Research on Large Time-Series Models and Intelligent Agents for Renewable Energy Systems

About the Project

The energy sector faces challenges from the growing adoption of renewable energy, necessitating innovative solutions to optimize efficiency and service quality. Large-scale models (LMs) provide a novel approach to energy management by enabling data integration from various sources and creating comprehensive knowledge bases, facilitating the development of intelligent energy-saving and maintenance strategies. The research focuses on 1) developing incremental pre-training and few-shot adaptation techniques to enhance model adaptability; 2) creating multimodal time series models to bridge the semantic gap between time series and textual data; 3) investigating an adaptive multimodal temporal fusion framework to unify diverse datasources and capture complex system dynamics; 4) designing LM-based intelligent agents to broaden LM applications in industrial energy conservation. This research holds significant potential for advancing theory and practical applications in renewable energy.

Supervisors:

• Principal supervisor: Professor/Dr Jieming Ma (XJTLU)
• Co-supervisor: Professor/Dr Dawei Liu (XJTLU)
• Co-supervisor: Professor/Dr Lin Jiang (UoL)

Requirements:

A Master's degree with Merit and a Bachelor's degree with first-class or upper second-class honors are required for PhD admissions. Exceptional candidates holding only a Bachelor's degree may be considered on an individual basis in certain disciplines.

Evidence of good spoken and written English is essential. The candidate should have an IELTS (or equivalent) score of 6.5 or above, if the first language is not English. This position is open to all qualified candidates irrespective of nationality.

Degree:

The student will be awarded a PhD degree from the University of Liverpool (UK) upon successful completion of the program.

Funding:

The PhD studentship is available for three years subject to satisfactory progress by the student. The award covers tuition fees for three years (currently equivalent to RMB 99,000 per annum). It also provides up to RMB 16,500 to allow participation at international conferences during the period of the award. The scholarship holders are expected to conduct the majority of their research at XJTLU in Suzhou, China. However, they may apply for a short-term research visit to the University of Liverpool if the project requires it.

How to Apply:

Interested applicants are advised to email Jieming.Ma@xjtlu.edu.cn the following documents for initial review and assessment (please put the project title in the subject line).

• CV
• Two formal reference letters
• Personal statement outlining your interest in the position
• Certificates of English language qualifications (IELTS or equivalent)
• Full academic transcripts in both Chinese and English (for international students, only the English version is required)
• Verified certificates of education qualifications in both Chinese and English (for international students, only the English version is required)
• PDF copy of Master Degree dissertation (or an equivalent writing sample) and examiners reports available