Applications accepted all year round
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
Supervisor: Dr Zhiwu Huang
How can AI create images that express emotion as naturally and flexibly as people do? This PhD will develop next-generation generative AI that enables continuous, reliable control of emotional expression in images. Building on our NeurIPS research, it combines creative AI, computer vision, and human-centred evaluation for broad real-world impact.
Generative AI can produce remarkable images, yet it offers little reliable control over their emotional meaning. Current systems can follow prompts such as “happy” or “sad”, but cannot smoothly and consistently adjust emotion while preserving identity, image quality, and artistic style. This PhD will address this challenge by developing methods for continuous affective control in image-generation and editing models.
Building on our NeurIPS 2026 paper, Barycentric Guidance: Turning Foundation Image Editors into Continuous Affective Controllers, the project will investigate richer emotional representations and context-aware controls for people, animals, illustrations, artworks, and potentially video. The student will develop training-free and learning-based methods with diffusion and foundation models, evaluating them through computational measures and human-centred studies.
The outcome will be generative AI that enables creators and users to shape emotional expression with greater precision, safety, and transparency. This matters for creative media, digital wellbeing, education, entertainment, and more natural human–AI interaction. The project sits within the Vision, Learning and Control (VLC) research group at the University of Southampton, offering an interdisciplinary environment and expertise in machine learning, computer vision, affective computing, and responsible AI.
You will gain advanced skills in Python, deep learning, generative AI, experimental design, user studies, and open-source research.
Entry requirements
A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in one of the following:
- computer science
- engineering
- mathematics
- or a related discipline
Fees and funding
We offer a range of funding opportunities for both UK and international students. Horizon Europe fee waivers automatically cover the difference between overseas and UK fees for qualifying students.
Competition-based Presidential Bursaries from the University cover the difference between overseas and UK fees for top-ranked applicants.
Competition-based studentships offered by our schools typically cover UK-level tuition fees and a stipend for living costs for top-ranked applicants.
Funding will be awarded on a rolling basis, so apply early for the best opportunity to be considered.
For more information, please visit our postgraduate research funding pages.
How to apply
You need to:
- choose programme type (Research), 2027/28, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
- select Full time or Part time
- search for programme PhD Electronic & Electrical Engineering (7092)
- add name of the supervisor in section 2 of the application
Applications should include:
- research proposal
- your CV (resumé)
- 2 academic references
- degree transcripts and certificates to date
- English language qualification (if applicable)
Contact us
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
For questions about applying, doctoralcollege-admissions@soton.ac.uk.
Project leader
For an initial conversation, Zhiwu.Huang@soton.ac.uk.
The School of Electronics and Computer Science is committed to promoting equality, diversity inclusivity as demonstrated by our Athena SWAN award. We welcome all applicants regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or age, and will give full consideration to applicants seeking flexible working patterns and those who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy, onsite childcare facilities, and offers a range of benefits to help ensure employees’ well-being and work-life balance. The University of Southampton is committed to sustainability and has been awarded the Platinum EcoAward.