4-year fully funded PhD scholarship in Quantum Optimisation Techniques for Telecommunication Network
Duration of study: Full time - 4 years fixed term
Starting date: October 2025
Application deadline: No closing date, the position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Alfonso Ruocco, Lecturer in Optical Communications & Networks
Motivation: Modern telecommunication networks are becoming increasingly complex, dynamic, and data-intensive. Optimising these networks, across routing, resource allocation, traffic management, and fault tolerance, is critical for ensuring efficiency, reliability, and scalability. However, many of these optimisation problems are computationally intractable using classical methods due to their combinatorial nature. Quantum computing, particularly quantum optimisation algorithms and quantum annealing, offers a promising alternative by potentially providing speed-ups for solving such complex problems.
Project Description: This PhD project aims to explore Quantum Optimisation Techniques for Telecommunication Networks. This PhD project aims to explore and develop quantum optimisation techniques tailored for telecommunication networks. The research will involve mapping real-world network optimisation challenges into quantum-compatible formulations, evaluating the performance of state-of-the-art quantum algorithms, and proposing novel quantum-classical hybrid methods where necessary.
Funding: This is an EPSRC funded studentship. Please read the fee details carefully here: EPSRC Doctoral Training at UCL - Prospective Students | UCL EPSRC Doctoral Training - UCL – University College London. Students will receive a £21,237/year stipend for living costs increasing with inflation as well as a top-up contribution towards travel and consumables.
Qualifications required:
The position is supported by EPSRC Industrial Doctoral Landscape Awards (IDLA) in partnership with BT. This is a fully funded 4-year studentship to cover the Home student's tuition fees plus a stipend for living costs. Full funding is available for UK students. International applicants are welcome to apply; however, funding for overseas candidates is not guaranteed.
How to apply: Applications must be made using the UCL online application system by using the UCL postgraduate study application form. Please mark it to the attention of Dr Alfonso Ruocco.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion: Our research is driven forward by talented researchers and PhD students who come from countries and backgrounds across the globe. We therefore strongly encourage applications from underrepresented backgrounds in engineering, such as women, ethnic minorities, or people with disabilities– EEE is a great place for you to study! We will make reasonable adjustments at interview and/or in the position as requested.
Contact: For informal inquiries please contact Dr Alfonso Ruocco a.ruocco@ucl.ac.uk who will be happy to answer any queries about the project.
