PhD Research Fellows in Evolutionary Automated Security Testing

Kristiania University College

Kristiania University College (founded 1914) is an educational foundation with campuses in Oslo and Bergen, and online. We are an accredited college with 10,000 students, 600 employees, and currently four academic schools offering more than 100 programmes with studies in leadership, organisation, technology, marketing, communication, health and creative arts. We have had a formidable growth in recent years, and we will continue to expand. Our ambition is to become Norway’s first private independent university.

Kristiania University College is offering two (2) fully funded ph.d. fellowships in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to Software Engineering (SE).

The successful candidates will work in the Artificial Intelligence in Software Engineering (AISE) Lab, under the supervision of Prof. Andrea Arcuri.

Project Description:

The positions are funded by the European Research Council (ERC), via the ERC Consolidator Grant named: "Using Evolutionary Algorithms to Understand and Secure Web/Enterprise Systems" (EAST). The primary objective of the EAST project is to provide novel automated solutions to solve the oracle problem in software security. We will achieve this goal by combining ideas and technologies from the different fields of software testing, evolutionary computation and information security. We will design novel techniques based on Artificial Intelligence to automatically detect several kinds of security vulnerabilities for which there is no existing automated solution.

The positions requires candidates with a passion for software development. All software developed in the project will be released as open-source, and developed under modern industry-standard processes. The results of the project are meant to be used in practice (e.g., among the industrial partners of the project), and not be just throw-away prototypes or proof-of-concepts. Look at "https://github.com/EMResearch/EvoMaster" to have an idea of the systems that will be developed and extended in the EAST project.

The candidates need to have:

• Strong coding skills
• Motivation to work as part of an effective international and multidisciplinary team
• Independence and self-motivation
• Good communication skills

Conditions:

• This positions requires a Master’s degree (or equivalent training) in either Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Information Security or Computer Science.
• Currently Kristiania University College does not offer a ph.d.-programme. Consequently, the selected candidate must be admitted to the ph.d.-programme of a collaborating university, which is OsloMet in this case. Confirmed admission to the ph.d. programme must be available at the latest six months after signing the employment contract.
• To be accepted for these programs, it is required with a relevant 180 ECTS bachelor’s degree, and a relevant 120 ECTS master’s degree (or integrated bachelor and master) with minimum 30 ECTS master thesis, and with grade similar to the Norwegian/European grade B or higher in average for the master thesis. The candidate must have documented proficiency in written and oral English. Knowledge of Norwegian is NOT required.

The application must hold:

• Motivation letter for the position
• Approved diplomas and transcripts (in Scandinavian or English language) of the grades in all the courses of their Bachelor and Masters degrees.
• CV
• At least two references
• Master thesis
• A list of publications and academic work (if applicable)
• A list of developed/contributed open-source projects (if applicable)

We offer:

• The ph.d. research fellowship period is 3 years
• Working place is Department of Technology, Kristiania University College
• The School is located in downtown Oslo, with numerous amenities, recreational spaces, and urban fun right next door

Salary is estimated to be between NOK 450 000 and NOK 525 000 NOK a year.Kristiania University College welcomes and encourages applications from diverse backgrounds. Women and persons with minority background are particularly encouraged to apply.

Application deadline: 1st of November 2020

Start date: Preferably 1st of October, and no later than 1st of December 2020.

Applications will be screened continuously until the positions have been filled.

Note that applications should be submitted through the online submission system via the URLs mentioned.

Kontaktpersoner:

• Andrea Arcuri (Professor), andrea.arcuri@kristiania.no

Apply for position