ENGD STUDENTSHIP USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN PRODUCT CARBON FOOTPRINTS UNIVERSITY OF READING 2011

Research Project for EngD Studentship ”Use of Artificial Intelligence in Product Carbon Footprints” University of Reading – Collaborative
Partnership between the University of Reading and @UK plc

*Vacancy Reference No: P21-2011*

The ‘carbon footprint’ is an estimate of the total amount of green house gas emissions that are directly and indirectly caused by an activity or is accumulated over the life stages of a product. Understanding these
emissions, and the way they originate, is a necessary step to reduce them. With climate change being a high priority issue in the political and corporate agenda, carbon footprint calculations are in strong demand.

As a result of recent R&D work @UK PLC (see http://www.uk-plc.net/) is the market leader at using Artificial Intelligence to automatically identify and classify products. This has been combined with environmental research carried out by the Stockholm Environment Institute at York and their
academic partners the ISA at University of Sydney to produce a breakthrough in product level carbon footprinting. @UK PLC now offers product carbon footprints at low cost which are sufficiently accurate to be used as part of a certified carbon neutral program in conjunction with carbon offsetting. As a result @UK PLC has a significant share of the global product carbon footprint market.

As a Research Engineer, you will use methods based on artificial intelligence, statistics and data mining to: (1) automatically identify the different components of a product given product textual data, (2) automatically search publicly available environmental information about the components of a product, (3) automatically import relevant data from different systems, (4) develop innovative methods for product carbon footprinting, and (5) establish ways of estimating the uncertainty in product carbon footprints.

Research and study will be conducted within the University and the industrial sponsor’s premises and their client’s premises. This studentship may require some travel on a local or national basis.

Eligibility
Please ensure eligibility before applying, see
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/PostgraduateTraining/StudentEligibility.htm

*We require minimum of an upper second-class honours degree or equivalent in *a relevant area such as Computer Science, Cybernetics, or Artificial Intelligence*. A lower qualification is acceptable if supplemented with an appropriate postgraduate qualification. *You should have experience in Software Engineering and Programming, and knowledge of at least one of these topics: Probabilistic Modelling, Natural Language Processing, Data Mining, and Classification Methods. *Experienced engineers who are already employed
within industry are particularly encouraged to apply.*

Successful applicants will be highly motivated, broad minded, innovative thinkers, with a willingness to work in a cross-disciplinary team of highly qualified, dedicated scientists and engineers. Good written and oral communication skills and an outgoing personality are essential.

Package

Stipend is negotiable but minimum of £19,800 (at least £15,090
tax-free) offered
All tuition fees
Expense package from University and Industrial sponsor
EngD awarded by the University of Reading

Further details
Can be found at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/tsbe and at the EPSRC website
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/postgraduatetraining/centres/idcs.htm

Applications
Applications should be made through UKPASS the link can be found on our website at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/study/apply/pg-applicationform.asp

In addition, please send a personal statement and a CV to Emma Hawkins @
e.e.hawkins@reading.ac.uk