Call for PhD student in Secure, Cloud-based, Personalized Cardiac Electrophysiology Simulator for Arrhythmia Diagnosis and Treatment Planning

Simula: solving problems, making a difference.

“We hire the best people, those who are personally driven to push boundaries and innovate - and then we give them the tools, space and freedom to do just that.”

Simula Research Laboratory AS

Simula Research Laboratory AS is a publicly owned research lab located at Fornebu, just outside of Oslo, Norway. Simula conducts Information and Communication Technology (ICT) research in the fields of scientific computing, software engineering, communication systems, machine learning and cybersecurity.

Simula's main objective is to create knowledge about fundamental scientific challenges that are of genuine value for society. This is achieved through high-quality research, education of graduate students, industry collaboration, technology transfer, and commercialization. Since 2001, scientific evaluations conducted by the Research Council of Norway has repeatedly placed Simula at the forefront of international research in ICT. The most recent in-depth evaluation was published in 2017, grading the full range of research at Simula as “excellent”.

Simula appreciates diversity. We currently employ approximately 155 individuals from 35 countries and strive to create a family-friendly working environment. We are an equal opportunity employer and encourages women to apply.

Simula has a close collaboration with leading universities in Norway and abroad, both in terms of research and education, and facilitates extended research stays abroad. Our Master's and PhD students conduct their research at Simula, and attend courses and receive their degrees from university partners.

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Simula’s mission is to solve important and fundamental problems of science and engineering, with the main goal of benefiting and advancing society. We do this by concentrating on five select research areas in ICT and performing excellent research, by developing our people, and by spinning out applicable results into profitable startups.

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Project/Job description

In the department of Computational Physiology, we are now seeking a PhD candidate to work in a project funded by the Ministry of Education to improve ICT security. It is a three-year full-time position.

Personalized computational cardiac modeling is poised to revolutionize the clinical paradigm of care for patients with heart disorders. Retrospective and small prospective studies have shown that patient-specific simulations can be used as a safe and effective pre-procedural tool to stratify patient risk to deadly arrhythmias as well as optimize and significantly shorten invasive procedures. However, significant hurdles still exist in the widespread adoption of this technology for large-scale trials and eventual use in the real world. Clinical use of such methods has so far been limited due to the infancy of the research, the lack of validation, and the high computational costs of the simulations. An additional issue is the difficulty in ensuring that sensitive patient clinical data is kept secure and private throughout the pipeline. The goal of this project is to address these challenges by creating a cardiac simulator that will provide a fast, efficient and secure way to perform these simulations. The project will build on a GPU-based software, CardioLynx, developed within Simula that have sped up electrophysiological simulations to near real-time. The candidate will further develop the software and implement it in heterogeneous cloud computing resources and apply state of the art encryption techniques to ensure security of clinical patient data and simulation results.

Candidate Profile

We are looking for interested candidates who have a background in computational modeling. Experience with secure, cloud-based HPC programming would be appreciated.

Simula Offers

• Excellent opportunities for performing high quality research, as part of a highly competent and motivated team of international researchers and engineers;
• An informal and inclusive international working environment;
• Generous support for travel and opportunities to build international networks, throughestablished collaboration with industry, exchange programs and research visits with other universities, and funding to attend conferences.
• Modern office facilities located at Fornebu by the Oslo fjord and 10 minutes' drive from the center of Oslo.
• A competitive salary. Starting salary from NOK 479.600
• Numerous benefits: access to company cabin, BabyBonus arrangements, sponsored social events, generous equipment budgets (e.g., computer, phone and subscription), subsidized canteen meals and monthly bus pass, comprehensive travel/health insurance policy, etc.
• Relocation assistance: accommodation, visas, complimentary Norwegian language courses, etc
• Administrative research support: e.g., quality assurance process for grant proposals (including RCN and EU programs).
• Wellness and work-life balance. Our employees' health and well-being is a priority and we encourage them to make use of our flexible work arrangements to help balance their work and home lives efficiently.

Simula is an equal opportunity employer, and women are particularly encouraged to apply.

Application Requirements

Interested applicants are requested to submit the following:

• A cover letter explaining the candidate's background, qualifications, research interests and how/why the candidate is qualified for the position;
• Curriculum vitae (summarizing education, positions and academic or industrial work, scientific publications, and software development experience);
• Academic transcripts including a copy of Master thesis.
• Contact information of two references, including the Master supervisor(s).

Application deadline

January 31, 2020. Preferred starting date is February 2020. There is also a possibility to start the position earlier.

Contact

Additional enquiries regarding the position can be addressed to:

• Hermenegild Arevalo (hermenegild@simula.no, +47 477 11 449)

Simula Research Laboratory uses Semac´s background check in our recruitment process.

According to the Norwegian Freedom and Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.

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