François Petitjean

Why do research at Monash University?

(Thanks to Prof Wray Buntine for this paragraph)

Monash University is Australia’s #1 ranked university in 2015 for Technology and Engineering (by the Times Higher Ed rankings), coming in at #53 globally and #14 in Asia-Pacific region. Yes, it is the top-placed university in the Oceania region. Moreover, we're rated as Australia's #2 ranked university in 2016 for innovation (see Reuters Asia's Most Innovative Universities). Monash is a great place to do a PhD!

What I'm looking for in a PhD candidate?

For my part, I like to see the following in a research candidate:

excellent organisational skills
good discrete and continuous math
willingness to learn and get out of your comfort zone
good programming skills
familiarity with machine learning
if your mathematics or coding is excellent then you don't need all the above

I do understand that each person brings their own story to the PhD and can accomodate some lacking skills for an extremely motivated student.

The topics I'm interested in

I am interested in the following topics:

time series classification
spatio-temporal data analysis
satellite images and remote sensing
pattern mining
graphical models structure and parameters learning

What can you expect from me?

You usually get out of a PhD as much as you put in it. I am usually very selective with my PhD candidate, in order to make sure that I can give them the time that they require to complete their PhD and reach their objectives (either becoming an academic, a deep-learning specialist for the job market, etc.).

I like to think about the candidate and the supervisor as a team that works together so that the candidate can reach the level at which a PhD can be awarded. Not all types of supervisions are for everybody, so I encourage candidates to meet with as many supervisors as they can to get a feel about the supervisor's method.

How to apply?

Monash University’s Faculty of Information Technology has a clear set of information and instructions for candidate research students including requirements, the application process, etc. Follow the menu tabs on the left after you have finished looking at requirements. There is a pre-screening process to save everyone time too.

Still interested, what to do next?

So, if you've read all the way to here, and you have checked that you're elligible, then the next step is to email me with a copy of your transcript and CV. Write a brief introduction to tell me a bit about you and why you're thinking of doing a PhD with me.