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Canberra Research Lab

Education and Research Training

NICTA's (National ICT Australia) Canberra Research Laboratory collaborates with the Australian National University (ANU) to provide enhanced research training to PhD candidates in ICT research fields. NICTA-enhanced PhD candidates are normally supervised by members of one of the NICTA research programs currently underway in Canberra, together with their ANU colleagues.

The major research themes currently being investigated at NICTA’s Canberra Research Laboratory are:

  • Embedded Systems (Computer Vision)
  • Networked Systems (Body Area Networks, Wireless Signal Processing)
  • Making Sense of Data (Statistical Machine Learning)
  • Managing Complexity (Logic, Computation, Knowledge, Reasoning and Recognition, Software Engineering)

Prospective PhD candidates should contact the research leaders in the Canberra Lab for additional information on research opportunities or email your enquiries to acteducation@nicta.com.au

A partial list of potential PhD topics appears below.

Scholarship Opportunities at the Australian National University (ANU)

General

NICTA-enhanced students at the Australian National University (ANU) enroll into an ANU PhD program.

NICTA provides a range of scholarships including some that supplement awarded Australian government or university scholarships and stand-alone NICTA postgraduate award scholarships. Both supplementary and stand-alone scholarships are set at a competitive rate and are offered to NICTA-enhanced students on the condition that recipients also apply for government or university scholarships for which they are eligible and that they accept NICTA scholarship conditions.

Eligibility

ANU-NICTA scholarships are available to Australian and overseas students who are admissible to the Australian National University (ANU) as PhD candidates and who successfully apply for NICTA-enhanced PhD supervision.

Ranking of Applications

Applications for NICTA scholarships are ranked by a joint ANU-NICTA selection committee under three assessment criteria – academic merit, research potential and alignment with NICTA’s research agenda.

The closing dates for receipt of applications by the university are published each year and are typically as follows:

  • 31 August (international applicants) or 31 October (local applicants) for entry in Semester 1 of the following year
  • 31 May (all applicants) for entry in Semester 2

Note that generally there are more scholarships available for entry in Semester 1 than for entry in Semester 2.

Level of Award

NICTA scholarships cover full course fees (HECS or international rate, as applicable) as well as an APA rate (Australian Postgraduate Award - $AUD22,500 in 2010) stipend for living expenses, plus the additional possibility of a top-up scholarship, the level of which depends on the applicant’s success in gaining a government or university-funded scholarship (for example APA, EIPRS, ANU PhD Scholarship).

Note that all applicants for NICTA scholarships are required to concurrently apply for these other scholarships (if they are eligible). The top-up scholarship can be up to $AUD9,000 in the final year of study depending on performance and other scholarships held.

For international applicants, a limited number of full fee paying scholarships is also available.

Application Procedures

NICTA’s Canberra research laboratory invites applications from students who have or expect to receive first-class honours degrees in ICT-related disciplines, and who aspire to be PhD students in the NICTA-enhanced study program at the Australian National University (ANU).

Applicants for PhD training with NICTA enhancement should do the following:

  • Make informal contact with one of NICTA’s Research Leaders to present their credentials and to obtain advice on constructing a research proposal to suit the NICTA research agenda.
  • Apply for
    1. admission in a PhD program at ANU using either the online application, or local or international student application forms,
    2. any appropriate government or university scholarship for which they are eligible, and
    3. a NICTA scholarship (by entering "NICTA" in the "Other" field on the ANU application form).
  • Enquiries regarding the process of application can be directed to the NICTA Canberra Student Administration – acteducation@nicta.com.au

International Students should also read the ANU advice.

Summer Research Scholar Program 2009/20010

NICTA is collaborating with the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) to offer a Summer Research Scholar Program which will offer enhanced scholarships for summer undergraduate students studying in ICT areas.

Typically, the projects are offered to students undertaking a degree program in an ICT-related area. The program is open to undergraduate and honours students who are currently enrolled at a university in Australia or New Zealand. Other students who have been accepted into an ANU higher degree starting the following year may be eligible to apply.

A list of projects and relevant application documents can be found at the CECS Summer Research Scholar Program site.

PhD Project Topics

All contact email addresses take the form Firstname.Surname@nicta.com.au
Embedded Systems (ComputerVision)

See project webpages for:

Topic Areas

  • Pattern Recognition for Human Performance Enhancement (Contact: Antonio Robles-Kelly)
Networked Systems (Body Area Networks, Wireless Signal Processing)

See project webpages for

Human Performance Improvement

Topic Areas:

  • Iterative Receivers for Galileo and Radar Applications (Contact: Mark Reed)
  • Applications of the "Turbo Principle" to Control Theory Problems (Contact: Mark Reed)
  • System Performance Optimisation in Cellulars Systems (Contact: Mark Reed)
  • Spread Spectrum Techniques for Indoor Wireless IR Communications (Contact: Mark Reed)
  • Iterative Receivers for S-T Coding and MIMO Systems (Contact: Mark Reed)
  • Particle Filtering for Communication Systems (Contact: Mark Reed)
  • Turbo Synchronization (Contact: Mark Reed)
Making Sense of Data (Statistical Machine Learning)

See project website at http://sml.nicta.com.au/

Topic Areas:

  • Document Analysis and Understanding (Contact: Wray Buntine)
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (Contact: Tiberio Caetano)
  • Reinforcement Learning and Planning (Contacts: Marcus Hutter, Scott Sanner)
  • Kernel Methods and Statistics (Contacts: Wray Buntine, Tiberio Caetano, Marcus Hutter)
  • Sequential Prediction and Information Theory (Contact: Marcus Hutter)
  • Learning Theory (Contacts: Marcus Hutter, Mark Reid, Tiberio Caetano)
Managing Complexity (Logic, Computation, Knowledge, Reasoning and Recognition, Software Engineering

See project websites:

Topic Areas: