This was a presentation I gave at the IBEC (Indonesia-Britain Education Centre) British Education Expo 2013, 16-17 Feb 2013. It was designed to inform potential PhD students how to write a research proposal.

1. PhD Research at the
University of Nottingham
PhD Research at
The University of Nottingham
IBEC (Indonesia‐Britain Education Centre) British Education Expo 2013
16‐17 Feb 2013, Jakarta, Indonesia
Professor Graham Kendall
Vice‐Provost (Research and Knowledge Transfer)
Professor of Computer Science

2. About me
About me
• Worked in industry for almost 20 years before
doing an undergraduate degree and working
in academia.
• Have supervised about 20 PhD students in my
15 years as an academic.
• My interests include Operations Research,
Scheduling and Evolutionary Computation
• I worked at Nottingham, UK for about 14 years
• Now based on our Malaysia campus, after
which I will return to the UK

3. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Sir Peter Mansfield was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Medicine in 2003 for his work in the
application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The award is shared with the late Paul Lauterbur
from the University of Illinois.
MRI has been compared to the discovery of x‐rays
in its significance to medicine, becoming an
indispensable tool in medical diagnostics,
drastically reducing the need for invasive surgery.
There are over 60 million MRI scans carried out
worldwide each year.
The importance of Sir Peter's work led to the
founding of the Magnetic Resonance Centre in
1991 ‐ now named the Sir Peter Mansfield
Magnetic Resonance Centre in his honour.

4. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Also in 2003, former University of Nottingham
student and academic, the late Professor Clive
Granger, was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Economic Science. He spent 22 years at The
University of Nottingham as an undergraduate,
lecturer and professor before moving to the
University of California in San Diego.

5. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Presented the Royal Society Rutherford
Lecture at UNMC in Oct 2012
Professor Martin
Poliakoff, CBE, FRS

6. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Also well known for his Periodic Table of
videos, which have had over 27 million
views and have just passed 117,000
subscribers.
http://www.periodicvideos.com/
Professor Martin
Poliakoff, CBE, FRS

7. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Neil Mennie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdvBLSy‐1zY
A captive bred Sumatran orangutan and a
University of Nottingham neuroscientist in
Malaysia are hoping to explain some of the
mysteries of the visual brain and improve the
lives of captive bred animals.

8. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Scheduling English
Football Fixtures
• Kendall, G; McCollum, B; Cruz, F; McMullan, P and While, L
Scheduling English Football Fixtures: Consideration of Two
Conflicting Objectives. In Hybrid metaheuristics, Springer,
2012
• Kendall, G; Knust, S; Ribeiro, C. C and Urrutia, S Scheduling
in sports: An annotated bibliography. Computers &
Operations Research, 37 (1): 1‐19, 2010.
• Gibbs, J; Kendall, G and Özcan, E Scheduling English
Football Fixtures over the Holiday Period Using Hyper‐
heuristics. In Proceedings of Problem Parallel Solving
from Nature (PPSN XI), Sep 2010, pages 496‐505,
Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, Lecture Notes in Computer
Science 6238, 2011
• Kendall, G; McCollum, B; Cruz, F and McMullan, P
Notts County: World’s Oldest Football Club Scheduling English Football Fixtures: Consideration of
Two Conflicting Objectives. In Proceedings of the 8th
International Conference on the Practice and Theory of
Automated Timetabling (PATAT 2010), pages 1‐15, 11‐13
How do we schedule football fixtures fairly, taking August 2010, Queen's University Belfast, Northern
into account the requirements of the various Ireland, UK, 2010
stakeholders? • Kendall, G Scheduling English football fixtures over
holiday periods. Journal of the Operational Research
Society, 59 (6): 743‐755, 2008.

9. Research at the University
of Nottingham

10. Research at the University
of Nottingham

11. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Management and Ecology of
Malaysian Elephants (MEME) Project
www.meme‐elephants.org/

12. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Management and Ecology of
Malaysian Elephants (MEME) Project
www.meme‐elephants.org/
Asian elephants live in countries with some of the
highest human‐densities in the world. In the long‐run,
we will only be able to conserve elephants if we
manage to mitigate the so‐called human‐elephant
conflict. In MEME, we aim to understand the human
and elephant dimensions of this conflict and to
develop scientifically‐tested methods to mitigate it.

13. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Management and Ecology of
Malaysian Elephants (MEME) Project
www.meme‐elephants.org/
We are developing and applying non‐invasive methods
to monitor stress levels of wild elephant individuals
and populations under different types of human
disturbances: (1) translocation of conflict individuals,
(2) elephant inhabiting fragmented landscapes, and (3)
elephants experiencing high levels of human‐elephant
conflict.

14. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Management and Ecology of
Malaysian Elephants (MEME) Project
www.meme‐elephants.org/
The most remarkable feature of elephants is their huge
body size. This makes elephants unique and ecologically
difficult to replace. We are studying the ecological role of
elephants in the dispersal of megafaunal‐syndrome plants.
These are plants such as mangoes, durians, or
chempedaks, with fruits and seeds so large that cannot be
easily swallowed and dispersed by smaller animals.

15. Research at the University
of Nottingham
Management and Ecology of
Malaysian Elephants (MEME) Project
www.meme‐elephants.org/
In the thick tropical rainforests of Peninsular Malaysia,
the study of wild elephant ecology and behavior cannot
rely on direct observation. We are currently working to
develop the local capacity to use non‐invasive indirect
molecular methods to obtain data about our study
populations. In other words, we aim to use dung to
obtain DNA and answer questions.

16. Research at the University
of Nottingham
• Burke, E. K; Hyde, M; Kendall, G and Woodward, J A Genetic Programming
Hyper‐Heuristic Approach for Evolving 2‐D Strip Packing Heuristics. IEEE
Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 14 (6): 942‐958, 2010.
• Li, J and Kendall, G A Strategy with Novel Evolutionary Features for the Iterated
Prisoner's Dilemma. Evolutionary Computation, 17 (2): 257‐274, 2009.
• Bai, R; Burke, E. K; Kendall, G; Li, J and McCollum, B A Hybrid Evolutionary
Approach to the Nurse Rostering Problem. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary
Computation, 14 (4): 580‐590, 2010.
• Kendall, G and Su, Y Imperfect Evolutionary Systems. IEEE Transactions on
Evolutionary Computation, 11 (3): 294‐307, 2007.
• Burke, E. K; Hyde, M. R and Kendall, G Grammatical Evolution of Local Search
Heuristics. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 16 (3): 406‐417,
2012.
• Burke, E.K; Hyde, M; Kendall, G and Woodward, J Automating the Packing
Heuristic Design Process with Genetic Programming. Evolutionary Computation,
Evolutionary 20 (1): 63‐89, 2012.
Computation, using • Li, J; Hingston, P and Kendall, G Engineering Design of Strategies for Winning
Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma Competitions. IEEE Transactions on Computational
Darwin’s Principles of Intelligence and AI in Games, 3 (4): 348‐360, 2011.
Natural Selection • Al‐Khateeb, B and Kendall, G Introducing Individual and Social Learning
Introducing Individual and Social Learning. IEEE Transactions on Computational
Intelligence and AI in Games, 4 (4): 258‐269, 2012.

17. University of Nottingham
Some Facts/Figures
• 42,000 students, 30,000 in the UK
• UK. University Top 10 ‐ 7th in Research
Assessment Exercise 2008
• World Top 75 – QS Apple.
• World Top 100 ‐ Shanghai Jiao Tong.
• World Top 200 – Times Higher.
• Runner Up, Times Higher ‘University of the
Year’ 2010

18. University of Nottingham
Our Campuses
• University Park
• Sutton Bonnington
• Jubilee Campus
• Nottingham and Derby Medical Schools
• Malaysia Campus
• China Campus

19. University of Nottingham
Why do you want to do a PhD?
• Want to work in a university
• Want to work in an R&D environment
• Career Advancement
• Want to do research
• Passionate about a subject
• Want to be called Dr.

20. University of Nottingham
Preparing for PhD research
• Recognise that funding and supervisory
arrangements are often disjoint
• Start to access the scientific literature
• Start to write your research proposal
• Compile a list of potential supervisors
• Spend some time before starting to contact people

21. University of Nottingham
Your Supervisor
• Has a track record in the area you are interested in
• Has recently published in the area
• Other (possible) considerations
– Is a member of a wider research group
– Has supervised PhD students
– Attracts research funding
– Has international esteem

22. University of Nottingham
Writing your proposal
• A typical research proposal:
– is read by academics with an interest in your field
• some schools may not have academics whose
interests match your own
– ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 words
– is judged both on content and proposal format

23. University of Nottingham
Writing your proposal
A postgraduate research proposal should:
– clearly define the topic you are interested in and show you
understand your proposed area of research
– how you have started to identify and develop an original and
interesting research question
– demonstrate you understand how to conduct research
– look professional – it should be typed, in good English, well‐
structured with suitable headings and clear and legible
– include a bibliography, listing the books, articles and websites you
have referred to
• Try to avoid citing too many (if any) web sites
• Show evidence that you can access the scientific literature

24. University of Nottingham
Writing your proposal
What should a research proposal contain?
– An introduction to the proposal, identifying the subject for
research in terms of theoretical issues and relevant empirical
applications.
– A review of relevant literature and theories relating to your
proposed research area that shows you understand the major
lines of argument that have been developed and the ideas
and findings of key researchers working on your topic.

25. University of Nottingham
Writing your proposal
What should a research proposal contain?
– An indication of the research methods you will use and
the form and location of any empirical work you plan
to undertake; where and for how long might you
collect any relevant data? For example:
• 1. outline the sources of information you might need
• 2. comment on the geographical area in which the study will take
place – what are the advantages and disadvantages of this
choice?
• 3. discuss the subjects of your research – individuals? Groups?
Companies? And why?

26. University of Nottingham
Writing your proposal
What should a research proposal contain?
– An indication on how you envisage your research will
contribute to debates and discussions in your
particular subject area. Will it make an original
contribution? How might it fill gaps in existing work or
extend understanding of particular topics?

27. University of Nottingham
To note
• It is unlikely that your PhD will be as you proposed

28. University of Nottingham
Contacting your potential supervisor
• Personalise the email
• Get their title right
• Do not send a generic email
• Refer to some of their latest work
• Be conicse and to the point
• Be aware of strange fonts
• If you have a scholarship, say so
• If you do not have a scholarship give some likely sources (even
if it is just from the university’s own web site)

29. University of Nottingham
Next Steps
• Think about why you want to do a PhD
• Think about your subject
• Write your proposal
• Research potential supervisors
• Make contact with potential supervisors
• Talk to IBEC who can support you through this
process

30. PhD Research at the
University of Nottingham
Questions and Answers
Prime Minsters visit to Malaysia campus (12th April 2012)