Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is one of the UK's leading research-focused higher education institutions. With 25,332 students, 4,000 staff and an annual turnover of £400m, it is one of the biggest University of London colleges.

Queen Mary has made a strategic commitment to the highest quality of research. QMUL invested in this principle by systematically recruiting the best academics in their disciplines from around the world. The results of the most recent national assessment of research – the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) – have confirmed QMUL place in the very top group of research-led universities in the UK.

The Centre for Intelligent Sensing is a focal point for research in Intelligent Sensing at Queen Mary University of London. The Centre focuses on breakthrough innovations in computational intelligence that are expected to have a major impact in transforming human and machine utilisation of multiple sensor inputs for interpretation and decision making. The Centre facilitates sharing of resources, exchange of ideas and results among researchers in the areas of theory and application of signal acquisition, processing, communication, abstraction, control and visualisation.

The expertise in the Centre includes camera and sensor networks, image and signal processing, computer vision, pattern recognition and learning, coding, 3D imaging, reconstruction and rendering, 3D graphics, bio-inspired computing, human-computer interaction, face and gesture recognition, affective computing and social signal processing, and data mining. The centre provides post-graduate research and teaching in Intelligent Sensing, and is responsible for the MSc programme in Computer Vision.

The University of Genoa (UNIGE) is one of the oldest of the major European universities; with about 280 courses of study distributed between the Genoa offices and the University centers of Imperia, Savona and La Spezia. UNIGE plays a leading role in the field of research, innovation and technology transfer. In a context of increased national and international competitiveness, the Genovese University is constantly active in identifying funding, monitoring and selecting all the opportunities and sources, including the tools for the mobility of researchers, which are so important to improve the positioning to international level.

With regard to research doctorates, UNIGE is coordinating 28 doctoral courses accredited by the Italian Ministry of the Scientific Research and University that cover the main scientific disciplinary areas, organized in 98 curricula.
Several doctoral courses are organized with national or foreign Universities and research institutions, including the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), the Bruno Kessler Foundation (FBK), the Queen Mary University of London and the Maastricht University. Additional PhD projects and scholarships were also activated in European and international projects (H2020 - MSC ITN, H2020 - ERC, CONFAP, etc.).

The Joint Doctorate on Interactive and Cognitive Environments is accredited by Anvur not only as an international doctorate but also for its confirmed skills as an inter-sectoral doctorate to be inherent to the themes of the "Industry 4.0" initiative and for the presence of an agreement with other institutional subjects on specific research or transfer themes. technological and that foresee a double supervision.
On the Italian side, several research teams from the Department of Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications Engineering and Naval Architecture (DITEN) are involved in supervision. Among these, the team called Information and SIgnal Processing for Cognitive Telecommunications (ISIP40) is involved in several PhD projects. The team is currently led by Prof. Carlo Regazzoni and Dr. Lucio Marcenaro and can count on 5 PhD students (who study and develop signal processing algorithms for dynamic cognitive systems), 2 research fellows and a number of external collaborators. Teaching activities allow students of degree and master's degree to be involved in team research activities. The key structures of the research group include a fully equipped laboratory with high performance computers (eg, GPU for deep learning), heterogeneous sensors (for example, cameras, wireless devices, location sensors, etc.). ), actuators (eg, automation doors, LCD panels, etc.) and network devices including a software-defined radio development kit.

A second research team consists of the Satellite Communications and Networking Laboratory (SCNL), headed by Prof. Mario Marchese. The research team is also currently composed of 1 PhD student, 2 research fellows and several external collaborators. This laboratory has at its disposal a number of high-performance computers that can be used for the design and testing in a simulative aand/oremulative environment of algorithms, protocols and strategies concerning the issues covered by the present application, as well as the support of the staff for the start of the research work.

Course coordinator

Carlo REGAZZONI - DITEN, University of Genoa, Full Professor, Telecommunications

Board members

Raffaele BOLLA - DITEN, University of Genoa, Full Professor, Telecommunications

Francesco BELLOTTI - DITEN, University of Genoa, Assistant Professor, Electronics

Andrea TRUCCO - DITEN, University of Genoa, Full Professor, Telecommunications

Igor BISIO - DITEN, University of Genoa, Assistant Professor, Telecommunications

Gabriele MOSER - DITEN, University of Genoa, Associate Professor, Telecommunications

Paolo GASTALDO - DITEN, University of Genoa, Assistant Professor, Electronics

Andrea SCIARRONE - DITEN, University of Genoa, Assistant Professor, Telecommunications

Eliane BODANESE - Centre for Intelligent Sensing, Queen Mary University of London

Félix CUADRADO - Centre for Intelligent Sensing, Queen Mary University of London

Yue GAO - Centre for Intelligent Sensing, Queen Mary University of London

Stefan POSLAD - Centre for Intelligent Sensing, Queen Mary University of London

Jesus REQUENA CARRION - Centre for Intelligent Sensing, Queen Mary University of London

Laurissa TOKARCHUK - Centre for Intelligent Sensing, Queen Mary University of London

Steve UHLIG - Centre for Intelligent Sensing, Queen Mary University of London

Qianni ZHANG - Centre for Intelligent Sensing, Queen Mary University of London

José María ARMINGOL MORENO - Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, Universidad Carlos iii Madrid

Arturo DE LA ESCALERA HUESO - Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, Universidad Carlos iii Madrid

The Joint Doctoral Programme in Interactive and Cognitive Environments (JD-ICE) offers PhD candidates a education programme in the field of research related to computer science, electronic and telecommunication engineering. Candidates must hold a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree or equivalent title and in-depth knowledge and understanding of the principles of ICT engineering.

ICE aims at developing and enhancing master students’ knowledge and skills in order to form a new generation of professionals able to exploit (and further enhance) cutting-edge ICT technologies to design and implement - in multi-disciplinary work teams - innovative solutions related to Doctoral objective. The programme has three major focuses, iteratively pursued during the whole progress of the candidate’s track. The first focus concerns the acquisition and the formalization of knowledge in specific advanced domains, achieved through lectures and seminars. The second aims at maintaining in strict touch PhD students with leading research groups that have proven experiences in research activities in basic disciplines necessary for the PhD course in the five partner universities. The latter involves actual industry/academy joint research activities on projects in cooperation with leading ICT companies. The Programme lasts three years. During this period a mobility scheme ensures that students will spend training / research periods in two different higher education institutions.

The language of instruction is English. Local language learning and integration in the society will be promoted through ad-hoc courses and university staff support.
The ICE PhD Course will represent an added value for European and extra European PhD students in several directions:

• ICE involves top-level Universities and field-related research groups from different European countries;
• ICE awards joint PhD degrees by universities that are following the same educational organization framework and common macro objectives, that will allow PhDs a highest possibility of adequate and recognized job placement fully exploiting acquired and certified research attitude in a strengthened European High Tech market;
• ICE provides a organized higher-education European network, associated with the ICE brand, for additional cultural offer, logistic facilities, direct interaction with European industries (SMEs and large European industries) under a joint transnational quality control committed to continuous improvement.