[alife] PhD studentship in complex systems

[Titus Brown]

PhD studentship in complex systems

A 3 year PhD studentship is available (pending approval) at the School of Computing Science of Newcastle University (www.cs.ncl.ac.uk), in the area of complex systems with a focus on the analysis of the emergence and evolution of cooperation between selfish individuals. The project will involve the use of agent-based simulation (e.g. Swarm or RePast) and computational analysis of simulation results. The aim of the project is to investigate the role of reliability/trustworthiness of communications about cooperative intentions in the emergence and evolution of cooperation and to analyse the lexical and grammatical complexity of an evolving communication language that agents use to communicate about their cooperative intentions. The project may involve collaboration with biologists and psychologists from Newcastle University who work on cooperation and animal/human behaviour.

The funding for the studentship is provided by the EPSRC. The studentship covers subsistence (about ?12,940 per year) and academic fees. The studentship is normally available for EU citizens who are resident in the UK. 

Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, a First Class BSc, or higher degree, in Computer Science, Physics, Biology, Psychology, Economics, Sociology or other related field with a strong interest in one or more of the following: computational analysis of biological or social systems, agent-based simulation, social simulation.

Deadline for application is 15 April 2008. Applicants should follow the normal electronic admissions procedure: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/. In the application form, where you are asked to indicate the research area/project, please mention that you wish to be considered for a PhD Research Studentship.

For further enquiries please email: Dr Peter Andras (www.staf.ncl.ac.uk/peter.andras/) at peter.andras at ncl.ac.uk.