CIDER: Crowd-based Intelligent Design of EnviRonment

The large population of the area leads to transportation systems often running over capacity, putting managers, operators and transport planners under pressure to ensure that overcrowding does not endanger the safety of passengers and that vital transport links do not break down due to crowd congestion. Understanding crowd interactions with the environment is not only a necessity for crowd management and design of public spaces (airports, stations, etc.) but also vital in planning events with many attendees such as the sports event. Poor management may lead to tragic results. Hence, how crowds react to such events directly should influence the design and management of spaces. &nbsp;Unfortunately, there is a lack of automation, preventing this promising technique to be used in real-life scenarios.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> The project is currently accepting PhD applications every year.

<p>The automation issue breaks the space life-cycle (Design-Construction-Daily Management). Previously, tools have been developed for crowd simulation and environment design mostly separately. Extensive manual work is required when attempting to use the tools together. The users need to fix one factor (environment design or crowd) and change the other, e.g. after developing an environment layout, manually run crowd simulations to verify the design. If any factors on either side change, the whole process needs to be started again. This prevents full explorations of possible scenarios and designs. The PhD project aims to build the first a platform based Artificial Intelligence which comes with a crowd behaviour predictor that predicts how crowds use the space in new environments and an algorithm which can improve space designs automatically.</p>

<p>Formal applications for research degree study should be made online through the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/research-applying/doc/applying-research-degrees">University&#39;s website</a>. Please state clearly in the Planned Course of Study Section that you are applying for <em><strong>PHD Computing FT </strong></em>and in the research information section&nbsp;that the research degree you wish to be considered for is <em><strong>CIDER: Crowd-based Intelligent Design of EnviRonment</strong></em>&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;<a href="https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/computing/staff/868/dr-he-wang">Dr He Wang</a> as your proposed supervisor.</p> <p>If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence that you meet the University&#39;s minimum English language requirements (below).</p>

Applicants to research degree programmes should normally have at least a first class or an upper second class British Bachelors Honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate discipline. The criteria for entry for some research degrees may be higher, for example, several faculties, also require a Masters degree. Applicants are advised to check with the relevant School prior to making an application. Applicants who are uncertain about the requirements for a particular research degree are advised to contact the School or Graduate School prior to making an application.

The minimum English language entry requirement for research postgraduate research study is an IELTS of 6.5 overall with at least 6.5 in writing and at 6.0 in reading, listening and speaking) or equivalent. The test must be dated within two years of the start date of the course in order to be valid. Some schools and faculties have a higher requirement.

<p><strong>Self-Funded or externally sponsored students are welcome to apply.</strong></p> <p><strong>UK</strong>&nbsp;(or home fee) &ndash;&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/209-leeds-doctoral-scholarships-2022">Leeds Doctoral Scholarships</a>, <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/53-school-of-computing-scholarship">School of Computing Scholarship&nbsp;</a>, <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/198-akroyd-and-brown-scholarship-2022">Akroyd &amp; Brown</a>, <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/199-frank-parkinson-scholarship-2022">Frank Parkinson</a> and <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/204-boothman-reynolds-and-smithells-scholarship-2022">Boothman, Reynolds &amp; Smithells</a> Scholarships are available to UK applicants. &nbsp;<a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/60-alumni-bursary">Alumni Bursary</a> is available to graduates of the University of Leeds.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Non-UK</strong>&nbsp;&ndash; The&nbsp;<a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/53-school-of-computing-scholarship">School of Computing Scholarship&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;is available to support the additional academic fees of Non-UK applicants. The&nbsp;<a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/48-china-scholarship-council-university-of-leeds-scholarships-2021">China Scholarship Council - University of Leeds Scholarship</a>&nbsp;is available to nationals of China. The&nbsp;<a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/73-leeds-marshall-scholarship">Leeds Marshall Scholarship</a>&nbsp;is available to support US citizens. <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/60-alumni-bursary">Alumni Bursary</a> is available to graduates of the University of Leeds.</p> <p>Please refer to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ukcisa.org.uk/">UKCISA</a>&nbsp;website for information regarding Fee Status for Non-UK Nationals starting from September/October 2021.</p>

<p>For further information regarding your application, please contact Doctoral College Admissions:<br /> e:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:phd@engineering.leeds.ac.uk">phd@engineering.leeds.ac.uk</a>, t: +44 (0)113 343 5057.</p> <p>For further information regarding the project, please contact:<br /> Dr He Wang, e: <a href="mailto:h.e.wang@leeds.ac.uk">h.e.wang@leeds.ac.uk</a></p>