Questions & Answers

Disclaimer: Please note, re: questions about Visas and degrees etc. the answers given below are not official guidance and things can change in time. Please always consult official sources when submitting your application.

Are the software design diagrams based on current problems you might have or do they depend on some dynamic factors in time?Answer: We will ask community members to define the problems, the data, and potential impact. As a team we then assess and decide which we will select.
Can you explain the last point about describing experience of collaboration?Answer: This will be teamwork- we want you to describe your experience in collaboration.
Could you please elaborate on the collaboration experience?Answer: We want you to describe your experience- your most impressive experience and what you are most proud of. Just give a few examples: the most important ones that can show your strengths.
Is there any word requirement or limit for the statement?Answer: Quality is more important than quantity. Even if there is no word limit we do not encourage too lengthy an application: we want to see your strengths. Your most shining points. Give a few examples: the most important that can show your strength. E.g. say you created PyTorch- that's impressive! One line is enough. Or “I published a nature paper”. We want strong evidence.
About the representative writing, is it possible to send more than one document? The most recent document I could share is my thesis, but that is written in Portuguese. So I was wondering if I could send the thesis and another paper in English.Answer: Put several pdfs in one doc if the system only allows one doc. We want no more than 3 examples/docs- we will only look at the most important. More than one is ok but not more than three. If your thesis is in a foreign language you can still submit it- we can still assess it. Can look at structure, figures, tables, workflow diagrams etc. We may have colleagues who can read and can help to assess. English writing is better but if all you have is E.g. Portuguese then submit (if you do not have many alternative choices).
For senior AIREs: Is a PhD the only essential criteria? Is industry work experience not applicable?Answer: A degree is not the only criteria, just one of the criteria: you have to demonstrate all your other skills, the other criteria. We may consider equivalent industry experience, if you don't have a PhD e.g. you work in industry, but have research outcomes e.g. papers or software then tell us. We can consider them. Show us how that experience is equivalent, especially that which has some level of impact. This will make you eligible.
What is the expected date of joining? Sometimes the visa process takes a lot of time.Answer: This is flexible, we do not have a fixed starting date but we do want the team together in a certain period, so, if you can not start until next year we will not be able to wait, but if a few months then that’s ok. Visas- we understand they take time, we can wait for this. E.g. we announce positions in May, then if successful you apply for a visa immediately, then hopefully it should be ready by say September. This would be OK.
Is Collaboration experience with respect to research, or industry collaboration may work as well?Answer: Both are very valuable. Industry experience is very important- we want to work on real world problems. We emphasise diversity and complementarity- very happy to have strong candidates from industry on board. They will give a valuable perspective.
What if someone does not have a publication but in the p process can we highlight that work in the application?Answer: If you have a manuscript - if its not published as yet, upload it as “under review”; The application process is confidential. If you don't have anything in the public domain you can upload as representative writing.
What are the requirements to apply for a part-time PhD afterwards?Answer: English requirements will be more important than Visas. Will need to satisfy PhD entry requirements. Google to find these or look at the University website.
Can you talk about the applications we might work on?Answer: We are going to work on problems across the faculty. For example, Healthcare problems- there is strong research in healthcare across the University. We can expect some work on healthcare. Also engineering: digital twins, materials, chemical processes, Arts and humanities. Social science, law, finance, economics .. It's really dependent on what the community will put up. We will assess readiness and time scales: to ensure impact.
What about the IELTS score? Is it required?Answer: Check the University website.
Do you support AIREs with course support?Answer: Auditing should be fine; if you want to take the course, if appointed, you are staff, so formally taking courses will probably not work– if a lecturer agrees, get their consent and sit in on lectures. There are also many training opportunities for staff at the University, e.g. English: browse the HR website; the ATJ should have links.
And can a researcher's status be changed to Senior in the first or second year?Answer: Definitely possible: depends on what you have done: Have you done some work to justify this? E.g. If you create software that makes a big impact, saving lives or millions of pounds.
Do you think a Master's degree in NLP will be useful for this post? Thank you.Answer: Any degree will be useful. We want diversity; it's definitely a plus if you have an AI related degree.
Is a T2 visa a must? Recently my friends joined various positions on Global talent visas. I think that takes less time.Answer: Global talent visa is better/possible /more flexible/faster- G7 may be possible, don't know about G6- check eligibility criteria on the University website; after you get an offer, discuss with HR- they should be able to help.
If somebody has experience in both academic and software development as well as research experience. and also a PhD degree. could that person apply for this position or apply for Postdoc?Answer: This opening has two positions: Grade 6 - people without PhD Grade 7 - With PhD or equivalent If you have a PhD already apply for a senior role.
Second question, do somebody need IELTS if you have PhD degree?Answer: PhD and English requirements are different. You can do a PhD in a foreign language. PhD will not satisfy your English level- we will still need to demonstrate this.
Can you list some of the industry partners that you are working with?Answer: I have worked with Astra Zeneca, Amazon; two major industry partners. University colleagues have other partners. Engineering: Airbus, Rolls Royce, Siemens and many other partners. Who we may work with depends on the project. If industry is funding us there may be dedicated projects in future.
If your code is in a Private github repository how to provide it in the application?Answer: Download your code as zip file and upload as attachment.
What proportion of the time is to create libraries, software development? What proportion of time will be spent on research?Answer: No definite answer; can depend on personal skills. Main thing is we do not see research and software as separate. See both as an integral part of the job. To do research you need to write code; to develop code you need to do research; gives research value. So no definite answer: but we need to deliver what we promised to deliver i.e. high quality research outcomes. Maybe your question is about maintenance. Again we need to look at what we have committed to deliver: If we commit to deliver training materials we need to look at scheduling time to fulfil duties.
When you say that your team is focussed on AI research, is it mostly data analysis and Machine Learning (ML) or do you also mean Knowledge Representation (KR) and some other aspects of AI?Answer: AI research we define broadly: what will be needed to deliver the impact that we want to create: ML will definitely part of this. Also Knowledge Representation is very important: for example, we have planned to work on Knowledge graphs. Data analysis: we also need to work, for example on missing data and unbalanced data Boundary is a bit blurred. We are not going to do heavy data curation: we will leave it to problem owners and domain experts. Knowledge representation will be in our scope: it is part of ML. We need to learn how to represent knowledge. Likely we will devote someone to work on knowledge graphs.
So is the group steered more to KR or ML?Answer: This will be determined by what's important to generate impact: if we need more of ML we do that but if we need more KR we will do that.
If this is the mechanism we are taking do we have the mechanism to train team members to learn new skillsAnswer: We have in house expertise. If there are skills we need to pick up, we will expect team members to have independent skills to pick up new skills. There are lots of resources online. We will not train you with a programme: Haiping will give directions and advice on how to get a skill and then you pick up the skill.
Since you are in a University; I had thought that people could sit in on courses and pick up skills?Answer: the priority is to deliver, so we need to find a way if someone is lacking a skill, we will need to find a way to pick up the skill.