Postgraduate research opportunities Rapid ship design & assessment
ApplyKey facts
- Opens: Tuesday 1 April 2025
- Deadline: Thursday 31 July 2025
- Number of places: 1
- Duration: 4 years
- Funding: Equipment costs, Home fee, International fee, Stipend, Travel costs
Overview
A unique 4-year fully funded Industrial PhD opportunity with BAE Systems to construct a flexible and expandable AI-based platform that is able to support the Design Team of a shipbuilding enterprise to safely and quickly evaluate different design options on the basis of various QoI (Quantities of Interest) calculations, the abundance of efficiency and operational data/measurements available nowadays (big data) and alternative user- and customer-friendly visualisation interfaces.Eligibility
We are looking for you to have:
- MEng/MSc in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering (preferably) or Meng/MSc in Mechanical Engineering
- good knowledge in computer-aided design , Geometric Modeling and basic knowledge in AI-ML
- good programming skills in matlab, python and basic skills in C, C++
Project Details
Motivation
Rising in the complexities of modern ship designs, research and practice in the context of circular economy have shown that 80% of a product’s operational and environmental impact is influenced by decisions made at the design stage. In this connection, it is critical that the design environment in a big shipbuilding enterprise should enable seamless interoperability, solid robustness, high efficiency and readiness to take on-board, validate and exploit fast emerging technologies.
Aims
Adopting the previous view, the proposed project is a unique 4-year fully funded Industrial PhD opportunity with BAE Systems to construct a flexible and expandable AI-based platform that is able to support the Design Team of a shipbuilding enterprise to safely and quickly evaluate different design options on the basis of: (i) various QoI (Quantities of Interest) calculations (ii) the abundance of efficiency and operational data/measurements available nowadays (big data) and (iii) alternative user- and customer-friendly visualisation interfaces.
Research Questions
This PhD will focus to handling the following three major research questions (RQs):
- RQ1: develop the proper architecture and choose the appropriate data structures and programming languages for building an expandable software platform that enables seamless information flow within the enterprise’s heterogeneous software environment where major CAD-CAE tools co-exist with various smaller-scale computational tools for example, stability, resistance, seakeeping, survivability and ship structure detail design, along with AR/VR visualisation interfaces for improving facilitating designer’s decisions
- RQ2: Embed in the software platform (RQ1) the following AI-based modules:
- a GAN-based parametric modeller (PM) enriched with propulsion, structural, safety, efficiency, operational data,
- a Dimensionality Reduction tool and
- a shape optimiser
- RQ3: enrich the software platform (RQ1) with an LoD (Level of Detail) tool for choosing the appropriate (low-, medium-, high-) fidelity tool for reducing the cost of developing rapid innovation of new ships adaptable to changing requirements
Further information
The opportunity is an Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award Studentship (IDLA) funded by EPSRC: Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council.
Funding details
The total EPSRC award is £85,000 and the collaborating partner (BAE Sytems) is required to contribute an additional £58,500 (minimum) and must be paid through the University.
UKRI fees and stipend can only be awarded to UK residents, not to EU, EEA or non-EU or -EEA International students. Residential eligibility is based on a physical presence in the UK; British citizenship alone does not meet this requirement.
Home students
To be eligible for a fully funded UK home studentship you must:
- Be a UK national or UK/EU dual national or non-UK national with settled status / pre-settled status / indefinite leave to remain / indefinite leave to enter / discretionary leave / EU migrant worker in the UK or non-UK national with a claim for asylum or the family member of such a person, and
- Have ordinary residence in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or British Overseas Territory, at the Point of Application, and
- Have three years residency in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, British Overseas Territory or EEA before the relevant date of application unless residency outside of the UK/ EEA has been of a temporary nature only and of a period less than six years
International students
UKRI permits universities to allocate up to 30% of studentships per cohort per training grant to the very best International students.
While there is no funding in place for opportunities marked "unfunded", there are lots of different options to help you fund postgraduate research. Visit funding your postgraduate research for links to government grants, research councils funding and more, that could be available.
Apply
Number of places: 1
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Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering
Programme: Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering