Recruiting
For PhD applicants (3-5 open positions in Year 2025)
CS/math/EE/physics background is preferred but not necessary. You are welcome to email me and please specify your interest in research and your interest in working with me.
I am actively looking for self-motivated students interested in data science and machine learning, especially in graph neural networks, information retrieval, recommender systems, time series etc.
- Graph Neural Networks
- Text-attributed graph and multimodal graph with (M)LLMs
- Graph foundation models
- Robustness and scalability of graph learning (OOD, test-time, condensation, graph-MLP distillation etc.)
- Recommendations and Information Retrieval
- RL for recommendations
- Rich side-information in recommendations with (M)LLMs
- Domain-specific IR and document understanding with LLMs
- Time Series
- Foundation models for time series
- LLMs for time series
- Time series for cross-disciplinary applications
What I will provide:
- Fully funded position (tuition waive, living stipend of AUD $35k per year, easy to live in Brisbane) with international conference travel.
- Nice and friendly environment.
- Freedom to choose topics, or I will provide ideas. Freedom to choose self-direction or close-supervision. I value self-motivation. (Tips: PhD study in Aus is short, typically taking 3-4 years. Thus pace and progress is important to finish PhD in a successful style.)
- Academic training, including research vision, presentation, academic writing, collaborations, management, soft skills, etc.
- Strong support for collaborations, internships, awards, and career development.
Why Data Science@UQ:
- The University of Queensland is one of Go8 members in Australia, consistently ranked top 50 among the world’s top universities (US News, Times, ARWU etc.).
- The Data Science group is rapidly growing, with 4 ARC Future Fellows and 9 ARC DECRA Fellows in faculty members.
- ~80 A100/H100 GPU cards in cluster.
- UQ requires PhD students to have at least one co-advisor. I highly value the diverse research direction, student’s will and freedom in co-advisor choice.
- One of the most beautiful campuses in the world/Australia, but really close to the city center. Sufficient facilities for various sports and cultural activities.
- The PhD study in Aus is short, typically taking 3-4 years, which is especially suitable for students aiming for industry or already completed a master degree. (Also very suitable for pursuing faculty job. Our group has many excellent PhDs serving as faculty members in Australia, Mainland China, HK, Europe.) (Bachelor with a great potential but without any experience is very welcome as well, yet the challenge should be evaluated in advance.)
Why Brisbane, Queensland:
- Brisbane is a VERY SAFE, large, modern and convenient city, with direct flights to many major cities in the world.
- The campus is located in St Lucia suburb, which is just 15min bus away from city center. Yes, Brisbane has a fast, punctual, complete, safe and operating-until-late-night public transport system, with bus, train, light rail, ferries, metro.
- Diverse, vibrant, inclusive and friendly international culture, including sports, music, food, etc.
- Beach, coastline, island, one of the best ocean scenes in Australia and the world.
- Friendly international immigrant/VISA support for CS PhDs.
Welcome to email me by “r.last-name-lower-case@uq.edu.au”:
- Email topic: “UQ CS PhD Application by Your Name”.
- Please attach your CV, transcripts and a representative writing sample (paper/preprint) if any.
- Please customize your email according to my research interest and be specific about your research interest, in several sentence.