PhD Research Studentships
Reconfigurable Multi-agent Systems for Environmental Operations
| Supervisor: | Ketao ZHANG |
| Apply by: | 29 January 2025 |
| Start in: | September (Semester 1) |
Description
The accelerating degradation of forests and subsequent biodiversity loss have led to intensified efforts to develop effective conservation methods. It is critical and urgent to preserve the biosphere to meet the sustainable development goals. Protecting and restoring biodiversity depends on obtaining precise data on species distributions and population sizes on relevant ecological scales, which is currently limited by the lack of methods to scale data collection. This project aims to develop, deploy and operate a reconfigurable system consisting of multiple autonomous agents equipped with wireless sensing systems customized for long-term autonomous operation in confined and unstructured natural environments that pose navigational challenges for the agents. The research will extend to studies of novel design and perception approaches that enable individual agents' adaptability, versatility and robustness. The cooperative system developed in this project will enhance the environment monitoring process through added autonomy and real-time adaptability. The technologies will be integrated to demonstrate the reconfigurable system for collecting environmental samples in forests, which presents open scientific challenges in both engineering and biology.
Funding
Funded by: China Scholarship CouncilCandidate will need to secure a CSC scholarship.
Under the scheme, Queen Mary will provide scholarships to cover all tuition fees, whilst the CSC will provide living expenses and one return flight ticket to successful applicants.
Eligibility
- The minimum requirement for this studentship opportunity is a good honours degree (minimum 2(i) honours or equivalent) or MSc/MRes in a relevant discipline.
- If English is not your first language, you will require a valid English certificate equivalent to IELTS 6.5+ overall with a minimum score of minimum score of 6.0 in each of Writing, Listening, Reading and Speaking).
- Candidates are expected to start in September (Semester 1).
Contact
For informal enquiries about this opportunity, please contact Ketao ZHANG.
Apply
Start an application for this studentship and for entry onto the PhD Mechanical Engineering full-time programme (Semester 1 / September start):
Please be sure to quote the reference "SEMS-PHD-623" to associate your application with this studentship opportunity.
| Related website: | https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/ketao.zhang/research/ | |
| SEMS Research Centre: | ||
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Control Systems, Dynamics, Electronic Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics |