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Jordanian students undertake doctoral training at UCL

15 July 2022

Professor Ofer Lahav (Vice-Dean International, UCL Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences) welcomed 29 Jordanian students and their mentor Dr Ala'a Azzam to the CDT-Jordan Summer School in July.

Jordanian students in front of Octagon building

The Newton-funded collaboration of the Centre for Doctoral Training with Jordan was launched in 2019. Supported by £300k funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the project enhances research links between Jordan and the UK by helping train the next generation of Jordanian experts in Data Intensive Science (DIS).

Jordanian student with Professor Ofer Lava

The Jordanian student cohorts consist of 74 postgraduates - about 60 per cent of whom are women - demonstrating a firm commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Seven of the students are staying for a full month at UCL, for Astrophysics and High Energy Physics group projects.

Reception with drinks and poster with text: Centre for doctoral science in Data Intensive Science

A reception held on 11 July for Jordanian and UCL students on the programme brought everyone together for the first time.

Previous ways of working were moved online, largely due to the pandemic. 

UCL was selected to host STFC's first Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in DIS following a highly competitive process.

DIS encompasses a wide range of areas in the field of 'big-data' including the collection, storage and analysis of large datasets, as well as the use of complex models, algorithms and machine learning techniques to interpret the data.

The Centre will primarily carry out research in STFC's flagship Data Intensive Science projects, in High Energy Physics and Astronomy, which have been at the forefront of DIS research for several decades and provide the ideal training ground for DIS.

More than 80 academics from across UCL are involved in the Centre, including academics from the High Energy Physics, Astrophysics and the Atomic and Molecular Physics groups in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, as well as academics from the departments of Space and Climate Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering and Statistical Science.

The CDT's vision is to provide a unique studentship experience, producing highly trained and employable PhD graduates with advanced and widely applicable skills in DIS, who will ultimately become the future leaders of this field in both academia and industry.

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