Student Stories: George Jones, Cohort 3, Year 2 - Transitioning from Aerospace MEng to Data Science PhD
The Distributed Algorithms CDT at the University of Liverpool engages its students in impactful, cutting-edge and diverse research, allowing them to collaborate and develop their skills within the university’s data science community. Read George's journey with the CDT so far…
My Journey
I initially came to Liverpool in 2017 to study for an integrated masters in aerospace engineering. Throughout my degree, I always enjoyed the problem-solving element the most and programming typically lends itself to this type of thinking. In my final year, I only applied to jobs in industry and after accepting an offer to go into risk consultancy, I kept finding myself going back and looking at PhD opportunities. The DA CDT particularly stood out in terms of the work they did and the culture that surrounds it. I reached out to a few current students, academics and professional staff at the CDT and it made up my mind that this is what I wanted to pursue. I sent in an application (July), had an interview (July), got accepted (July) and started in October 2021.
My Project
My project is entitled ‘non-myopic approaches to sensing and surveying’. The main aim of the project is to develop sensor management algorithms that optimise over a longer time horizon, rather than being greedy at each timestep. The project was initially sponsored by Cubica Technologies who have since become a part of the Roke Manor family. This research is continually fascinating (to me at least) and keeps me engaged as there are so many ways to try and address the problem. If any of this sounds interesting to you, please feel free to reach out and we can have a chat/collaborate.
My Experience at the CDT
The stereotypical image of a PhD student sitting alone and hitting their head against the wall did not appeal to me. The CDT markets themselves as a cohort experience and it could not be any truer. Any issues I am struggling with, it’s story-time at the whiteboard. The office is a collaborative, friendly, and helpful environment where no questions are jeered at – and coming from an engineering background, this really helped with both the imposter syndrome and the steep learning curve. Regardless of who you talk to, they are always there to help, regardless of how busy they are. I am extremely happy with the decision to apply to and join the DA CDT.
Distributed Algorithms CDT
The Distributed Algorithms CDT is an Innovative Data Science, AI and Machine Learning Research Centre, aligning PhD students, academics and industrialists to work together to generate novel solutions to tough data science challenges. If you would like to find out more about our programme and would like to talk about becoming an active member of our CDT community, please visit our website or email kelli.cassidy@liverpool.ac.uk.
The CDT markets themselves as a cohort experience and it could not be any truer. Any issues I am struggling with, it’s story-time at the whiteboard. The office is a collaborative, friendly, and helpful environment where no questions are jeered at.