EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Communications

Stephen Boyle

Stephen graduated from the Open University in 2015 with First Class Honours on a BSc in Computing & IT and Mathematics. Previously Stephen has worked in IT support at Wiltshire Council and at Wolverhampton University providing technical support for CAD and Finite Element Analysis software. 

"By studying for a PhD at the CDT in Communications I hope to gain the knowledge and skills required to progress in to a career in communications research."

Mark Graham

Mark Graham graduated in Mathematics BSc(hons) from the University of the West of England in 2016.

"I am interested in applying mathematics to the exciting field of communications, and furthering my knowledge of applied mathematics."

Owen Jones

Owen graduated from Bangor University in 2016 with an MEng in Electronic Engineering. 

"Whilst my undergraduate degree covered a wide range of subjects, during my third year project I was fortunate enough to be able to work alongside the Optical Communications research group in Bangor, which helped fuel my interests in this area. I chose to join the CDT as I felt the taught year would help to give me a solid foundation to start research in this field."

Di Ma

Di Ma received a BEng degree in Electronic Information Engineering from the Civil Aviation University of China in 2013, and in 2016 received the MEng degree in Information and Communication Engineering from the Tianjin Key Lab for Advanced Signal Processing (Civil Aviation University of China). He received the National Scholarship for Postgraduate Student in People’s Republic of China for his outstanding performance.

"It is such a great honour that I can have a precious chance to carry out my PhD study at the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Communications. The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Communications provides a world-leading research platform to doctoral researchers and its unique PhD programme can perfectly improve one's scientific research skills and allow individuals from a wide variety of research backgrounds to work together. It can achieve truly interdisciplinary research."

Dave McEwan

Dave graduated in 2010 from Glasgow Caledonian University with a 1:1 BEng(hons) in Electronic Engineering. He then worked as a silicon design engineer at Icera, Nvidia, and Broadcom working on various aspects of silicon SoC and CPU/DSP design, formal verification, and workflow tools.

His interests include applied mathematics for digital signal processing and RF/antenna engineering, with some computer keyboard design on the side.

Nigel Preece

Nigel received a MEng in Electronic Engineering from the University of Sussex in 2015. Since then he has been working for Apollo Fire Detectors working specifically on discrete hardware design and embedded systems for wireless and AV products.

“When the opportunity to come to the CDT in Communications at the University of Bristol arose it was an easy decision to make. The course not only provides a thorough understanding in the specialisation of communications, but also to push yourself professionally to become a leader within the specialisation as well. The multidisciplinary cohorts that have formed provide an excellent incubation environment for people to explore and learn, while the industry links open the doors to real world problems waiting to be solved."

George Stylianou

George graduated from Lancaster University in 2015 with a BEng (Hons) in Computer Systems Engineering. In 2016, he also graduated from Lancaster University with a MSc in Computer Science..

“The structure of the CDT programmes allows students to develop a wide range of skills and acquire knowledge in several areas of the communications sector. The tight links of the programme with the industry provide the means to work with people outside academia and also to examine the impact of research in non-academic ways.”

Adam Sutton

Adam graduated from the University of Birmingham with a Degree in Computer Science.

“The CDT offers an opportunity to work on research that is at the forefront of both academia, and industry. The taught year takes in students from multiple disciplines and prepare them for the research required to attain a PhD. The support between the cohort also helps in transitioning to another field and makes for a great atmosphere.“

Constantinos Vrontos

Constantinos joined the Bristol family back in 2012 as an undergraduate student in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He graduated with an MEng degree (Hons) in 2016.

"After studying at one of the best universities in the UK while living in one of the most beautiful cities in the UK for four whole years, extending my Bristolian life as a postgraduate student was almost certain. Being part of the CDT family means hard work and lots of sacrifices, but, at the same time you have the opportunity to sharpen your technical knowledge and acquire the skills required for a successful career in communications."

Michael Wilsher

Michael graduated from the University of Bristol in 2016 with an MSci in Mathematics. In his final year project, under the supervision of Dr Ayalvadi Ganesh, he looked at the mathematics behind different algorithms used for load balancing with applications in cloud computing. 

“The CDT in Communications has given me a great opportunity to use the mathematical knowledge gained in my undergraduate degree and apply it to real world problems. The taught year is a great opportunity to gain a better understanding of the communications sector as well as developing my skills in research.”

Justin Worsey

Justin is an experienced software engineer who has worked for multinational companies including British Aerospace, Ferranti and Nortel Networks. He has also set up, with two others, a highly specialised telecommunications software company that continued Nortel's Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) road map where he worked predominately at the MAC layer within the base station.

He graduated from the University of Essex in 1995 with a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science and has recently submitted his Masters by Research thesis titled "Face recognition in an unconstrained environment for monitoring student attendance" which he undertook in a part-time capacity whilst working as an experimental officer at the University of Exeter.