How does it work?

Candidates will study for a four year, full time funded PhD (3 quarters of your time) whilst working and receiving a salary to gain valuable teaching experience (1 quarter of your time). Candidates will receive a salary and stipend package. All fees are included along with a package of support to enable you to develop a research career in this exciting field.

See candidate pack for more details about funding/salary and the PhD research projects available.

Candidates will be provided with training to develop teaching and pedagogical skills, no prior experience of teaching is necessary. On the research side, our package of support includes access to MSc courses and bespoke training through our Doctoral and Researcher College will help you in developing your professional skills as a researcher.

Working hours for the teaching portion will be variable during the academic year but will be no more than 20 hours per week. The terms of the offer of funding for the PhD and the offer of employment will rely upon the postholder being registered as a full-time doctoral student.

Successful candidates will be paid an annual salary and stipend (£14,428 per annum) over the 4 year period and will have PhD fees covered at the Home level (Please note that students liable for international fees will need to pay the difference between these and the home fee rate). Fees for 2024/25 (amount payable each year) can be found here.

How do I apply?

There is a 2-step application process as follows:

Candidates must:

1. Apply for a PhD in Computer Science indicating a preference for oneof the PhD topics listed below via this link.

PhD Topic 1: Automated Verification of WebAssembly Programs (Supervisor: Dr Martin Lester);

PhD Topic 2: Leveraging Vision Foundation Models for Zero-Shot Open Vocabulary 3D Scene Understanding (Supervisor: Dr Muhammad Shahzad)

PhD Topic 3: Harnessing Causally-Informed Deep Learning for Use in Climate Modelling

(Supervisor: Dr Todd Jones)

PhD Topic 4. Preserving Privacy in Large Language Models (Supervisor: Dr Xiaomin Chen)

When applying, if the system prompts you to submit a research proposal, please paste in Computer Science GTA and the title of which one of the four PhD topics you are applying for and move on to the next step in the application. When the system asks about funding, please also enter 'Computer Science GTA' in the relevant box.

2. Submit an application for a GTA post via the apply buttonat the end of this page.

You will need to demonstrate you:

• meet the academic requirements for a PhD offer from the University of Reading.

• have a 1st or 2.1 degree in Computer Science, Mathematical Science, Meteorology, Physics or closely related subjects

• are able to effectively organise your time and prioritise tasks to balance PhD studies with GTA responsibilities

• are able to demonstrate scholarship in developing a publication record in your area of specialist expertise and conduct high quality PhD research.

• are able to communicate scientific concepts clearly and with enthusiasm and in a way that engages students

• Have good interpersonal skills and be able to work as part of a team

We are expecting to hold interviews on the 29th and 30thApril 2024.

The University is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce, supports the gender equality Athena SWAN Charter and the Race Equality Charter, and is a leading LGBT+ rights organisation. We are also a Disability Confident Level 1 employer.