[agents] PhD and Scholarship Opportunities in NEW ZEALAND’s 1st and best University!

[Michael Winikoff]

PhD and Scholarship Opportunities in NEW ZEALAND’s 1st and best University!

The Information Science Department at the University of Otago, New Zealand, is seeking PhD students to work on topics related to the department’s research expertise, particularly in augmented and virtual reality, autonomous agents and multi-agent systems, evolutionary computation, semantic image and video analysis, and other areas of information technology, software engineering and computer networking.

The University of Otago offers more than 180 PhD scholarships each year, covering tuition fees and a stipend of $25000. Students whose average grade in their most recent study is equivalent to an Otago A grade have a good chance of gaining a scholarship. Previous research performance is also considered, including the grade in the most significant thesis or dissertation completed previously, and any other research activities engaged in or outputs produced (e.g. publication in academic journals or conferences).

We are a research active department with a broad range of research. The department is small and cohesive, with 16 academic staff. There is a strong research culture, with 17% of the department’s full-time equivalent students being at the postgraduate level, including around 20 PhD students. Details of the research interests of staff and current PhD students can be found at: http://infosci.otago.ac.nz/research.

The University of Otago has been externally assessed as New Zealand's most research intensive university, was the top-ranked university in the country for research quality in the last government assessment of research performance, and has a higher proportion of PhD students than any other university in New Zealand.  It is consistently ranked around the 130th place worldwide in recent QS Top Universities rankings. The Department of Information Science is situated within the School of Business, which is one of only around 50 business schools world-wide to gain accreditation from both the European EQUIS and the US AACSB frameworks.

Applicants should have a Masters degree or an Honours or four-year undergraduate degree in information science or a related area (e.g., information systems, software engineering, telecommunications, or computer science). Prior research experience is also necessary, such as the completion of a significant research project in the final year of undergraduate or Masters study.

Under the New Zealand government's policy all PhD students studying at Otago are required to pay fees at the domestic level, irrespective of their nationality. Furthermore, this policy allows the children of all international PhD students to attend school without paying international student fees, and the partners to apply for an open work permit valid for the duration of the student's course of study.

The main campus of the University of Otago is located in Dunedin, a vibrant university city with a population of around 120,000 (of whom ~20,000 are students), and a strong education and research community. Dunedin has a range of attractions, including iconic Victorian and Edwardian architecture and fine botanic gardens, museums, and art galleries. The Otago Peninsula also features southern wildlife including albatrosses and yellow-eyed penguins.

All interested individuals are encouraged to contact the Department before applying for PhD admission and scholarships to ensure the full support of the Department.

For further information please contact:

Dr. Jeremiah Deng
Postgraduate Admission Advisor
Department of Information Science
University of Otago
Dunedin 9054, New Zealand

infoscience.postgrad-info at otago.ac.nz