About the Doctoral School of Automatic Control and Computers

The Doctoral School of Automatic Control and Computers (SD-AC), part of IOSUD POLITEHNICA Bucharest, organizes and coordinates doctoral studies in the fields of Computers and Information Technology and Systems Engineering.
2012
year of establishment
2
doctoral fields

Institutional framework

The Doctoral School of Automatic Control and Computers (SD-AC), part of IOSUD POLITEHNICA Bucharest, was established in 2012, in accordance with the 2012 Regulation on the organization of Doctoral Schools at the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (UPB). The establishment of SD-AC was proposed by the UPB Senate, endorsed by the Executive Bureau of the UPB Senate, and approved by the Council for Doctoral Studies (CSUD) of UPB in 2012. SD-AC currently manages two doctoral fields: Systems Engineering (IS) and Computers and Information Technology (CTI), corresponding to Commission 15 CNATDCU. SD-AC operates in accordance with the legislation in force, the provisions of the Code of Doctoral Studies, the Regulation on the organization and conduct of doctoral studies approved by the UPB Senate, and SD-AC’s own Regulation.

Doctoral fields

SD-AC includes doctoral supervisors, who have obtained (or had recognized) the habilitation required to supervise doctoral studies in the following fields:

  • Computers and Information Technology (CTI)
  • Systems Engineering (IS)

Governance and structure

The governance of SD-AC is ensured by the Doctoral School Council, which includes 5 doctoral supervisors (2 supervisors from the IS field, 2 supervisors from the CTI field, and one associate member), 4 honorary members, and 2 doctoral students. The SD-AC Council may be supported by internal quality monitoring and evaluation committees, appointed on a permanent or occasional basis, as follows: the SD-AC Quality Evaluation and Monitoring Committee, the SD-AC Cross-Audit Committee at IOSUD level, the Academic Ethics and Integrity Committee, the Committee for the Recognition and Equivalence of Doctoral and Habilitation Titles, and other committees as required.

Research mission

The research mission of SD-AC is aligned with POLITEHNICA Bucharest’s mission regarding education through scientific research, as well as research, development, and innovation, and with national and international priorities for scientific research in the fields in which it organizes doctoral studies — CTI and IS:

  • Increasing scientific performance in the IS and CTI doctoral study programs;
  • Developing interdisciplinary collaborations among the scientific research groups within SD-AC;
  • Developing the SD-AC research infrastructure as a prerequisite for producing doctoral theses with international impact;
  • Promoting SD-AC doctoral studies at various international events and attracting as many doctoral students as possible, while supporting the recruitment of international doctoral students;
  • Attracting a significant number of national and international projects dedicated to doctoral and postdoctoral research in the IS and CTI fields.

Research directions and technologies

The doctoral research topics proposed and supervised by the doctoral supervisors are current and similar to those presently addressed by leading universities and research centers worldwide, with which SD-AC members have collaborations and open new perspectives for knowledge and innovation in information technologies, high-performance computing, and intelligent automatic control that anticipate the economy of the future through: cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), distributed-intelligence control systems, formal models, modeling, simulation and optimization, cognitive computing, Cloud, Edge and Fog Computing systems and services (Computing Continuum), mobile systems, service-oriented architectures, Big Data analytics, High-Performance Computing (HPC) techniques, optimization of activity planning and resource and service allocation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) with engineering applications, advanced data processing (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Large Language Models (LLMs), smart grids, information systems for services, cognitive robotics and holonic systems, virtual reality (VR), cybersecurity, blockchain models and technologies, quantum communications and quantum computing (QC), classical and post-quantum cryptography, various applications (e-Health, e-Learning, e-Government, e-Mobility), smart cities, and smart environments.

The doctoral scientific research activity carried out within SD-AC focuses on:

  • Identifying and developing new, high-impact directions in fundamental and applied scientific research in the IS and CTI fields, including interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary areas, where the human and material resources required to reach a critical mass exist as a prerequisite for excellence;
  • Developing the applied component of scientific research and enabling technology transfer for the results obtained, including through closer collaboration with companies relevant to the IS and CTI fields;
  • Strengthening collaboration with scientific research centers within POLITEHNICA Bucharest and with the Advanced Research Center PRECIS of the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers, including through partnerships with other research institutes, universities, or companies, as an essential factor in improving scientific results;
  • Identifying new research directions and addressing frontier research topics;
  • Successfully participating, through teams of doctoral supervisors and doctoral students, in competitions for funding scientific projects from national or European sources, in partnership with specialized universities in Romania and abroad;
  • Participating in major ongoing national research projects or projects conducted by prestigious organizations in the field;
  • Strengthening activities and improving the quality level of the POLITEHNICA Bucharest Scientific Bulletin and the scientific journals with which A&C collaborates (SIC, CEAI, RRIA, Romanian Academy Journals, among others) through its own academic staff;
  • Supporting and developing scientific communication sessions for doctoral students and conferences organized within the university, as well as encouraging the participation of academic staff and students in national and international scientific conferences in order to increase the visibility of SD-AC academic research results.

The scientific topics specific to the field of Computers and Information Technology are grouped into the following categories:

  • Fundamental Artificial Intelligence and machine learning (machine learning and Advanced AI);
  • Large Language Models (LLMs), NLP, and semantics;
  • Cloud Computing, High-Performance Computing (HPC), and software engineering;
  • Cybersecurity, cryptography, and quantum technologies;
  • Medical systems, assistive technologies, and human-computer interaction (HCI);
  • Web systems, data management, blockchain, and Smart Cities;
  • Game development (game design), virtual reality, and immersive environments;
  • Validation and research methodologies.

The scientific topics specific to the field of Systems Engineering are grouped into the following categories:

  • Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, and Big Data;
  • Advanced automatic control, process control, and systems theory;
  • Industry 4.0, robotics, and predictive maintenance;
  • Multi-agent and autonomous systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV);
  • Cybersecurity, cryptography, and information protection;
  • Medical informatics, e-Health, and applied computer vision;
  • Cloud systems, Smart Cities, and energy processes;
  • Precision agriculture.

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