Guide for prospective applicants

Thank you for your interest in joining our research group at the National University of Singapore. We look forward to working together on our research agenda, which brings together novel urban data streams, urban analytics, and geospatial data science. We welcome motivated and talented prospective researchers from diverse disciplines and countries, who share our goal of making cities smarter and more (geo)data-driven.

Overview: where to start

• PhD applicants: stay on this page. We accept PhD applicants twice a year (in line with the intakes in the doctoral programme at our school). This page covers requirements, the application process, contacting us, and frequently asked questions. Please note that we do not offer a masters by research, and do not accept self-funded PhD students.
• Jobs (e.g. research assistant, postdoc, and similar roles): first please check whether we have current openings. These positions depend on funded projects and are advertised when available; while this guide serves as useful background. We also accept prospective postdocs who would like to apply for an externally funded fellowship.
• Visiting scholars: stay on this page and please see the visiting scholars section for how to propose a stay, what we look for, and practical points (funding, timing, non-graduating student enrolment).

This page contains also answers to frequently asked questions.

What are the general requirements and what makes an application excel

The criteria below apply to all applicants, but what we expect under each of them depends on your career stage. For prospective PhD students, we look for potential and early evidence, not an established track record. For postdocs, we expect a record that is commensurate with their experience. In general, these are the criteria that enter into consideration and may help your application stand out:

• Perceived commitment and fit in our group, department, and university (e.g. evident from a tailored cover letter with an elaborated narrative that is in line with our current research agenda and shows familiarity with our recent work).
• Compatibility/match of the expertise of the candidate with the proposed activities and research developed in our group and complementarity. Unambiguous evidence (e.g. research experience, related project, relevant outputs) that you possess the necessary skills is a must.
• Focus on quality rather than quantity.
• Evidence of research aptitude and ownership of your work, relative to your career stage. For prospective PhD students, this could be a master’s thesis, a research project or internship, or a first-author paper (a publication is not required, but it is a strong plus). For postdocs, we look for momentum and novelty in research output and its impact (e.g. publications in leading international journals in the last few years) and a coherent research agenda.
• Visibility and proactivity in communicating and disseminating your work (e.g. a GitHub repository or a personal website with up-to-date information about your work). This becomes more important as you progress in your career, as we expect our scientists to be visible, take ownership of their work, and promote it internationally.
• Evidence of coding/computational level to support the research and an indication of open science practices (ideally, clearly visible from a well developed GitHub repository or open-source package, and reproducible workflows and having released open artefacts).
• Quality of the written English and materials provided, and communication skills.
• Community engagement and participation in local or international initiatives (e.g. workshops, talks, membership in working groups/societies).
• Indication of independence, motivation, and proactivity.

Why us

The National University of Singapore (NUS) is ranked consistently as one of the world’s top universities. It aspires to be a vital community of academics, researchers, staff, students and alumni working together in a spirit of innovation and enterprise for a better world.

Singapore is a cosmopolitan English-speaking city-state bridging the East and the West. It is considered as the #1 most competitive country and ranks 1st on perceived safety, successfully attracting talents from all parts of the globe by offering first-class living and working experience in the heart of Southeast Asia, a very clean and efficient environment, and unparalleled infrastructure. Residents also enjoy great food and weather. Overall, Singapore provides a fulfilling professional and personal experience in a liveable garden city that is rarely found in the English speaking world and in the tropics.

Researchers joining our group have an opportunity to work on research initiatives in the domains of the Lab as part of existing or upcoming projects, and will have a chance to produce high-impact research. At the same time, researchers have flexibility to explore their interests and establish their agenda and research identity. Our work spans the whole chain of urban informatics: from new ways of sensing cities to developing tools and applications in urban planning, mobility, energy and climate, with a growing focus on AI.

Our University, College and research group provide a motivating and flexible environment to explore your interests, build relevant skills, and develop research of international standing, as required for a PhD at a research-intensive university such as NUS, and to chart your long-term career path. Our collaborative setting allows you to align your project with existing ones and to draw on our network and activities to advance your research. Our Lab also offers many opportunities to connect and collaborate with early-career and renowned international researchers who regularly visit our group and department. In addition, PhD students are encouraged to go for visiting opportunities as well.

Our small and friendly Lab is located at SDE4, the first newly-built net-zero energy building in Singapore, and the first university building in the world to be WELL Certified Gold.

Our papers appear in leading journals, and our work is used across academia, government, and industry.

The Director of the Lab was awarded the NUS Presidential Young Professorship in 2020 and was granted tenure in 2026, which secures the long-term development of the research group.

Our department is consistently ranked among the best in the world. Our university is the first and only one in Asia to be ranked within top 10 universities globally (QS).

On a broader scale, Southeast Asia is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing regions in the world, and it offers excellent travel opportunities to have a nice break from research.

But above all, we are a friendly and supportive team of researchers that works on cool stuff together. 😊

Contacting us

You are welcome to contact us. However, before you drop us an email, please familiarise yourself with our work. We make an effort to maintain a comprehensive website with a variety of information (e.g. we have a blog and all our publications are freely available, together with a lot of open data and open-source code) to become acquainted with our work and research agenda, and decide whether it is aligned with your interests and aspirations. If you do so, we will be happy to answer your questions that are not covered by this guide. Please note that while we are grateful for interest, we do not respond to generic and AI-generated applications. At minimum, we expect prospective students to understand what we do, why we do it, and how we do it, e.g. read this page and more about us on our website (here and here) and check some of our papers.

PhD

We welcome PhD applicants continuously at all intakes at NUS. This section provides more information about the process.

Doctoral applicants should have a masters degree (or being close to completing one). We do not offer a masters by research, and do not accept self-funded PhD students.

On a related note, check out the list of doctoral candidates who have completed their PhD in our group.

What is a PhD and what are the expectations

A PhD is a great way to create a new scholar, an exceptional chance for self-development, and an opportunity to contribute to science. It is a rare chance to produce focused, integrated, comprehensive, and cohesive research and conceive a long-term research agenda and set of interests. Above all, it is your journey.

In our group, PhD students have a considerable degree of autonomy, freedom, and collaborative opportunities. Thanks to the PhD programme and collaboration with multiple seasoned researchers in our group and beyond, they also get support in various scientific tasks such as writing, scientific communication, and latest methods. Some of the expectations from PhD researchers during and at the end of their studies are to:

• Achieve independence and excellence in research.
• Become an expert in a specialised domain and attain a unique expertise not many others have.
• Be able to conduct independent research from start to end (from identifying gaps, conceptualisation and planning to execution and communication). In short, become a great scholar.
• Create new knowledge and introduce a significant scientific novelty and contribution accepted by the community and be known for it (primarily through impactful publications in leading outlets).
• Be proactive in publishing and communicating their research in reputable venues.
• Collaborate and contribute to the scientific community in various ways (i.e. other forms of output such as open data, open-source software, community engagements…).
• Attain a valuable set of skills, largely domain-agnostic, both hard (e.g. coding, statistics) and soft (e.g. written communication, presenting, project management) that can be applied to a variety of scientific challenges and in various environments, including beyond academia.

Have a look at this nice illustrated guide to a PhD.

To succeed, a PhD student ideally should:

• establish ownership of their work, have intellectual and scientific curiosity, be creative, and be excited and passionate about the topic and field;
• take initiative and be proactive about a variety of aspects related to the research (e.g. take the lead in identifying gaps, think of new ideas, and follow relevant conferences and journals);
• continuously develop transferable skills, be on top of the developments in the field and broader domains, and seek means to contribute and advance knowledge;
• regularly seek opportunities to promote and apply their research;
• revisit and adjust plans, and be open to feedback; and
• be collaborative and establish collaborations, including those beyond disciplinary lines.

Overall, from PhD applicants, we expect that they demonstrate that they are a match for the above and likely to succeed in the doctoral programme.

How to apply for a PhD

We accept new PhD students every academic year, at both intakes (every six months). Unless stated differently, funding (scholarships) usually comes from the University, and applications to the PhD programme (and scholarships) are submitted to our College of Design and Engineering, which manages the process. Successful applicants who get admitted and funded are then able to join us.

In the meantime, we are happy to provide some help and guidance to applicants if requested.

You will find all requirements on the website of the graduate school, such as English language test requirement, together with the application process and deadlines (there are two intakes each year). Also, the NUS website on graduate admissions is a good starting point to get more information about doing a PhD at our university and has information about scholarships. Further, you will also find myriads of websites that give plenty of tips how to polish your materials. And below are some further tips and requirements on our end.

The most important tip is to tailor your application and make it specific to our environment and research agenda. PhD applications are examined carefully by the Department and College. Applications that are generic, rely on boilerplate or AI-generated text, or do not show a clear motivation and an understanding of our work are not considered. Preparing a good application is itself a small research task: finding, digesting and connecting information are skills you will use throughout a PhD, and your application is a chance to show them.

Therefore, in your application, you need to be clear about your motivation to spend four years in a PhD programme: why do you want to do a PhD, why are you interested in research and in an academic environment, what makes you a strong candidate, what are your career goals, what are your research interests, what are your relevant skills and accomplishments so far, and why do you want to come specifically to Singapore, NUS and our department and group. Each of these points should be substantiated with some evidence or motivation.

Prospective candidates who did research on what we do and those that are able to demonstrate their aptitude for research and motivate their aspiration to join us in particular have a better chance getting admitted into the doctoral programme.

Most importantly, the application consists of the following items:

• Academic CV. In particular, do make sure that you highlight your computational and research skills in it, and any publications you may have. PhD applicants are not expected to have a rich publication record and scientific output, but a record of any prior research outputs and activities (code, papers, data, internships, thesis, etc. preferably with evidence such as developed GitHub repositories and materials on a personal website) will be valuable. Some of these are important in proving your technical skills, which are essential in our Lab and the College of Design and Engineering.
• A brief research proposal and statement of purpose (2-4 pp.) containing a summary of the topics that you find interesting, overview of your previous work, a short literature review that covers recent developments in your area of interest, and a possible direction for your PhD research. You should be able to briefly identify gaps in the literature and sketch how they could be approached. It is not a commitment: we do not expect you to have your thesis worked out before starting, and the actual topic will take shape during the first months of your PhD, together with your supervisor and based on your interests and early findings. Use this document as an opportunity to demonstrate your motivation and how you think as a researcher. Do remember to include a short literature review, and avoid making your proposal generic (e.g. forgetting to mention the fit for our group, university, and Singapore, as admission/scholarship committees usually turn down such applications). For example, mention why you want to do a PhD particularly here, how your expertise matches our group, and which of our research lines attract you most and why. If your proposal gives an impression that it can be submitted also to several other universities, your application will not stand out.
• Examples of writing samples (if you have not written a paper yet, you might want to submit a thesis or individual assignment; avoid group assignments as it is not easy to isolate and ascertain your contribution to it).
• A few words about which of our research lines or publications interest you most, and why. There is no need to propose how to extend a specific paper; we are more interested in your broader interests and how they relate to our work.
• A brief statement how you envision contributing to our research agenda and group. A PhD is a substantial commitment from both sides for a few years, thus, your fit is no less important than your research finesse.

All the points above should be concise, e.g. a few paragraphs for each aforementioned aspect, so it shouldn’t take much time and effort to stand out. You will find that preparing such documentation is quite beneficial as it will also help you to explore and refine your thoughts and interests.

Finally, we advise to make sure that you write your application in clear and concise English, and that you send your materials in PDF. English is the lingua franca of Singapore, NUS, and academia worldwide, thus, fluency is a must.

We thank you for your interest and time.

Deadlines, supervision, and more information

The application deadlines are usually at the end of the year (or early January) for the intake in August next year, and in late July / early August for the start in January next year. Please start preparing early, and indicate in your application that you would like to be supervised by Prof Filip Biljecki, the PI and PhD supervisor of the group.

You may also want to read the graduate studies website of the Department of Architecture and its FAQ.

When specific funded positions are advertised (see vacancies), apply to those calls and follow their instructions, which take precedence over the general guidance here. Outside advertised calls, we welcome applications at both intakes.

After applying

Applications are handled by the administration and the graduate admission committee, so we are not able to keep you updated on the status of your application. However, please rest assured that your application is carefully evaluated and that you will hear back from the university in time.

In the meantime, you are welcome to get in touch with us about other matters.

Funding and scholarships

Funding is a very important aspect of doing a PhD and a common obstacle, and it should be considered as early as possible. While the current reality of academia is that obtaining long-term and full scholarships for a PhD is unfortunately often difficult and highly competitive, securing funding is not impossible. Many of our graduate students and others at our department have been successful in obtaining it, primarily from NUS (i.e. research scholarships).

An admission to the PhD programme does not imply a scholarship. Some scholarships are awarded at the admission stage by NUS, while others may be applied to after the admission. It might also be possible to do a PhD with a scholarship you obtain externally, as long as it covers the tuition fee and living costs in Singapore, and it lasts for at least four years.

Please note that we do not accept self-funded PhD students. All PhD researchers must have funding.

There are scholarship opportunities at NUS to partially or fully fund your PhD, and there are external funding options as well you might want to explore on your own. Do also check the comprehensive list that we prepared for candidates seeking external funding. For example, if applicable to you, check out the The Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future for a potential scholarship opportunity. There are further opportunities that are not listed on the links above and may be available depending on your particulars such as nationality and residence.

Please note that most external scholarships require a candidate to be admitted to a PhD programme before applying for funding (e.g. providing the letter of acceptance from the university). Thus, we recommend starting as soon as possible. On the other hand, some programmes do not require an admission, rather a letter of interest from a PI or a research group. If there is a match, we’ll be happy to endorse your application.

Good luck!

Visiting scholars (up to 12 months)

We have hosted dozens of visiting PhD researchers from universities across Asia, Europe, and North America, as well as visiting postdocs (e.g. awardees of postdoc fellowships), typically for six to twelve months. These stays have been productive for both the visitors and our group, and many have led to joint publications and lasting collaborations. Examples of papers led by visiting researchers include work on urban soundscapes from street view imagery, graph neural networks for urban functions, and perception of riverscapes from oblique imagery.

During their stay, visitors are full members of our group: they work with us on campus, take part in our lab meetings and seminars, and collaborate closely with one or more members of the group. Visitors present their previous work and plans at a lab seminar within the first month of their stay, and, for longer visits, the results towards the end. We expect visitors to dedicate at least 70–80% of their time here to the main project of their stay, which ideally starts after their arrival and is completed before they leave, typically resulting in a joint paper.

A visit should benefit both sides, so fit with our group matters most. Before getting in touch, please look at our website, recent blog posts and papers, and think about where your work overlaps with or complements ours. We prioritise visitors whose research is closely aligned with our agenda, who will integrate actively in the group, and who propose something they would not normally do at their home university. For visiting PhD students, the work done here should also contribute directly to their PhD at their home university. The general criteria are listed above.

To propose a visit, contact us by the deadlines above with:

• a brief research proposal (up to one page) that fits our agenda, with a timeline of what you plan to do during the stay;
• your CV;
• the intended period of the stay (we prefer stays of six months or longer, which are more likely to lead to a meaningful collaboration);
• how the visit will be funded, or which funding scheme you plan to apply for.

The proposal does not need to be detailed: apart from a general direction and scope, the exact topic usually takes shape through discussions with us during the first few weeks of the visit. It should nevertheless be carefully prepared and specific to our group, showing that you know our work and have thought about how your research fits with it; generic or hastily written proposals are not considered.

How the process works.

1. You contact us by one of the deadlines above, with the materials listed.
2. We review all requests received by the deadline together and may arrange a short online conversation with shortlisted candidates.
3. If there is a match, we provide a letter of endorsement or invitation, e.g. for a scholarship application.
4. Visiting students then apply to NUS as non-graduating students at least three months before the start date (see below).

As a result, visits usually start seven to twelve months after the first contact. On occasion, we may be able to consider a visit at shorter notice, but never less than three to four months before the start, which is the minimum needed for the NUS enrolment process.

Funding and accommodation. NUS does not offer funding or accommodation for visiting scholars. Most of our visitors have been supported by their home universities, research projects, government schemes such as the CSC, or other funding streams.

Enrolment of visiting students. Visiting PhD students are enrolled at NUS as non-graduating students, which also arranges their residence permit for longer stays. After we have agreed on the visit and endorsed it, the application must be submitted at least three months before the intended start date. There is no tuition fee, but non-graduating students pay research and miscellaneous fees each semester, which cover some healthcare services, visa processing (handled by the University on your behalf), and access to facilities such as the library. The application is made by the visiting student directly to the University; it is a separate process from our endorsement.

Research assistants and research fellows (postdocs)

Much of the information on this website may be found of interest as well to those seeking a full-time job (RA, postdocs), but these depend on funded projects (they are on project basis). When we have openings, we post them on our website with vacancies, thus, you may want to keep an eye on the website occasionally or follow our social media accounts where we advertise them when they happen. For job opportunities at our university, at other research groups, you may want to check the NUS Careers website.

Postdoctoral research fellows are expected to be independent, and have a demonstrated record of research excellence and a momentum in publishing (i.e. first-author papers in leading venues). In a postdoc job with us, they will spearhead new research initiatives, manage and/or contribute to funding applications, and provide guidance to junior members. Our Lab cultivates an environment that accords a degree of freedom in exploring own research ideas, and fosters careers of postdocs in several ways such as involvements in multiple projects and taking part in strategy development, paving the way for a potential faculty position.

FAQ