An international student at Liverpool Hope University is celebrating success in a prestigious competition recognising the best PhD’s in the field of robotics.
Dr Alexander Abad, who studied Computer Science and Informatics, finished second in the Queen Mary UK Best PhD in Robotics Award.
He was recognised for his thesis, titled: Fine-grained Haptics: Sensing and Actuating Haptic Primary Colours (force, vibration, and temperature), which looked into the development of a novel sensor that could be used in telemedicine and telerobotics.
Sponsored by the Centre for Advanced Robotics at Queen Mary, the UK Best PhD in Robotics Award is open to students who attend a robotics PhD programme at a UK University and sees their work reviewed by a panel of international experts.
Dr Abad presented his research on Thursday 14 September at the 2023 TAROS Conference, which is the longest running UK-hosted international conference on robotics and autonomous systems.
The 43-year-old is the first Filipino student to finish in the top three in the competition’s history.
His PhD was supervised by Dr Anuradha Ranasinghe from the School of Maths, Computer Science and Engineering and was supported by De La Salle University in Manilla, where he now works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering.
Reflecting on his success, Dr Abad said: “It is a great honour to finish second in the prestigious Queen Mary UK Best PhD in Robotics Award.
“I am very grateful to my PhD Supervisor, Dr. Anuradha Ranasinghe, and Director of Studies, Professor David Reid as well as the support from the Department of Science and Technology - Engineering Research and Development for Technology (DOST-ERDT) Foreign PhD scholarship, and Mme. Maillefer Study Program of De La Salle University – Manila."
Find out more about our postgraduate research opportunities.
Find out more about being an international student at Liverpool Hope.