Subject overview

Programmes

• PhD in Cognitive Science
• PhD in Informatics
• MPhil in Cognitive Science
• MPhil in Informatics

Research students studying for MPhil or PhD degrees are associated with one or more research groups in the Department of Informatics and are allocated space in well-equipped shared offices. They have full access to their research group’s specialist facilities and laboratories.

The Department is engaged in a wide range of highly rated research covering many areas of artificial intelligence, computer science and cognitive science. We can supervise research students in all areas in which our faculty specialise.

Applicants wishing to pursue interdisciplinary research involving artificial intelligence (AI), including computational philosophy of mind or AI of biology, may apply to do research degrees in cognitive science.

Students admitted to research degrees will normally be required to take a Research Skills Development module in their first two terms. In addition, a specific MSc module may be recommended to enhance your subject knowledge where necessary.

Recent thesis titles

3D graphics hardware prototyping and implementation

Acquisition and representation of knowledge about complex multi-dynamic processes

Active group communication

Algorithm design for 3D computer graphics rendering

A multimedia CAL system for object-oriented methodology

Categorical and graphical models of programming languages

Computer graphics hardware using ASICs, FPGAs and embedded logic

Interactivity in graphical representations: assessing its benefits for learning

Proxy compilation of dynamically loaded Java classes

Reverse engineering an active eye

STDP, rate-coded Hebbian learning and auto-associative network models of the hippocampus

Texture mapping acceleration using cache memories

The evolution of an omni-directional bipedal robot

To err is human: a discussion of intentionality, error and misrepresentation

Unsupervised language acquisition: theory and practice

Using neural networks for the adaptive control of movements: an investigation into the problem of interference in distributed feedforward networks

Academic activities

Research students make a substantial contribution to the research output of the Department of Informatics, and frequently present their work at conferences and in journals.

Postgraduate students are also encouraged to attend and give talks in the various specialised seminar series in the Department. In addition to the active seminar series run by each research group, there are seminar series run by other disciplines and the cross-disciplinary research centres, which students regularly attend.

Research/industry links

Research is motivated by social, economic and industrial needs. Strong links have been developed with local and national industry – not least because most practical problems requiring research also demand an interdisciplinary approach.

These relationships are further exemplified in the University’s Innovation Centre, where several of the companies are involved in research areas pursued by Sussex.

Entry requirements

MPhil in Cognitive Science

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in a subject relevant to your chosen area of research.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to column A in Overseas qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

Additional admissions information

If you are a non-EEA student you must obtain clearance by the UK Government Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) for this degree. Please ensure you allow sufficient time for your university application to be considered and processed in time for you to apply for ATAS clearance and your Tier 4 visa.

MPhil in Informatics

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in a subject relevant to your chosen area of research.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to column A in Overseas qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

PhD in Cognitive Science

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in a subject relevant to your chosen area of research.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to column A in Overseas qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

Additional admissions information

If you are a non-EEA student you must obtain clearance by the UK Government Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) for this degree. Please ensure you allow sufficient time for your university application to be considered and processed in time for you to apply for ATAS clearance and your Tier 4 visa.

PhD in Informatics

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in a subject relevant to your chosen area of research.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to column A in Overseas qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

Visas and immigration

Find out more about Visas and immigration.

For more information about the admissions process at Sussex

For pre-application enquiries:

Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

For post-application enquiries:

Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk 

Related subject

• Mathematics

Fees and funding

Fees

MPhil in Cognitive Science

Home UK/EU students: £3,900¹
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,900²
Overseas students: £16,200³

¹ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
² The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
³ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

PhD in Cognitive Science

Home UK/EU students: £3,900¹
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,900²
Overseas students: £16,200³

¹ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
² The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
³ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

MPhil in Informatics

Home UK/EU students: £3,900¹
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,900²
Overseas students: £16,200³

¹ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
² The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
³ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

PhD in Informatics

Home UK/EU students: £3,900¹
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,900²
Overseas students: £16,200³

¹ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
² The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
³ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

Funding

The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.

Faculty interests

Research groups

Research is a core activity of the Department of Informatics often entails collaborations between our groups, as well as with other academic schools at Sussex and external academic, institutional and commercial partners. The research groups are briefly described below.

Cognitive and Language Processing Systems

The research of this group addresses the science and engineering of complex systems for cognitively demanding and language-intensive domains, including the application of methods from cognitive science and natural-language engineering. The group focuses on searching and classifying free text (eg medical records) in large quantities, cognitive processes of writing and drawing, cognitive modelling of processes such as attention and graphical production, and
cognitively informed interactive tools for complex problem-solving, decision-making, instruction and learning.

Faculty research interests include:

Professor John Carroll Hybrid linguistic/statistical approaches to disambiguation of text, efficient parsing, tools for natural language grammar and lexicon development.

Professor Peter Cheng The nature of representational systems (diagrams for complex problem-solving, discovery and conceptual learning); processes of writing and drawing.

Dr Bill Keller The use of language technology to support communication and interaction, language-aware technology, applications of distributional models of natural language semantics.

Dr David Weir Controlling non-determinism in natural language generation, language in pervasive computing environments, efficient parsing, inferring knowledge about words from raw text.

Dr Sharon Wood Multi-agent systems. Cognitive modelling, in particular information acquisition through cognitively plausible visual attention processes, and knowledge-based reasoning.

Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems (EASy)

The EASy group has been internationally prominent since it was established in the early 1990s. It is concerned with the interfaces between the biological and computational sciences, particularly with reference to furthering understanding of brains and minds. The group’s research is highly interdisciplinary and involves many strong links with other departments at Sussex. Research foci include adaptive and cognitive robotics, artificial life, bio-inspired computational methods, computational neuroscience, creative systems, history and philosophy of AI and ALife, clinical applications of neural modelling, machine learning, scientific studies of consciousness, and synthetic neuroethology. It runs the highly successful Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR) jointly with the Neuroscience group in the School of Life Sciences. Members of the group also direct the Centre for Research in Cognitive Science (COGS) and the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science (SCCS), both important cross-campus initiatives.

Faculty research interests include:

Dr Luc Berthouze Motor development in infants and in machines; EEG-based brain-machine interfaces; epigenetic robotics; and modelling cognitive development with robotic systems.

Professor Margaret Boden Computational approaches in the philosophy of mind and psychology; purpose and creativity; philosophy of AI and ALife; and social implications of AI.

Dr Ron Chrisley Non-conceptual representation; philosophy of cognitive science, AI, mind, consciousness, computation; computer/robotic models of visual experience, emotion, creativity.

Professor Phil Husbands Evolutionary and adaptive robotics; evolutionary computation; ALife; computational neuroscience; adaptive systems; neuromodulation; history of AI; creative systems.

Dr Thomas Nowotny Information processing in nervous systems; sequence learning in neuronal systems; accurate conductance-based neuron models; and hybrid systems.

Dr Andy Philippides Computational neuroscience and neuroethology; evolutionary robotics; insect visual homing strategies; and gaseous neuromodulators in neural networks.

Dr Anil Seth Theoretical neuroscience and evolutionary and adaptive systems; time-series analysis of neural dynamics, neurorobotics; and evolutionary theory and ecological modelling.

Dr Chris Thornton Computational learning using symbolic algorithms and connectionist mechanisms; and theories of creativity.

Foundations of Software Systems

This group is interested in the theory and practice of future computation and communication. We build mathematical theories of computation and use such models to inform the design of programming languages and compilers. We design and evaluate distributed applications and services that provide the foundations of the pervasive computing infrastructure and other software systems. We model and analyse data representing system configurations, social networks, trust, and provenance.

Faculty research interests include:

Dr Martin Berger Concurrency theory, semantics and pragmatics of programming languages, program logics, metaprogramming, computer science methods in theoretical biology.

Dr Dan Chalmers The design of pervasive computing systems, particularly those which process and consider emotion, social networks, trust and context to enable efficient and usable system behaviour.

Dr Ian Mackie Foundations of programming languages and models of computation. Applying techniques from mathematical logic and quantum mechanics to programming language implementation.

Dr Bernhard Reus Mathematical semantics of programming languages and their foundations; constructive logic; and techniques and tools supporting program analysis, design and verification.

Dr Ian Wakeman Networks and distributed systems, emphasis on design from the user perspective, pervasive computing, computational trust.

Interactive Systems

This research group operates at the intersection between people and digital technology. We are interested in interaction in the broadest sense and consider it in relation to both traditional desktop-based technologies and more novel digital technologies, including mobile, immersive, ubiquitous and pervasive technologies.

We are interested in users of all kinds, ranging from experts using technology in their work (such as medical professionals) and experts developing technology for their work (such as programmers) to novices of all kinds (from children using educational technology through to adults using social technology).

Our research focuses on human-computer interaction, accessibility, music informatics, learning with and through technology (including social networks), technology-enhanced social interaction, new models of e-business, e-government and e-citizenship, tangible and embodied interaction, motion capture techniques, building virtual worlds for digital heritage and other applications, real-time animation, digital content creation and digital video.

Faculty research interests include:

Dr Natalia Beloff New models of e-business, business models for small and medium digital enterprises, adver-gaming, advertising for social networks, education and social networks.

Dr Nick Collins Electronic and computer music including interactive music systems; sound analysis/synthesis; performance, composition and modelling of music.

Dr Judith Good Constructivist learning environments, game-based learning, technology toolkits for learning, visual programming languages, learner-centred and participatory design methodologies.

Dr Paul Newbury Multimedia systems, in particular virtual prototyping, ubiquitous systems and digital content creation. Technology-enhanced learning and video techniques for distance learning.

Dr Phil Watten Software development; virtual prototyping; high-level design; system modelling; display systems; interface design; and media production, new media and web broadcasting.

Dr Martin White 3D graphics; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; animation; motion sensing; motion gaming; digital heritage systems; interaction; work flows.

Crossdisciplinary research centres

The Department of Informatics plays a central role in the following major crossdisciplinary research centres:

Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR)

CCNR is a collaboration between the Department of Informatics and the School of Life Sciences. This thriving centre seeks to explore and exploit the interfaces between the biological and computational sciences. CCNR is jointly run with the Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems group.

Centre for Research in Cognitive Science (COGS)

COGS is an internationally recognised centre for interdisciplinary investigation into the nature of cognition, be it natural or artificial. Staff in Informatics and Psychology, as well as Sussex linguists, focus on teaching and research.

Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science (SCCS)

SCCS is a new venture between the Department of Informatics, the School of Psychology, and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School. The Centre’s aim is to unravel the complex neural mechanisms underlying conscious experience by bringing together computational modelling, cognitive neuroscience, and clinical applications.

Careers and perspectives

Many of our graduates have continued in academia as research fellows, lecturers and assistant professors at institutions throughout the UK and worldwide. Other graduates have embarked on careers in industry as scientific officers, project leaders, managers, developers and system analysts in a diverse range of businesses from small specialist outfits to multinational companies such as Morgan Stanley and Microsoft.

School and contacts