Open Positions

PhD Studentship in Computer Science: Deep Learning and Foundation Models

Currently open to self-funded candidates.

I am open to supporting candidates with a strong background for PhD | PostDoc Scholarship

• Commonwealth PhD Scholarship - candidates from commonwealth countries
• CSC PhD Scholarship - only for candidates from China
• Other PhD Scholarship specific to the candidate’s own country

• Self-funded candidates with a strong background for a PhD

• MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships

I am working on the Security, Explainability and Trustworthiness of Deep Learning, Transformers, Foundation Models, and their application to Computer Vision and NLP Problems.

Interested candidates should send a research proposal in this area along with your CV.

PhD Projects (completed and present)

• Completed:
  • Duaa Alqattan (2025) Security of Distributed and Federated Deep Learning Systems, NCL
  • C Parvin (2023) Fragility, Robustness and Antifragility of Deep Neural Networks, (eCopy) UoR
  • D Ayers (2024) Supervised learning to estimate instabilities in chaotic systems, UoR
  • Sensitivity Analysis of Deep Neural Networks, (2022) UoR
• Ongoing:
  • L Huang, Adversarial Robustness of Multi-model LLMs (2025 - present), NCL
  • X Li, Visual 3D Scene Understanding/Perception (2025 - present), NCL
  • Z Liu, Adaptive and Regularized Adversarial Training for Robust Deep Learning (2023–2025) NCL
  • Z Zhang, On Learnability, Compression, and Topology of Deep Learning (2023–2025) NCL
  • N Alzahrani, Exploring and Advancing Generative Models for Synthetic Multichannel Sensor Data with Applications to Human Activity Recognition (2022 - 2025), NCL

Contact

Dr Varun Ojha, PhD
School of Computing
Newcastle University
Urban Sciences Building
1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5TG
varun[dot]ojha[at]ncl.ac.uk
ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/varunojha.html