A PhD studentship is available within the Advanced Interfaces Group as part of a three-year UK-EPSRC-funded project. The student will work closely with Professor Roger Hubbold, Toby Howard, Dr. Mashhuda Glencrossand collaborate with other internationally leading UK and USresearchers taking part in the project. Although available from 1st May2006, the normal starting time for PhD programmes is September, andapplications from people wishing to start in September 2006, orearlier, are warmly welcomed.

The Project

Thefocus of the project is to research the application to architecturaldesign of novel real-time, interactive computer graphics techniques forvisualisation, planning and public consultation. Specifically, weintend to derive new methods for automatically capturing geometricmodels of existing architectural sites and then using these models forinteractive exploration of design decisions. As well as recoveringgeometry, we shall be exploring methods for deriving the ambientillumination at the captured scene - so-called inverse rendering. Fromthis we intend to compute surface properties, allowing the scenes to bere-illuminated using global illumination methods, so that the visualimpact of design decisions can be explored under varying lightingconditions.
Project Partners

The project will bring together key strengths of four partners. (1) At Manchester the AIGwill contribute expertise in reconstruction of virtual environments(VEs) from video and digital images, visualising and interacting withVEs, and global illumination and inverse rendering. (2) The Computer Graphics Group at the University of Bristol, led by Professor Alan Chalmers,has extensive knowledge and expertise in real-time global illumination,together with important experience in perceptual realism. (3) In theUSA, Greg Ward from Anyhere Software developed the widely used Radiance system and is a recognised world expert on global illumination. (4) Napper Architects, together with their subdivision Napper 3Dbased in Newcastle, is an award winning practice that undertakes majorarchitectural commissions in the public and private sectors, and isalso involved in sensitive designs for English Heritage; they willprovide access to design projects and models to provide a focus for theresearch on real architectural sites (see above illustrations © NapperArchitects).

Focus of the Studentship

The PhD student will join the AIG within the School of Computer Science,at The University of Manchester. He or she will study image processingtechniques to support reconstruction methods. Initially, the focus willbe on identification and removal of shadows from images, which is animportant step in recovering surface reflectance properties.Subsequently, the intention is to explore image-based methods foridentifying and classifying trees, initially using Gabor Filters. Thegoal is to derive methods for identifying and removing shrubs and treesfrom reconstructed models and then re-introduce them into the finalhigh-fidelity rendered scenes.

Who Can Apply?

Thestudentship is available to UK/EU applicants. Applicants should have afirst class or good upper second class Honours degree (or non-UKequivalent) in Computer Science or a related subject (e.g. mathematics,electronic engineering, physics or mathematical science). Goodmathematical and programming skills are essential, but training inother areas specific to the project will be provided as appropriate.

What Does the Studentship Pay For?

Thestudentship covers tuition fees at the UK/EU rate for the three yearsof the PhD programme (£3,200 for 2006/07) and includes an annualmaintenance grant at enhanced EPSRC rates (£12,500 for 2006/07).Students are encouraged to attend and submit papers to conferences andto publish their results in academic journals. Funds are availablewithin the project to travel to conferences during the period of PhDstudy. The School also provides opportunities for research students tosupplement their income by undertaking laboratory demonstrating andother teaching support work.

The School and the Universityprovide postgraduate research training courses and all PhD students areexpected to participate in these. Where appropriate, students may alsostudy individual modules from the MSc in Advanced Computer Scienceprogramme, to enhance their computer science knowledge. As this is anEPSRC-funded studentship, the successful candidate will also attend oneof the Research Council`s Graduate Schools free of charge.

How to Apply

Theprincipal investigator for the project, and designated supervisor forthe PhD student, is Professor Roger Hubbold, to whom informal enquiriesmay be made by email roger.hubbold@manchester.ac.uk or telephone +44 (0)161 275 6158. The closing date for applications is 30th June 2006.

Furtherinformation about PhD studentships within The School of ComputerScience, how to apply for advertised posts, and application forms areavailable online http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/Study_subweb/PhDWeb ). Alternatively you can contact the Postgraduate Secretary for an information pack and application form at:

The Postgraduate Admissions Secretary
School of Computer Science
The University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)161 275 6181
Fax: +44 (0)161 275 6204
Email: pg-compsci@manchester.ac.uk

Pleaseensure that you mark clearly on your application form, in the "ProposedArea of Research" section, that you are applying for a "PhD Studentshipin Image Processing and Graphics" with the principal investigator asProfessor Roger Hubbold.

Source: http://aig.cs.man.ac.uk/opportunities/NP_PhdPost.php