrete skills and how they map to typical Visual Analytics and Human-Centred research processes needed in a project of this sort are encouraged.

Send the letter along with your CV and transcripts to radu.jianu@city.ac.uk before January 15th (extended from 1st January).

You are welcome to contact Radu and Aidan for any additional information.

The team

The successful candidate will work at giCentre in the Department of Computer Science, with world-leading researchers in information visualisation and visual analytics. You will become part of the research community and will have the opportunity to support teaching on our department’s highly regarded MSc in Data Science. As well as doing world-class research, you will be doing very applied work in this important and growing field.