Ledig stilling ved Høgskulen på Vestlandet
PhD research fellow in Computer Science: Formal Modelling of Concurrent Planning
Deadline: 10.05.2019
The Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, has a vacancy for a Research Fellow (PhD position) in Formal Modelling of Concurrent Planning for a period of 4 years.
The PhD research fellow will be part of the PhD programme in Computer Science: Software Engineering, Sensor Networks and Engineering Computing (http://ict.hvl.no). The research programme in Computer Science currently includes 20 professors and associate professors, 25 PhD and post-doctoral research fellows, and a large number of master’s students.
About the PhD project
Planning in general involves activities like task organisation and resource allocation. Often, domain experts estimate the time consumption with respect to the availability and capacity of resources for each task, which makes today’s planning practice still a rather manual activity. In domains like healthcare services and capital-intensive industry (e.g., in the oil & gas domain), optimal planning is particularly important to handle operational risks and coordinate all actors on a facility, such as surgery, drilling, etc. The complexity of coordinating operational processes and resources has significance for financial impact and safety. Finding an optimal planning decision for concurrently executing plans is particularly challenging: these plans are commonly connected to each other in terms of shared resources, where one minor change or delay in one plan may consequently result in successive modifications in all other connected co-existing plans. Errors in planning decisions in these domains can entail not only substantial financial loss, but also fatalities.
The main goal of this PhD project will be to develop an innovative model-driven approach for decision support to coordinate concurrent plans. The project will investigate how to leverage techniques from formal methods for concurrent systems and programming language theory to facilitate planning decisions by means of formalisation, static and dynamic scheduling and resource allocation, as well as model revisioning. The research focus of this project will be to explore how concurrent planning can be expressed in terms of formal, executable models featuring resource capacity and quantity for estimating execution, and to investigate how to facilitate the automation of resource allocation and scheduling for multiple concurrently existing plans. The relevance of the research results will be evaluated by prototyping an experimental proof of concept where the prospective PhD candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with Haukeland University Hospital.
Research environment
The computer science research environment at HVL, Campus Bergen has a strong focus on use-inspired and applied research, and on ICT as an enabling technology. The research environment has cooperation with many national and international research groups, and with national and regional industry partners. The programme includes the research themes of software engineering, engineering computing, sensor networks, and grid computing.
The present PhD research fellow position is associated with the software engineering research group (https://ict.hvl.no/research/software-engineering/) which has a strong track record in model-based software development and undertakes research on applications in areas such as health-care, cloud technology and internet-of-things, industrial automation, and robotics. PhD research fellows receive an annual work expense funding which can be used for conference participation, research visits, and equipment.
Qualifications:
The PhD research fellow must have master's degree in computer science or in a closely related field, or have submitted the master's thesis before the application deadline. In the latter case, it is required that the master's degree must be awarded within 4 weeks after the applications deadline.
A solid background in programming language semantics, concurrency theory or program analyses will be considered an advantage when applications are ranked.
In addition to the required educational background, the following criteria will be evaluated:
- competence and grades on completed course work
- quality of the master's thesis (excellent grade, equivalent of grade B or better on the ECTS grading system)
- publications (if any)
- research and teaching experience
- practical software engineering skills and experience
A possible outline of a research plan for a potential PhD project will also be taken into account.
The candidate must be diligent and display the ability to work independently, supplemented with regular guidance, and is expected to carry out high-quality research and to publish the results in international workshops, conferences, and journals.
The PhD research fellow must enrol in the PhD programme in Computer Science: Software Engineering, Sensor Networks and Engineering Computing at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, and must meet the formal admission requirements for admission into the PhD programme.
25% of the 4-year period will be designated to duties such as teaching, development and administrative tasks. The employment period may be reduced if the successful applicant has held previous employment as a research fellow.
The PhD candidate will be assigned two academic supervisor(s) at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. An application for enrolment should first be submitted after an appointment is made and the supervisor(s) will help with this procedure. The candidate must be enrolled as a PhD student within 3 months from the start of the employment.
Application procedure:
Applications will be evaluated by an expert panel of three members.
To apply for this position, please use the link “Apply for this job” (“Søk stillingen”).
The applications will be assessed by the information entered in www.jobbnorge.no at the application deadline. The applicants are responsible for ensuring that all the documentation is submitted before the closing date, including the scientific work (up to 15 pieces), complete publication list, certificates and diplomas. If the diplomas, transcripts or other documentation are not in a scandinavian language or English, the applicant must upload the certified transactions himself. The transcripts must specify the topics, the course works, and the grades at the bachelor`s and master`s degree levels. If the attachments exceed 15 MB, they must be compressed before uploading or attaching as a link.
The following documentation should be uploaded as an attachment to the online application:
- Master thesis
- Copies of selected academic publications (no more than 15)
- A CV with a complete list of academic publications
- Diplomas and certificates
Applicants should indicate which publications or parts of publications should be given special consideration in the evaluation.
The applications will be sent electronically to the expert committee. Based on the committee's recommendation, qualified applicants will be invited to an interview and an trial lecture. Applications cannot be sent by e-mail or to individuals at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.
We offer:
- Good occupational pension, insurance and loan schemes from The Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
- Exciting academic environment with the possibility of competence enhancement and development
- Opportunities for training within the working hours
Initial salaries will be offered at grade 51 (nok 449.400) (code 1017) in the Civil Service pay grade table scale.
There is a compulsory 2 % deduction to the pension fund (see http://www.spk.no/en for more information). The successful pplicant must comply with the guidelines that apply to the position at any time.
General information:
The appointment will be made in accordance with the regulations for State employees Law in Norway ("Lov om statens ansatte)". Organizational changes and changes in the duties and responsibilities associated with the position must be expected.
State employment shall reflect the multiplicity of the population at large to the highest possible degree. Western Norway University of Applied Sciences Bergen has therefore adopted a personnel policy objective to ensure that we achieve a balanced age and gender composition and the recruitment of persons of various ethnic backgrounds.
Information about the applicant may be made public even though the applicant has requested not to be named in the list of applicants. The applicant will be notified if his/her request is not respected. Applicants may be called in for an interview.
Homepage
Contacts:
- Associate Professor Violet Ka I Pun, phone: +47 55 58 70 84 e-mail: Violet.Ka.I.Pun@hvl.no
- Professor Yngve Lamo, phone: +47 55 58 75 67 e-mail: Yngve.Lamo@hvl.no
- Professor Håvard Helstrup, Coordinator of PhD Program on Computer Science, phone: (+47) 55 58 75 61, e-mail: havard.Helstrup@hvl.no