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Universidade Nacional da Irlanda em Galway -- Ciência sem Fronteiras
PhD Project Template
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Use one form per project
Please complete & submit to international@nuigalway.ie as soon as possible, and by 27/11/2012
In your email, begin the subject line with [SWB] (be sure to use square brackets) to ensure that
your email is filed correctly. Emails will be automatically filed
PI name & contact details:
School:
Dr. Edward Jones
Electrical & Electronic Engineering
College of Engineering & Informatics
NUI Galway
E-mail: edward.jones@nuigalway.ie
Tel. +353 91 492 720
College of Engineering & Informatics
(Discipline of Electrical & Electronic Engineering)
Research Centre / group affiliation:
Research group / centre website:
PI website / link to CV:
http://www.eee.nuigalway.ie/Staff/ejones.html
Brief summary of PI research / research group / centre activity (2 or 3 lines max):
If you are already involved in relevant scholarly activities relating to Brazil, please mention them here.
Dr. Edward Jones is a lecturer in Electrical & Electronic Engineering at NUI Galway, and is also ViceDean of the College of Engineering & Informatics. His research interests lie in the development of
signal processing technology across a range of applications, including wearable electronics for
health monitoring, and speech and image processing.
Title & brief description of PhD project (suitable for publication on web):
Speech Recognition in the Mobile Environment
The performance of computer-based speech recognition systems has improved in great strides in
recent years, to the extent that such systems are now mainstream even when used over the
telephone. However, significant problems still remain when these systems are used in conditions of
high noise or reverberation, such as might be found in situations where mobile phones are used.
Given that more people use mobile phones than fixed lines, this limits the value of speech
recognition, unless highly “robust” systems can be developed. This project will address the
development of algorithms specifically targeted at use on a smart phone platform, and based on
features of the human auditory system, which is a highly effective speech recogniser particularly in
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Universidade Nacional da Irlanda em Galway -- Ciência sem Fronteiras
noise and reverberation. Since such systems are normally quite demanding computationally, a
particular focus of the project will be on the development of algorithms that are computationallyefficient, such that the load on the smart phone processor (and battery life) is optimised.
Unique selling points of PhD project in NUI Galway:
NUI Galway projects should emphasise features that are not typically available in Brazil – specific equipment,
multi-disciplinarity, aspects of structured programme, links with industry, placements, links with other research
groups etc.
The PI and his colleagues have several decades of collective experience in the application of DSP in a
range of applications. The host discipline (Electrical & Electronic Engineering) has particular
expertise in the development of speech technology based on auditory modelling, as well as a record
of research in robust speech processing.
The project will be hosted in NUI Galway’s recently-opened School of Engineering, the largest in the
country. This €40m building is equipped with state of the art laboratory facilities and a range of
specialist development and test equipment.
http://www.nuigalway.ie/new-engineering-building/
Name & contact details for project queries, if different from PI named above:
As above
Please indicate the graduates of which disciplines that should apply:
Electrical/Electronic/Computer Engineering
Computer Science (particularly with expertise in signal processing)
Ciência sem Fronteiras / Science Without Borders Priority Area:
Please indicate the specific programme priority area under which the proposed PhD project fits- choose only
one (tick box):
Engineering and other technological areas
Pure and Natural Sciences (e.g. mathematics, physics, chemistry)/Physical Sciences (Mathematics,
Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geosciences)
Health and Biomedical Sciences / Clinical, Pré-clinical and Health Sciences
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Computing
X
Aerospace
Pharmaceuticals
Sustainable Agricultural Production
Oil, Gas and Coal
Renewable Energy
Minerals, Minerals Technology
Biotechnology
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Universidade Nacional da Irlanda em Galway -- Ciência sem Fronteiras
Nanotechnology and New Materials
Technologies for Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Disasters
Bioprospecting and Biodiversity
Marine Sciences
Creative Industry
New technologies in constructive engineering
Please indicate which of the following applies to this project (referring to Science Without Borders
arrangements):
Suitable only as a Full PhD (Y/N): Y
Available to candidates seeking a Sandwich PhD arrangement (Y/N): N
Suitable for either/Don’t know: N/A