Interested in joining us?

Funded PhD studentships and Post-Doctoral Research Associate positions at the CIT group are advertised in this page typically between October and January each academic year. Please check back frequently during this period if you are interested.

PhD students

We welcome PhD applications every year. Eligibility: Please check whether you meet minimum requirements for admission here, and any non-UK degrees against the International Qualifications equivalence guidelines of the University of Cambridge here. Please check here to see whether you have to provide a language test certificate, what tests are accepted, what minimum score you will need, and when to take the test. Do not apply if you do not meet the university minimum requirements. For more questions on this, please contact the graduate office.

Research: It will be useful to take a careful look at the information provided in my CIT group website, and possibly read 1-2 of our papers to get a better understanding of the research we do. While doing so, keep in mind that my new PhD students take information engineering classes at Cambridge when starting their PhD research, so an expertise in computing is welcome but not a requirement to work with me. What is expected is significant interest in my area of research, which should be reflected in your research proposal, along with your ability to formulate one. 

Funding: University scholarships - Cambridge has the largest endowment of all universities in Europe, so funding for research students (both UK/EU and non-EU) is typically provided through competitive scholarships (e.g. Gates Scholarship, etc.), for which you need to apply in parallel to and through your application process. The deadline for these is at the beginning of December each year. FIBE3 CDT – Both UK and international students receive a full stipend at EPSRC rate and fees at the UK rate. International students up to 30% of the incoming cohort receive full international fees. Please visit the website of FIBE3 CDT for more details. I also encourage you to apply to the myriad of independent scholarship opportunities that you are eligible for at the local, national and international level. Many research students apply to Cambridge with scholarships from their countries, non-profit organizations or the private sector. When your application reaches me, I will also evaluate it for funding under one of my ongoing projects. 

Research proposal: The research proposal inside your application is important. Its quality and relevance to my group’s research plays a key role in the evaluation process. This proposal should be prepared by you alone. What I want to see in that short space is that: a) You are well aware of the type or research that you may get involved, and you are very comfortable and interested in it. b) You understand some basics about research methodology, i.e. you can formulate a concise problem statement, problem significance, objective(s) statement, proposed solution, and approximate methodology to evaluate that solution. You can easily find information about how to formulate each online. I expect to see a high standard of English writing, logical flow, and well thought, evidence-based arguments. Please also keep in mind that I will be evaluating your proposal, so I want to see what you can do without my help. 

Staff

No vacancies at this time. Interested researchers should contact the Lab Director.

Information for Prospective Researchers
By the Laboratory Director

This information is addressed to prospective graduate students who would like to join the CIT group. Please read it carefully before submitting your application and verify that it fits your needs. I accept into the CIT group every year several prospective graduate student researchers and post docs based on the lab's current projects and funding availability. Candidates are advised to apply as early as possible, to meet the deadlines for scholarships at the University of Cambridge (see below). You must start by taking a careful look at the information provided in this website, particularly the research tab, and possibly read 1-2 of our papers to gain a better understanding of the research focus of the group. Candidates are expected to have a basic understanding and significant interest in at least one of the relevant civil, electrical or information engineering disciplines commensurate with their level of studies. This includes the following:

• Built Environment disciplines: Digital twinning & building information modelling; information technologies for construction, structural or transportation engineering and management; and intelligent automation of construction and inspection/monitoring tasks.
• Electrical/Information Engineering: basic programming skills in functional and/or object-oriented languages, preferably in C#, C++, Visual Basic, or Java; signal/image processing; computer vision; robotics.

It is understood that the actual knowledge may vary on a case-by-case basis, and students are not expected to be familiar with all of the above. It is for this reason that most incoming student researchers are expected to refresh and enhance their knowledge on these subjects by taking courses/modules and self-study in their first year with the CIT group. Hence, you are not required to know everything, but you must have at least basic knowledge of some of these subjects. You should also be willing to pick up some additional knowledge or refresh existing ones when you start here.

I expect you to be able to work with a large degree of independence (with proper supervision, of course), and to solve all small problems on your own. Normally, we organize meetings each week to discuss the progress made and potential problems/solutions.

The most important thing is that you must be really interested in your research area. Hence, I want to stress that your first task is to study all the relevant information on this website and, if necessary, contact me for more information. When working with enthusiasm, results can be achieved much faster than when just doing work to graduate. I expect that you have a certain degree of enthusiasm and that you are interested more in learning than in simply getting a degree.

I normally invite every promising applicant for a virtual interview. The purpose of the interview is to make sure that you have appropriate knowledge and skills, a piece of enthusiasm, and that you are ready to attack a complex problem with a reasonable probability of success. It is very important that you have a proper background, so you can finish your work on time and to avoid any disappointment.

If you wish to do your graduate studies under my supervision, you should have a good grade average especially on related courses and competitive test scores. If this is the case, please apply to the Department of Engineering's graduate program at the University of Cambridge; choose either the MPhil in Engineering, or the PhD (Probationary) in Engineering option, and indicate me as your potential supervisor. When you do so, please send me an email indicating your application confirmation when you receive it). Keep in mind that only complete applications will reach me and receive full evaluation. Due to a large number of applications, I will contact only competitive applicants. Students should contact GraduateAdmissions@admin.cam.ac.uk to check the status and completeness of their application file and for any non-scientific questions, such as English requirements, questions on certain application parts, and the applications online system.

Funding is available on a case-by-case basis to outstanding students (i.e., that satisfied the above criteria). Students who apply early (i.e., in October/November) can also apply to all the scholarships of Cambridge through their application. In general, I also encourage you to apply to the myriad of independent scholarship opportunities that you are eligible for at the local, national, and international level. Many research students apply to Cambridge with scholarships from their countries, non-profit organizations, or the private sector. When your application reaches me, I will also evaluate it for funding under one of the group's sponsored research projects.