SCDTP Studentship - Measurement of the Effectiveness and Compliance of Algorithmic Decision Making

A fully funded studentship awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP) commencing in 2019/20 Academic Year.

Supervisory Team:

Dr Vadim Grinevich (V.Grinevich@soton.ac.uk) (Southampton Business School), Dr Ramin Okhrati (R.Okhrati@soton.ac.uk) (Statistics Group, Mathematical Sciences, University of Southampton),  Dr Enrico Gerding (School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton).

The project will explore the use of data and algorithms in machine learning and artificial intelligent to analyse the effectiveness of decision making according to certain criteria such as ethical and legal issues. It will provide solutions in terms of modifying the existing machine learning algorithms in order to comply with specific requirements such as equality, and it will create an approach for “scoring” black box machine learning algorithms in terms of how consistent they are with respect to these requirements. The research will focus on insurance premium calculations as the primary domain, but many of the results will be transferable to other domains where data affects consumers either financially or otherwise through the use of machine learning algorithms.

Skills Required

I) An undergraduate or master degree in quantitative programs such as statistics, mathematics, operational research, etc...

II) Knowledge of Artificial intelligent and machine learning.

III) It would be desirable if the applicant is trained in data collection and data management experience.

Funding

South Coast DTP Funding provides an annual maintenance grant (tax free) of £14777 (2018/19 UKRI rate), plus payment of all programme fees.  Other funding available for SCDTP funded students can be found on the SCDTP website (www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk).

Funding is provided for 3 years full-time PhD study (pro-rata for part-time students).  Applications for 1+3 funding for students completing a Master's year prior to the commencement of PhD study are also welcome (details available at www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk).

Application Procedure

The closing date and time for applications is 11.59pm on 24th January 2019.  The full application procedure, the funding application form, and more information on the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership can be found at: http://southcoastdtp.ac.uk/apply/

For further information about this project, please contact the lead supervisor detailed above.  For questions relating to the application procedure, or for more information about the SCDTP, please visit the SCDTP website or contact us at scdtp@soton.ac.uk