Education & Working With Us

Optimisation is a set of methods, languages, and tools for solving optimisation problems. Such problems arise in many application domains, such as scheduling, planning, configuration, control, design, biology, finance, transport, logistics, and so on. Many companies are successfully deploying optimisation technologies, making knowledge thereof a useful asset on the job market.

Courses

We teach the following courses:

• Modelling for Combinatorial Optimisation (5 credits, course 1DL451), taught in period 1 (late August to late October) every autumn, since 2015; also open to PhD students. (slides)

• Combinatorial Optimisation and Constraint Programming (10 credits, course 1DL442), taught in periods 1 and 2 (late August to mid January) every autumn, since 2003; also open to PhD students. (slides)

• (Continuous) Optimisation (5 credits, course 1TD184), taught in period 2 (late October to mid January) every autumn.

Course 1DL451 is an overview on combinatorial optimisation, where you will learn to use problem solvers of five technologies, without knowing in detail how they work. Course 1DL442 has 1DL451 as the first half and is an algorithms course in the second half, where you will also learn the details behind solvers of one technology, namely constraint programming (CP). In both courses, the input to the solvers will be a model describing the what (but not the how) of a combinatorial optimisation problem, and optionally some high-level hints on how to solve it.

The course in optimisation (1TD184) addresses optimisation with continuous variables. The course consists in basic theories, optimality conditions, and methods for unconstrained optimisation, constrained nonlinear optimisation, and linear programming. This course can be taken independently of the first two courses.

PhD and Postdoc

We have postdoc / PhD funding available from time to time, though unfortunately not right now, and there is no department-wide PhD programme to apply for at a particular time of the year, so there is no point in applying for a position at the moment: if we have an open position, then it is announced worldwide and leads to a salaried employment with all benefits.

If you have an enquiry or an exceptionally well-motivated exception (that is compliant with the admission regulations of our faculty for PhD-scholarship/stipend holders and potential industry-based PhD students), then contact us. Include a CV, education transcripts (unofficial scans are initially acceptable), and a statement of purpose, explaining how your interests and qualifications relate to our work. Do not include any actual reference letters, but rather contact information to at least three referees: we will contact them if need be. Electronic attachments must be in PDF or JPG format. Applications that do not comply with these instructions will not be answered. All research here is supervised in English, and all correspondence and publications must be written in English.

Master (MSc) or Bachelor (BSc) Thesis

We continuously generate interesting problems. If you are keen on pursuing a research and/or development task for an MSc or BSc thesis, then contact us. Applicants must normally have spent at least a semester at Uppsala University and have passed a course on Constraint Programming (such as our 1DL442) and/or a course on constraint-based modelling for combinatorial optimisation (such as our 1DL451) and/or a course on optimisation (such as our 1TD184). Informal applications can be made in person. Written applications must include a CV, education transcripts (informal ones are initially acceptable), and a statement of purpose, which explains how your interests and qualifications relate to our work. Electronic attachments must be in PDF or JPG format. Written applications that do not comply with these instructions will not be answered. Salaries or expenses are not paid (as is often the custom in Sweden for MSc / BSc internships at university research), so you must have your own funding. Fortunately, we offer a stimulating environment and exciting topics: note that three recent theses supervised by us received awards! All work is supervised in English.

Resources for those working with us: Your thesis (even its drafts) must be written in Oxford English, as required in the UU English Style Guide (which you should read), prepared using LaTeX, and compliant with our Check List and Style Manual. Consider using our style file astra.sty, explained in astra.pdf. Read the formal requirements for MSc and BSc theses, some advice on English for Swedes, some guidelines for writing a thesis, and a list of Common Errors in English Usage.

Internships

We no longer take interns.