3 ms·

Why not do your PhD in the UK? There are lots of good AI programs here - some world class (Imperial, Edinburgh, UCL), some not quite so.

Broken_Hippo 9y ago
To expand on this, they might try other countries as well as the PhD programs might be in English even though the country isn't a predominantly English speaking country. For example, I know that many of the Masters and PhD programs here at NTNU in Trondheim, Norway are English instruction. Other universities (here and elsewhere) might have similar programs. I have no clue about quality of programs (world class vs not) but figured I'd suggest the option.
nextos 9y ago
Cambridge and Oxford have excellent AI people too (e.g. Ghahramani now on leave from Cambridge to Uber, or Frank Wood in Oxford). Besides, some Scandinavian universities have excellent professors, they will pay you a great salary (not a stipend!) and you will graduate quickly. I'd rather look for an excellent advisor than for a great university if I had to compromise a bit.
naikin 9y ago
Thanks, for the suggestions. Next year I will definitely try UK PhD programs. Nevertheless, I am still very biased towards the US for several reasons: 1. It has been a dream for me for a long time and I know that eventually I want to go study there. 2. The professors who are doing work that best matches my interests (RL applied to robotics) are mostly located in the US. The best match I would say are people such as Sergey Levine and Pieter Abbeel. Others are Anca Dragan, Dieter Fox, Emo Todorov, Drew Bagnell, Abhinav Gupta, etc. 3. The good universities in Europe which have researchers who are actively working in RL for robotics are not that many. Oxford is maybe the closest match. While the other universities mentioned also have very good people working in AI, their focus is usually either too theoretical for my interests or oriented towards pure ML and DL. I know this might sound too picky and fastidious, but bottom line is that I will be spending approx 5 years in this program, going very deep and working very hard. It is just going to be a failed PhD if I take a position just for the sake of doing a PhD and end up doing research that I am not really interested in.
- nextos 9y ago
  Oxbridge has admission routes where you get in touch with professors directly, and if interested they will offer you a position using their own funding. Thus, you don't need to wait till next year, nor applying to a specific programme. This happens anytime in the year.

Broken_Hippo 9y ago

To expand on this, they might try other countries as well as the PhD programs might be in English even though the country isn't a predominantly English speaking country. For example, I know that many of the Masters and PhD programs here at NTNU in Trondheim, Norway are English instruction. Other universities (here and elsewhere) might have similar programs. I have no clue about quality of programs (world class vs not) but figured I'd suggest the option.

nextos 9y ago

Cambridge and Oxford have excellent AI people too (e.g. Ghahramani now on leave from Cambridge to Uber, or Frank Wood in Oxford). Besides, some Scandinavian universities have excellent professors, they will pay you a great salary (not a stipend!) and you will graduate quickly. I'd rather look for an excellent advisor than for a great university if I had to compromise a bit.

naikin 9y ago

Thanks, for the suggestions. Next year I will definitely try UK PhD programs. Nevertheless, I am still very biased towards the US for several reasons: 1. It has been a dream for me for a long time and I know that eventually I want to go study there. 2. The professors who are doing work that best matches my interests (RL applied to robotics) are mostly located in the US. The best match I would say are people such as Sergey Levine and Pieter Abbeel. Others are Anca Dragan, Dieter Fox, Emo Todorov, Drew Bagnell, Abhinav Gupta, etc. 3. The good universities in Europe which have researchers who are actively working in RL for robotics are not that many. Oxford is maybe the closest match. While the other universities mentioned also have very good people working in AI, their focus is usually either too theoretical for my interests or oriented towards pure ML and DL. I know this might sound too picky and fastidious, but bottom line is that I will be spending approx 5 years in this program, going very deep and working very hard. It is just going to be a failed PhD if I take a position just for the sake of doing a PhD and end up doing research that I am not really interested in.

nextos 9y ago
Oxbridge has admission routes where you get in touch with professors directly, and if interested they will offer you a position using their own funding. Thus, you don't need to wait till next year, nor applying to a specific programme. This happens anytime in the year.