Update: This position has now been filled
This is an update to my previous posting, refer to that post for most of the details.
I am reopening applications for one of these positions (the other is filled). This time there will be no deadline, instead I will keep applications open indefinitely, and then edit this post when it’s filled.
Continue reading “PhD position at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow”I have two PhD studentships (** huge caveat about funding follows **) in the Mathematically Structured Programming group at Strathclyde
Position 1: Is for a fixed project jointly with the National Physical Laboratory, to do with category-theoretic techniques for Bayesian inference and estimation in complex systems. Some programming experience is preferred for this project.
Position 2: Has no fixed project attached, feel free to propose a research project roughly within my interests of applied category theory + economics, machine learning and optimisation/control, or to discuss with me. (See https://julesh.com/ for details.)
To apply, email a CV plus any another documents to me at jules.hedges@strath.ac.uk . If you’d like to discuss with me then you can email me, or use any other public channel you can find me on (Zulip, Twitter). I’m happy to arrange a Zoom call if you prefer that.
I enthusiastically encourage anyone to apply who considers themselves part of a minority group within academia
Arbitrary application deadline is January 31st 2021. Start date is flexible
The MSP group at Strathclyde is an exciting group to be part of, focussing on type theory, category theory and their applications. Faculty is: Neil Ghani, Conor McBride, Glynn Winskel, Radu Mardare, Clemens Kupke, Ross Duncan, Bob Atkey, Fredrik Norvall Forsberg and me. See http://msp.cis.strath.ac.uk/index.html
(Caveat: The funding situation is extremely complicated and uncertain because of Brexit. For UK citizens these positions are definitely fully-funded. For Europeans the official position is “it’s very complicated” and “we haven’t decided yet”. Here are direct quotes from a recently-circulated email: “Scholarships for PGR [postgraduate researcher = PhD student] EU fee status students are still being considered, with further information expected early in the new year… Determining which EU students will continue to be eligible for home fees, and which will fall into the new EU fee status is very complex, and depends on aspects such as family members, residency, and settled or pre settled status, and we’re waiting on further guidance from the government on some of these elements too. So it’s worth being aware that it’s not as straight forward as that if a student is from the EU they will definitely fall into the new EU fee status from 2021-22. We won’t have a full understanding of how many EU students will come under this new fee category until much closer to the 2021 intake.“
There are no eligibility requirements on the position, but those not eligible for “home fees” will require a secondary source of funding. In some cases it is possible (but not guaranteed) the the university can find extra funding for a strong applicant.
I’ve been threatening a few times recently to blog about bits of mathematical folklore that I use, i.e. important things that aren’t easy to find in the literature. I’m going to start with an easy one that won’t take me long to write.
Theorem: Given a commutative strong monad on a symmetric monoidal category, the kleisli category is symmetric monoidal in a canonical way.
I have a small article in Inspired Research, the biannual magazine of the cs.ox department. Read it on page 16 here.
Jules Hedges 