PhD Computing

The School of Computing at Ulster conducts internationally excellent and world-leading research in, assistive technologies, next generation networks, and semantic analytics, within our two highly active research centres; Artificial Intelligence Research Centre (AIRC) and Pervasive Computing Research Centre (PCRC). School of Computing has a long history of conducting excellent research. As part of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment, internationally renowned experts independently judged research on computer science and informatics at Ulster University as being in the top 10 of UK Universities in terms of research power. Over 86% of Ulster’s research on computer science is rated as either world leading or internationally excellent. Both research impact and research environment have attained a 100% world-leading and internationally excellent rating, offering unparalleled research facilities and environments. These outstanding results illustrate the positive impact our research makes on global economic sectors and society. The main research themes in artificial intelligence are: data engineering; knowledge engineering; semantic analytics (making sense of unstructured data such as image, video, spectra and text); biomedical informatics; and mathematical modelling and optimisation.

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study. We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction. In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.