The Computational Finance Group in the Department of Computer Science,at the University of Essex, invites applications for a full-time PhDstudentship, funded by BT for research on market- based workforcemanagement. Home and EU students, as well as overseas students, areeligible for this studentship.

Outstanding applicants from all areas of computer science andengineering will be considered but preference will be given toapplicants with a background in one or more of the following:constrained optimisation, multi-objective optimisation, heuristicsearch, automated bargaining, evolutionary computation. Professionalknowledge of Java programming is required. The Computational FinanceGroup is an inter-disciplinary research team that applies artificialintelligence research to computational finance. The objective of themarket-based workforce management project is to define bargainingmechanisms (which includes communication protocols) to enable variousservice regions in BT to schedule their workforce efficiently. Formore information about the Group and our projects, please visit:http://cswww.essex.ac.uk/CSP/finance/

The studentship is for up to three years, starting on 1 October 2005or as soon possible thereafter. It includes payment of all fees, plusa stipend for living expenses (｣9,648 per annum) for the 2005-06academic year, with renewal for a further two years being subject togood progress.

If you have any queries about the application process or thisstudentship opportunity, please contact the Department of ComputerScience by e-mail: csgradoffice@essex.ac.uk

Application forms for this studentship are available from: http://cswww.essex.ac.uk/prospectivestudents/research/applications.htm.Please indicate on your application form that you are applying for theBT-funded studentship.

Closing date for applications: 2 September 2005.