Heuristics/Modelling CASE PhD studentship University of Bradford/APSolve Ltd.

[Keshav Dahal <k.p.dahal@Bradford.ac.uk>]

Heuristics/Modelling CASE PhD studentship University of Bradford/
APSolve Ltd.

The MOSAIC research group at the University of Bradford
(http://www.mosaic.brad.ac.uk) and APSolve Ltd. 
(http://www.apsolve.co.uk) offer a fully-funded CASE PhD studentship 
for a project entitled "New models and heuristics for scheduling to 
exploit a new way of working: the flexible, dynamic work team".

The studentship pays a tax-free stipend of £11,000 per annum, together
with home PhD fees and travel and subsistence costs for visits to 
APSolve. The fees and stipend are payable to a student who is a British
citizen, or who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK, or who has 
been ordinarily resident in the UK for the last 3 years (for a purpose 
other than full time education). Non-UK EU nationals are eligible to 
have their fees funded, but would receive only a partial stipend. 
 The project will consider the problem of scheduling a large mobile 
workforce in a dynamic environment. The use of Personal Digital 
Assistants and mobile telephony in such an environment allows for 
considerable flexibility in implementing schedules. APSolve has a 
market-leading product for such scheduling problems, currently used by 
BT and being developed for a range of clients with similar problems. 

The research will consider approaches to the analysis, modelling and 
optimisation of flexible work teams in a dynamic environment, bringing 
together the domain knowledge and experience of APSolve and the 
analysis, modelling and AI/heuristic optimisation expertise of the 
University of Bradford. We will compare static and dynamic approaches 
to work team formation, using mathematical and constraint programming, 
and design and implement evolutionary optimisation techniques, in 
addition to hyperheuristic approaches which use adaptive hybridisation,
where the University of Bradford is internationally recognized. We will
consider appropriate knowledge-based approaches.
The student should have a 2:1 or higher degree (or equivalent) from a 
good university, and in addition, should ideally have at least one, and
preferably two or more of the following skills:
- Mathematical modelling
- Constraint based reasoning
- Heuristic optimization
- Planning/scheduling
- Java/C++ programming
- Knowledge-based systems

For further information, please contact Dr. Keshav Dahal (e-mail: 
K.P.Dahal@Bradford.ac.uk) or Prof. Peter Cowling (e-mail: 
P.I.Cowling@Bradford.ac.uk). Applicants should send a complete CV 
together with the names and addresses of two referees to: 

Dr. Keshav Dahal
MOSAIC Research Group
University of Bradford
Department of Computing
Bradford BD7 1DP UK
E-mail: K.P.Dahal@Bradford.ac.uk
Tel:    +44 (0)1274 234019
Fax:    +44 (0)1274 234054

Closing date: 22 November 2002