PhD studentships at UH

University of Hertfordshire
Research Studentships
Science and Technology Research Institute

Applications are invited from candidates with good first degrees in computer science, computing, information technology, electronic engineering or similar to join projects as research students for a three-year period in the following areas:

    1. Algebraic Engineering
    2. Automatic Differentiation
    3. Behavioural Analysis and Motivational Modeling of Autonomous Agents
    4. BioComputation
    5. Biologically-Inspired Affect-Based Regulatory Systems for Robots (** see detailed description of this topic below **)
    6. Developmental Genetic Regulatory Networks
    7. Evolution of Sensors and the Perception-Action Loop
    8. High Performance Processor Design, Array and Distributed Computing
    9. Neural Computation Biological and Cognitive Modelling
   10. Optical Fibre Communication Systems/Networks
   11. Requirements Engineering and HCI
   12. Security and Integrity in Distributed Systems
   13. Social Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction
   14. Software Evolution and Maintenance
   15. Software Quality/Processes/Measurement

Successful candidates may be eligible for a research studentship award from the University in some of these areas (equivalent to about 9000 per annum bursary plus the payment of the standard UK student fees).

For further information and an application form, contact

       Mrs Lorraine Nicholls,
       Research Student Administrator,
       STRI,
       Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences,
       University of Hertfordshire,
       College Lane,
       Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AB, UK

The shortlisting process will begin on 6th June 2005.
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobfiles/PS831.html

--- DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TOPIC 5:

Biologically-Inspired Affect-Based Regulatory Systems for Robots (Ref. 5)
Contact: Dr Lola Canamero (E-mail: L.Canamero@herts.ac.uk; Phone:
+44-(0)1707-284308)

Recent advances in the neurosciences and psychology have provided evidence that affective phenomena pervade intelligence at many levels, being inseparable from the cognition-action loop: Perception, attention, memory, learning, decision-making, adaptation, communication and social interaction are some of the aspects influenced by them. Within the general framework of biologically-inspired AI and robotics and affective computing, different
research projects could be developed, depending on the background and interests of the candidate, mainly along the following lines:

* Emotional modulation of cognition-action loops: The dynamics of behaviour control.
In biological systems, emotions are part of the bioregulatory mechanisms that contribute to the maintenance of the stability of the internal environment
needed to survive in changing (external) environments. They do so by acting on (modulating) the global .state. of the organism, including bodily state and cognition-action interactions. This project proposes to investigate similar
types of regulatory systems for robots. Research will be conducted into the adaptive value of different affective phenomena to modulate and control the behaviour and interactions of autonomous robots in physical and social
environments. Suitable mechanisms and architectures underlying such affective phenomena will be investigated and implemented, taking inspiration from theories and findings from disciplines such as affective and cognitive
neuroscience, biology, ethology, developmental psychology, and the psychology of emotion. This research will have a strong component of experimentation and
testing using robotic scenarios and suitable methods for quantitative and qualitative analysis of results.

* Developmental robotics: affective systems in development.
Developmental or "epigenetic" robotics is an area that investigates how different mechanisms underlying the behaviour of robots can .grow. as a consequence of their interactions with the physical and social environment,
allowing robots to acquire new cognitive and behavioural capabilities in ways that are akin to the development of intelligent behaviour in biological systems. A challenging (and as yet largely unexplored) topic within this area
is the study of the relationships between emotional and cognitive development, and in particular how affective mechanisms influence the development of cognitive and behavioural mechanisms and skills. In robotics, one of the
possible projects along this line would investigate the influence of affective mechanisms in the development of neural controllers for autonomous mobile robots.

* Emotions and their expression in human-robot interaction. Emotions and their expression are key elements in social interactions, being used as mechanisms
for signalling, directing attention, motivating and controlling interactions, situation assessment, construction of self- and other's image, expectation formation, intersubjectivity, etc. Various projects could be proposed to investigate different aspects of emotional expression for social interactions
using an expressive robotic head that would interact with humans. In addition to designing and implementing the control architecture and expressive elements of the robot, empirical testing of the interactions with humans would also be an important aspect of the project.

Applicants should have a very strong first degree or (preferably) a Master degree in Computer Science, Cybernetics or other relevant area, and are expected to have strong interdisciplinary interests (e.g. in robotics, biology, neuroscience, psychology) as well as substantial computer programming ability.