UK : University of Oxford Two fully funded D.Phil positions

euHeart: Personalised & Integrated Cardiac Care

Oxford University Computing Laboratory

Applications are invited for two, 3-year, DPhil studentships funded under the project “euHeart,” within the Computational Biology Group at Oxford University’s Computing Laboratory. The aim is to develop multiscale, electromechanical models of the heart to guide the optimisation of clinical therapies such as cardiac resynchronisation therapy. Such therapies are utilized to treat the progression of congestive heart failure, which continues to be a growing problem affecting up to 4 million people in the European Union and nearly 15 million people worldwide. The research will involve working within an interdisciplinary team involving engineers, clinicians and mathematicians.

The studentships are fully funded (at EU fees level – overseas candidates will need supplementary funding) for three years from October 2008 and include stipends of £12,940 per year, as well as provision for travel to conferences.

Candidates must satisfy the usual requirements for taking on doctoral study at Oxford (please refer to http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/prospective/dphil/dphil-criteria.pdf), as well as meet the following, essential, criteria:

1. A degree in Bio-medical Engineering, Mathematical Biology, Applied Mathematics, Physics or Computer Science is required.
2. Demonstrated ability to develop mathematical algorithms in a modern computing environment (preferably one or more of Matlab/Fortan90/C++);
3. Willingness to work in biomedical computational modelling.
4. Ability to function productively in a team, with good English and general communication skills.

The closing date for applications for the DPhil Studentships will be 26th September, 2008.

Further information and details of the application process can be found here:
http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/prospective/dphil/nicsmithfurtherinfo.pdf

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Germany : RWTH Aachen University Doctoral Positions

Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science

The Graduate School "Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science (AICES)" at RWTH Aachen University announces open positions within its new doctoral program. Highly qualified students with Bachelor's and Master's level degrees and background in the fields of Mathematics, Computer Sciences, Engineering, and natural sciences are invited to apply.

As one of the leading technical universities in Europe, RWTH Aachen University has recently been awarded funding for all three lines within the Excellence Initiative of the German government. The graduate school AICES has been established as one of the programs.

AICES offers non-taxable stipends of up to 2000 Euros/mo., and a highly interdisciplinary research-oriented graduate program for very talented students, typically leading to a doctoral degree in three years (for MSc graduates), or 4 years (for BSc graduates). AICES brings together scientists from 15 RWTH institutes, from the Jülich super-computing Centre, and from the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research in Düsseldorf. Research projects are available in many areas of computational engineering sciences, applied mathematics, and computer science.

Please consult our website for details, regarding research topics and the application procedure:
http://www.aices.rwth-aachen.de
http://www.aices.rwth-aachen.de/admission

Further Details

UK : De Montfort University Full-Time PhD Studentship

School of Applied Social Sciences

Faculty of Health & Life Sciences

Applications are invited for a fully funded three-year PhD studentship starting in October 2008. The studentship includes a bursary of £12,600 per annum (tax-free) for three years and all tuition fees.

Candidates should hold a good first degree (at least an Upper-Second Class or equivalent) in a relevant subject area.

The Faculty of Health and Life Sciences has made available a number of post graduate bursaries, one of which has been allocated to the social sciences. The bursary provides tuition fees and generous subsistence funding to support your PhD study. Bursaries are offered on a competitive basis and it is anticipated that the successful candidate would commence study as early as possible in the autumn of 2008.

Any area of social science study will be considered, however the strengthening of current strategic areas of importance and critical mass in research suggests the following are most likely to meet with support:

- Social science and Disability Policy
- Social science, criminal/youth justice
- Social science and health (particularly health consumer diversity)
- Social science and youth/childhood

Any combination of underpinning social science disciplines would be acceptable, however we have the strongest supervisory standing in sociology, social policy, psychology and philosophy. We are an applied social science faculty and attention to the social outcomes of primary research would be welcomed. We do however value theoretical, epistemological and conceptual approaches to social and human science issues.

Applications are welcome from citizens from the EU and those with overseas status as well as those from UK. Candidates for whom English is not their first language should hold an English qualification at least equivalent to IELTS 6.5.

Enquiries should in the first instance go to the Research Office, De Montfort University, Leicester, LE1 9BH Telephone: 0116 2506309. Web: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/index.jsp

Closing Date: 26th September 2008

An application form may be downloaded from:
http://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/degrees/procedure.jsp

Applicants are requested to contact the office to receive a hardcopy admission pack and will need to provide a full CV with two supporting references. Please e-mail: researchstudents@dmu.ac.uk or call (0116) 2506309 to receive further details.

Ireland : University College Dublin PhD Studentship Advertisement 1

Model Validation By Fault Injection in Enterprise Systems

The Systems Research Group

UCD School of Computer Science and Informatics
UCD College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences

The Systems Research Group is now seeking well-qualified, motivated PhD researchers who want to be part of the second phase of our development into a world-class research group in systems and software technology. The SRG focuses on the systems aspects of computer science: how individual components are created and composed to create large-scale, highly functional adaptive systems.

To date the group has secured over €5m in funding from a variety of sources in the areas of pervasive computing, visualisation, systems, software verification, software engineering, digital radio hardware, semantics and software tools. In addition the group works closely with industry partners such as IBM, Intel, Microsoft Research, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard.

Positions: (updated as positions are filled)

Start date: Monday, October 6th 2008.
Funding: Includes payment of fees, travel, equipment and a generous stipend.
Closing Date: 5pm on Friday, September 26th 2008.

• PhD Advertisement 1: Model validation by fault injection in Enterprise Systems
Supervisor: Professor Paddy Nixon, University College Dublin

Project: The context of this PhD studentship is a collaborative project between UCD and Oracle on automating fault recovery for large systems. We investigate here automatic fault recovery and the application of autonomic computing principles. Autonomic systems make, informed, constrained, decisions without human intervention. They enable dynamic self-management, self-protection and self-optimisation of software systems, in turn allowing software systems to react to their changing requirements of their environment. These systems collect and collate data from sensors in the environment, analyse the data's relevance to the system's current state and make decisions based on this information. These decisions are made based on models of the systems. Several models of the system can be considered to deal with different aspects: diagnostic, prediction of changes, configuration management, etc. This Ph.D will focus on validation of those models. In particular, validation of models for diagnosis using fault intrusion techniques will be mainly considered. Given a benchmark system and a model for diagnosis, this study aims to understand how to introduce appropriate failures in the system in order to observe its output and then validate the model.

Application Procedure:

Applicants for PhD Positions should have/expect to achieve at least a 2.1 in Computer Science, Electronic Engineering or a related discipline and possess a keen interest in research. Students need to have either have been educated to degree level through the medium of English or have TOEFL 600 (250) / IELTS 7 or equivalent. EU and international students are eligible.

To apply for this studentship, please email your CV and Cover Letter with the Title of the PhD for which they you applying in the ‘subject line' e.g. Subject: to both:

paddy.nixon at ucd.ie and benoit.gaudin at ucd.ie

For informal enquiries please Contact:

Name: Benoit Gaudin
Email: benoit.gaudin at ucd.ie
Telephone: (01) 716 5352

Further Details

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Ireland : University College Dublin PhD Studentship Advertisement 2

Automatic Model Design of Enterprise Systems

The Systems Research Group

UCD School of Computer Science and Informatics
UCD College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences

The Systems Research Group is now seeking well-qualified, motivated PhD researchers who want to be part of the second phase of our development into a world-class research group in systems and software technology. The SRG focuses on the systems aspects of computer science: how individual components are created and composed to create large-scale, highly functional adaptive systems.

To date the group has secured over €5m in funding from a variety of sources in the areas of pervasive computing, visualisation, systems, software verification, software engineering, digital radio hardware, semantics and software tools. In addition the group works closely with industry partners such as IBM, Intel, Microsoft Research, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard.

Positions: (updated as positions are filled)

Start date: Monday, October 6th 2008.
Funding: Includes payment of fees, travel, equipment and a generous stipend.
Closing Date: 5pm on Friday, September 26th 2008.

• PhD Advertisement 2: Automatic Model Design of Enterprise Systems
Supervisor: Professor Paddy Nixon, University College Dublin

Project: The context of this PhD studentship is a collaborative project between UCD and Oracle on automating design of models for large systems. We investigate here the automatic design of models representing different aspects of large systems. These models can be used to apply autonomic computing principles. Autonomic systems make informed, constrained decisions without human intervention. They enable dynamic self-management, self-protection and self-optimisation of software systems, in turn allowing software systems to react to their changing requirements of their environment. These systems collect and collate data from sensors in the environment, analyse the data's relevance to the system's current state and make decisions based on this information. These decisions are made based on models of the systems. Several models of the system can be considered to deal with different aspects: diagnostic, prediction of changes, configuration management, etc.

This Ph.D work will focus on automatic models design from data collected by the system. For example, this data can be provided by log files, configuration files but also any type of information related to it and stored in Oracle's databases. This study aims to understand how to automatically generate relevant models. For non-satisfactory fully automatic techniques considering the available data, a study of how to collect more data as well as what type of data will be conducted.

Application Procedure:

Applicants for PhD Positions should have/expect to achieve at least a 2.1 in Computer Science, Electronic Engineering or a related discipline and possess a keen interest in research. Students need to have either have been educated to degree level through the medium of English or have TOEFL 600 (250) / IELTS 7 or equivalent. EU and international students are eligible.

To apply for this studentship, please email your CV and Cover Letter with the Title of the PhD for which they you applying in the ‘subject line' e.g. Subject: to both:

paddy.nixon at ucd.ie and benoit.gaudin at ucd.ie

For informal enquiries please Contact:

Name: Benoit Gaudin
Email: benoit.gaudin at ucd.ie
Telephone: (01) 716 5352

Further Details

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UK : University of Nottingham PhD Studentship (Environmental Scientist/Engineer)

Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre

The Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre (NTEC), in conjunction with Ballast Phoenix Ltd (BPL), expects to be offering a fully funded studentship for an environmental scientist/engineer, commencing in October 2008. BPL is a UK-based subsidiary of the large Dutch group, Ballast Nedam and the successful candidate will have two major responsibilities:

• to provide technical support to its customers and to environmental regulators on the Incinerator Bottom Ash Aggregate (IBAA) that it supplies to construction companies, primarily for road construction
• to undertake PhD-level research study at the University of Nottingham – based in NTEC. The research will aim to provide a means of measurement of the environmental footprint of IBAA.

This is a rare opportunity to work for a major construction and materials company and to engage in cutting-edge research in sustainability/environmental engineering at the UK's leading highway materials research centre, with a generous remuneration package.

Students should have an upper second or first class degree in civil engineering or a related field and some practical experience since graduation is desirable, probably in a construction or construction materials field. We will be looking for an enthusiastic and self-motivated person who has the ability to champion and implement new ideas in industry, an inquisitive mind and the skill to balance the two aspects of the job. Report-writing (English) skills and the ability to work to deadlines will also be key to the role.

Further information is available at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ntec (choose ‘academic area’ and then click on ‘job vacancies’) – or from Andrew Dawson, tel: 0115 951 3902, Email: Andrew.Dawson@Nottingham.ac.uk or Tony Parry, tel: 0115 846 8450 or Email: Tony.Parry@Nottingham.ac.uk. Further information about Ballast Phoenix Ltd (BPL) is available at: http://www.ballastphoenix.co.uk.

Applications (preferably by Email), with a detailed CV, the names and addresses of two referees and a covering letter explaining why you believe that you would be suitable, should be sent to Dr A Dawson, NTEC, School of Civil Engineering, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD. Email: Andrew.Dawson@Nottingham.ac.uk. Please quote ref. ENG/244. Closing date: 12 September 2008.

Note: Your details may be shared, in confidence, with staff of BPL.

For all our vacancies and more about working at the University of Nottingham see: http://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/.

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Scotland : University of Edinburgh Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Required to work in a team led by Professor Alistair Aitken in the School of Biological Sciences on a project funded by the Parkinson's Disease Society; to study how members of the 14-3-3 protein family and other proteins are involved in the protein aggregates that accumulate in the specific areas of the brain in Parkinson's disease, as well as other neurodegenerative disorders. You must have a PhD in relevant biological or biochemical discipline with a background in molecular cloning and with some experience in protein chemistry. Experience should also include manipulation of our expression clones into suitable vectors for protein production; liaison with the production facility and for affinity purification and co-purification of the protein complexes. Post is funded for up to 17 months.

Fixed Term: 17 months

Salary Scale: £28,290 - £33,780 pa

Vacancy reference: 3009718jw

Closing date: 16 September 2008

For further particulars https://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk/jobs/index.cfm?action=jobdet&jobid=3009718 and an application pack visit our website (www.jobs.ed.ac.uk) or telephone the recruitment line on 0131 650 2511.

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UK : Newcastle University PhD Studentship

Influence of Telomere Length and Statins on Lymphocyte Growth Kinetics in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

Institute of Human Genetics

Supervisor(s): Professor Ioakim Spyridopoulos, Professor of Cardiovascular Gerontology
Institute: Institute of Human Genetics
Duration: 3 years, full time
Sponsor: Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University

Reference Code: IHG70

Background

Telomerase is a DNA polymerase that elongates the ends of chromosomes, which are formed by TTAGGG DNA repeats called telomeres. Telomeres are widely regarded as the internal biological clock of a living organism, and shorten by a few base pairs with every cell division. In addition, they are also crucial to maintaining chromosomal integrity. Overexpression or endogenously active telomerase in stem cells can counteract replicative telomere shortening. In vitro, telomere shortening can be accelerated by either loss of telomere capping proteins (i.e. TRF2), oxidative stress, or DNA damage, each leading to premature senescence. Age-related pathologies with short telomeres include infertility, impaired wound-healing and liver cirrhosis. Individuals with agecorrected shortage of leukocyte telomeres have a significantly higher risk of developing coronary heart disease or of dying from cardiovascular and infectious disease. Male individuals with shorter telomere length have an increased risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD). This telomere-attributed risk is completely attenuated by treatment with pravastatin, an inhibitor of the HMG-CoA reductase.

Plan

Unexpected results from animal experiments have shown that critically short telomeres in the absence of telomerase activity lead to restricted atheroma progression, most likely due to impaired proliferation of both, lymphocytes and macrophages, an important step in atherosclerosis development. Statins have also been shown to inhibit lymphocyte proliferation in vitro via modification of the mevalonate pathway and hereby increase of isoprenoid intermediates. We have found previously in patients with CHD telomere shortening in the lymphocyte population to be far more pronounced than in myeloid cells. We have also generated pilot data showing that atorvastatin inhibits the enzyme telomerase in human lymphocytes. The goal of this study is to a) retrieve evidence from patients with CHD whether statin therapy attenuates telomerase activity in peripheral blood lymphocytes in vivo, b) influences in vitro growth kinetics of these cells, c) investigate a potential link between growth kinetics, oxidative stress and telomere length, and d) analyse the mechanism of telomerase-inhibition by statins in vitro.

Experimental Approach

A. In vivo study
1. Longitudinal study of 50 statin-naïve patients with stable coronary heart disease.
2. Isolation of lymphocyte subpopulations by FACS sorting.
3. Surface staining.
4. Measurement of telomere length by Flow-FISH.
5. Measurement of telomerase activity and oxidative stress in lymphocytes.
6. Determination of growth-kinetics in cultured lymphocytes.

B. In vitro experiments
1. Modulation of telomerase activity by statins.
2. Akt/Foxo3a pathway and telomerase inhibition
3. Dependence of statin-effect on interferon-γ.
4. Measurement of telomere length in long-term cultures.

Person Specification

Applicants should have a Master’s degree (MSc or MRes), or equivalent in a relevant subject. Applicants whose first language is not English must have IELTS 6.5, or equivalent.

Value of the Award and Eligibility
This studentship covers fees at the UK/EU rate and an annual stipend of £12,940. International students may apply but will be required to source additional funding to cover the cost of their fees.

How to Apply

To apply for the studentship please complete the University’s online postgraduate application form, quoting the reference number IHG70. You should select ‘PhD in the Faculty of Medical Sciences (full time) – Human Genetics’ and attach a CV and covering letter.

Early application is advised as this position will only be available until a suitable candidate is found.

Further Information

Please contact Professor Ioakim Spyridopoulos, ioakim.spyridopoulos@ncl.ac.uk, for further details.

Ireland : National University of Ireland, Galway PhD Studentship

Social Capital and Marine Resource Governance

Department of Economics

(ref.PHD024)

Description:
The Department of Economics offers an opportunity to carry out doctoral research with an interdisciplinary team of researchers focusing in particular on marine environmental governance in Ireland. It is part of an innovative project awarded to NUIG to undertake applied economics research into how social capital influences the governance and conservation of marine coastal resources. The impact of social capital will be examined in terms of its ability to support cooperation between stakeholders and promote better coastal zone management and improved biodiversity conservation practices.

This research draws on social capital theory as well as the common-pool resource (CPR) and co-management literature to determine if building partnership capacity between marine stakeholders and resource users through CLAMS (Co-ordinated Local Aquaculture Management Systems) and other marine partnerships provides a critical basis for overcoming collective action problems (CAPs). The candidate’s duties will include research on social network theory, social network analysis and co-management and the methodological and theoretical issues related to this.

This is a 36 month full time fully funded studentship, to begin in September 2008. The studentship is being funded through the Programme of Third Level Institutions and offers a stipend (€16,000 per annum) for 3 years in addition to tuition fees. Additional funds are available for traveling to conferences and research visits. Successful candidates will be provided with computing and office facilities and will be joining a dynamic team of young researchers. The candidate will work under the supervision of Dr. Tom van Rensburg (Department of Economics, NUIG) and in close association with Dr. Greig Mill (Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development, De Montfort University, UK). You can read more about the Department of Economics and this project as well as the ENRE (environmental and natural resource economics) group at http://economics.nuigalway.ie

Qualifications:
Candidates should have, or expect to obtain an MA or MSc degree in Economics, or, Agricultural and Resource Economics, Environmental Economics and Management, econometrics or related fields. Research should lead to a PhD thesis as well as to publications in international refereed journals. Essential skills: strong competency with quantitative analysis and experience with econometric software and social network analysis modelling programs.

Informal contacts concerning the post may be made to Tom van Rensburg: thomas.vanrensburg@nuigalway.ie, Tel: +353 91 493858.

To Apply:
Applicants should submit a letter outlining their suitability for the position plus a full curriculum vitae, to include the names and contact details of three referees, by post or email to: Maureen Mescall, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway, Ireland Email: maureen.mescall@nuigalway.ie Tel: +353 (0)91 495325.

Closing date for receipt of applications is 5.00 p.m. on Friday 5th September 2008.

Further Details

UK : University of Surrey Joint PhD Studentship

Development of a Microbolometer for Microdosimetry of Ionisation Radiation

NPL-Surrey University Strategic Partnership

Are you looking for an exciting, innovative PhD project that will be intellectually demanding, interesting, commercially relevant and fun?

Do you have a first degree (BSc, BEng, MEng) at 1st or 2:1 level and/or an MSc preferably with distinction?

We are looking for bright, enthusiastic and motivated individuals who want to undertake world-class PhD research as part of the NPL-Surrey strategic partnership.

Improved radiotherapy treatment techniques are now at the forefront of government policy in the fight against cancer. With the introduction of new types of cancer treatment such as ion beam therapy there is a need to relate cell studies to clinical use and define a new physical quantity more closely related to the biological response of ionizing radiation than absorbed dose. This will require instruments to measure energy deposition on a microscopic scale and on an event by event basis. The objective of this project will be perform a design study of a radical new detection technique that uses a SQUID based micobolometer as the basis of ionising radiation dosimetry. Such studies will be at the forefront of research in the field, will use state of the art equipment and be carried out in close collaboration with the clinical community.

Funding
The successful applicant will receive a stipend of £15,000 per annum and home/EU fees. Non UK/EU applicants will have to demonstrate that they have sufficient funds to pay the difference between home and overseas fees themselves.

Supervisors
Prof A Nisbet, Royal Surrey County Hospital/University of Surrey
Prof K Kirkby, University of Surrey, k.kirkby@surrey.ac.uk
Dr H Palmans, NPL

How to apply
Applications should be in the form of a CV which should be sent to Mrs Janette Redman, j.redman@surrey.ac.uk Application Deadline: 19th September 2008.

Further Details