PhD covering letter

Hello,

I am writing to apply for a PhD at the same university as I am currently studying. There is only one space available and I would very much appreciate some help on selling myself. My technical skills are better than my writing skills

Dear Sir or Madam;

I am writing to express my interest in applying for the PhD program in Interactive Visualisation for the Discovery of Cyber Security Threats.

I am currently in my final year of studying Computer Science BSc at XXX. My degree involves a large amount of technical content, which provides good preparation for the PhD.

The prospect of researching previously unexplored areas of science is an exciting one, and is the main driver for me to further my studies to PhD level. My immediate career objective is to expand the boundaries of human knowledge. In the future I hope to hold a technical role in a mid to large sized company.

I have a strong background in software engineering, with technical knowledge built over a number of years. I started over ten years ago by learning HTML for a school project, then expanding the project to incorporate a MySQL database backend and dynamically generated PHP pages.

I possess some relevant experience in graphics. At university I studied 3D Computer Graphics using the Java bindings for OpenGL, building a program that generates a 3D scene with a train moving around a track surrounded by trees and grass. I have also used several 2D graphics frameworks for various game development projects I have been involved in. I have an intermediate level of Adobe Photoshop knowledge due to website and games development.

I am currently studying a module called Advanced Challenges in Web Technologies, which addresses security concerns while designing and programming software for the World Wide Web. Included are common hacking techniques such as cross-site scripting and SQL injection; the purpose of the module is to teach where vulnerabilities of web applications lie, how they can be exploited and how to protect against them.

In the last two years I have expanded my technical knowledge to include the use of C based languages, (C, C++ and Objective-C). I have used this knowledge in my studies, using C++ for a module entitled Parallel Architectures and Objective-C to make a networked game as part of my final year project.

Collaborating with an artist in an entrepreneurial venture, I published a game for Apple mobile devices. I programmed the game whilst studying for my second year at university. Strict time management was the key to the success of both the game and also my studies, and I believe that it will also be the key to a successful PhD research project.

I spent a year working full time for a company specialising in the development of web and mobile software systems. During this year I learned to communicate and work with non-technical project managers and clients, and my technical team members. I learned how to put into practice the software development lifecycle that I had studied at university.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my application and I look forward to your response. I can confirm that I hold a British passport and I am able to live and work in the UK.

Yours sincerely,

XXX