Central building at XJTLU

Recently, I have been considering recruitment of a highly motivated and committed to excellence Ph.D. student who is going to be trained in an exceptional approach which has been designed to offer the right student an extraordinary yet enjoyable doctoral study experience at this truly unique institution. Such a great ambition is more likely to come true with the generous support, namely a full-time Ph.D. studentship provided by our Research and Graduate Studies Office (RGSO). If this is something that sounds attractive and interesting to you, please read the following sections very carefully.

About the Project

Genome assembly

• Title: Challenge and Limits of Genome Assembly under a Substitution Model;

• Length: 3 years;

• Abstract: The modern genome assembly technology provides reads which can perfectly reconstruct the original Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence. However, the quality of reconstructed sequence is influenced by reads length and coverage depth. There is an advantage to recover the sequence by using short length reads containing less error. However, a certain critical length is always needed to successfully complete the task of reconstruction. When reads length is below a threshold, reconstruction tends to be impossible. Long length reads seem to provide sufficient information for reconstruction at the expense of increased error, which may lead to higher probability of failure. The common errors in reads can be classified as several types such as substitution, deletion, substitution and erasure model. This project aims to overcome the error correction problems occurred in reads under the substitution model. This will enable researchers to prospect this area of research and make high impact contributions to the emerging field.

About the Supervisors

• Principal supervisor: Dr. Siyi Wang (XJTLU Page | Google Scholar | Research Gate);
• Co-supervisor from the University of Liverpool: Prof. Prudence Wong.

Academic Entry Requirements Set by the University of Liverpool and Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU)

• Degree: A UK undergraduate (bachelors) degree (or equivalent qualification) with honours at a first or upper second class level (a minimum grade of 80 percent from a recognised Chinese university) in electrical and electronic engineering, computer science and engineering, applied mathematics, physics, physical biology and other related areas (a Master's degree would be an advantage).
• English Proficiency: Applicants whose first language is not English or have not studied at degree level in English are required to provide evidence of proficiency in English:
  1. IELTS: 6.5 (with a minimum of 5.5 in each component);
  2. TOEFL iBT: 88 or above with minimum scores in components as follows: Listening and Writing 21, Reading 22, Speaking 23;
  3. Other English language qualifications accepted by the University can be found from this link.

Additional Requirements Specifically for This Ph.D. Project

• Excellent mathematical and statistical skills;
• Good understanding of communication theory, information and coding theory and stochastic geometry and random graphs theory (desired);
• Excellent command of written and spoken English with good knowledge on fundamental concepts on parts of speech and sentence patterns;
• Good problem solving and analytical skills;
• A publication record in at least one of the research areas concerned (desired);
• Experience on modern reference management software (e.g., Mendeley, Zotero, RefWorks, EndNote, etc);
• Good knowledge of LaTeX;
• Strong skills in one or more of the programming languages: MATLAB, Python, Java and/or C++;
• Good appreciation of one or more of the version control and collaboration tools such as git, subversion, Mercurial, Dropbox, Slack, Trello, Overleaf and or ShareLaTeX;
• The ability to work as part of a dynamic, multidisciplinary team of researchers.

About the Studentship

• Tuition Fees: RMB 80,000 Yuan per year;
• Living Allowance: RMB 42,000 Yuan per year;
• International Conference Budget: RMB 16,500 Yuan in total;
• Research Study Visit: Up to three months to visit and study at the University of Liverpool;
• Degree upon Completion: Ph.D. degree from the University of Liverpool.

Bonus from the Principal Supervisor

• Extra Living Allowance: At least RMB 78,000 Yuan per year from different sources through demonstration of extraordinary hard work;
• Graduation Gift: One of the following:
  1. Provide you with an opportunity to work as a research assistant/associate (postdoc) at a university in the UK, Australia or Canada if you wish to pursue a career in academia;
  2. Provide you with an opportunity to work in a company in Shanghai or Beijing with a starting salary no less than RMB 150,000 Yuan per year (as of current CPI and rates) if you wish to pursue a career in an industrial sector;
  3. Provide you with an opportunity to find angel investor and business incubator in Shanghai if you wish to build a start-up company;
  4. Provide you with sufficient information on skilled immigration to Australia, New Zealand, Canada or USA if you prefer to live your future life overseas.

How to Apply

Interested applicants are advised to email siyi.wang@xjtlu.edu.cn the following documents and copy to doctoralstudies@xjtlu.edu.cn (please put the project title in the subject line).

1. C.V.;
2. Two formal reference letters with company/university letterhead;
3. Personal statement outlining your interest in the position;
4. Proof of English language proficiency;
5. Verified school transcripts in both Chinese and English (for international
   students, only the English version is required);
6. Verified certificates of education qualifications in both Chinese and English
   (for international students, only the English version is required);

• Open for Applications: 09 July 2017;
• Closing Date: remain open until a qualified candidate is selected.

Final Suggestion

It is strongly recommended that you should make some informal enquiries to me before you prepare all of application materials.

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