Ledig stilling ved UiT Norges arktiske universitet

PhD Candidate in Computer Science

Deadline 08.04.2019

The position

UiT The Arctic University of Norway has a PhD position in Computer Science vacant for a candidate committed to take the degree of Philosophy Doctor (PhD).

The position is organized under the Department of Computer Science and is part of the NUDGE project. The focus of the NUDGE project is green transportation, IoT and nudging. Nudging is about influencing decisions and behaviour of members of the community using suggestions, positive reinforcement and other non-coercive means, so as to achieve some desirable outcomes. The NUDGE project is about how to use IoT (Internet of Things) technology to influence people to use environmentally friendly modes of transport.

UiT The Arctic University of Norway

UiT is a multi-campus research univeristy in Norway and the northernmost university of the world. Our central location in the High North, our broad and diverse research and study portfolio, and our interdisciplinary qualities make us uniquely suited to meet the challenges of the future. At UiT you can explore global issues from a close-up perspective.


Credibility, academic freedom, closeness, creativity and commitment shall be hallmarks of the relationship between our employees, between our employees and our students and between UiT and our partners.

The appointment is for a period of four years for a candidate with knowledge, skills and will to successfully complete the PhD study within the time frame.

The PhD position is for a fixed term, with the objective of completion of research education to the level of a doctoral degree. Admission to a PhD programme is a prerequisite for employment, and the programme period starts on commencement of the position. The PhD candidate shall participate in the Faculty’s organized research training, and the PhD study shall be completed during the period of employment. Information about the application process for admission to the PhD programme, application form and regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) are available at the Faculty’s website for Research training.

The project: “Smart nudging infrastructure for lifestyle changes, with a focus on sustainable and efficient transportation”

Transportation and traffic have become a serious issue around the world. Congestion has severe negative consequences for public health, productivity and the environment, and less reliance on private cars can help solve many interconnected problems in these areas. Increased use of green transportation choices can also limit the need for expensive investment in infrastructure and minimize unpopular traffic regulations.

One approach to achieve this is to introduce new kinds of services that provide members of the community with situational aware information of different forms. This includes information to travelers about which environmentally friendly transportation options that are available and match their needs on any given occasion, and how they can find and use these options. The goal is thus to motivate people to make green transportation choices and provide them with situationally relevant details about when and how to do so.

Nudging is a term from economics and political theory for influencing decisions and behaviour using suggestions, positive reinforcement and other non-coercive means, so as to achieve socially desirable outcomes. Smart nudging is about personalizing the influences to peoples’ decisions and behavior, based on personalization and situation-awareness information.

The main components of the IoT-based smart nudging architecture are Sense, Analyse and Inform and Nudge. Sense is about collecting data from different sources, including sensor data, historical data, aggregated data, user response, and acquired experience through the use of services. Analyse is processing of these data to generate knowledge and information that can be presented to users. Inform and Nudge are different forms of impact of users based on analyzed data.

The smart nudging infrastructure includes communication from sensing elements to back-end systems, services for storage and aggregation of data, processing nodes, publish-subscribe based data flow mechanisms, notification services, and end-user devices. The infrastructure should be able to integrate data and information from a wide range of sources in a timely manner.

The main advisor for the PhD project will be associate professor Weihai Yu, Department of Computer Science, UiT. With co-advisors professor Randi Karlsen, professor Anders Andersen and professor Anne Håkansson.

The position’s affiliation

The Department of Computer Science provides a strong international research environment with 14 tenured faculty members, 4 adjunct professors, 4 post doctors and researchers, 7 technical/ administrative staff members and about 20 PhD students.

The goal of the Department is to advance the research and teaching of computer science as a discipline, to demonstrate leadership within our areas of interest, and to contribute to society through our education, research and dissemination. More information is available at https://uit.no/informatikk

The Open Distributed Systems (ODS) group studies middleware that facilitates the construction of distributed applications of various kinds, with an emphasis on interoperability and adaptability issues. The group focuses on support for next-generation applications, mobility, composition-based web applications, real-time collaboration, information exchange, analysis of data and combination of information from multiple sources. Specific issues include adaptability, context-awareness, personalization, semantic-based information management, applied security, privacy, services orchestration, collaborative editing, consistency and reliability. Recent activities have included IoT and environmentally friendly transportation, personalization, privacy aware computation of user data, and mobile business infrastructures.

Contacts

For further information about the position and project, contact:

For administrative questions, please contact the Department’s administration:

Qualifications

This position requires a Master’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science. It will be preferable with knowledge of relevance to the project as described above. The master’s dissertation must be included in the application. Candidates in the final phase of their Master study may apply. A preliminary version of the dissertation can be included if the final version is not ready before the application deadline. Information about the delivery deadline for the dissertation should be given. A completed degree must be documented before an acceptable date for commencement.

The successful applicant must fulfil the requirements for admission to the Faculty’s PhD programme; cf. Regulation for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the University of Tromsø. The applicant should in addition be able to document proficiency in English equivalent to Norwegian Higher Education Entrance Qualification, available at the same website.

Emphasis shall also be attached to personal suitability.

Application

The application must be submitted electronically and must include:

  • Letter of application
  • CV (containing a complete overview of education, supervised professional training and professional work)
  • List of works and description of these, containing the following information:
    • author(s), the work’s title
    • for publications: publisher, printer, year of publication, number of pages, and a link, such as a DOI, to the publication if available
    • List of references with contact information.
  • Copies of:
    • diploma and transcript from your Bachelor’s degree or equivalent
    • diploma and transcript from your Master’s degree or equivalent
    • diploma supplement for completed degrees
    • documentation of English language proficiency
  • The works (published or unpublished) which the applicant wishes to be taken into consideration during the assessment process must be uploaded with the application.

All documentation that is to be evaluated must be translated into English or a Scandinavian language. Information and material to be considered during the assessment must be submitted by the stipulated deadline.

Assessment

The applicants will be assessed by an expert committee. During this assessment process, emphasis will be attached to the applicant’s potential for research as shown by:

  • Master’s thesis or equivalent
  • Publications
  • Any other academic works
  • Knowledge and interest of the specific project and it`s topic

In addition, consideration may be given to work experience or other activities of significance for the implementation of the PhD studies, and to any teaching qualifications. This includes teaching education, teaching experience, experience from popularization and experience/education from other types of dissemination.

The applicants assessed as the best qualified can be called to an interview. The interview shall among other things aim to clarify the applicant’s personal suitability for the position.

Working conditions

The normal period of appointment is four years. The PhD study is standardized to three years. The fourth year consists of teaching or other duties for the university, organized according to a distribution formula of 25 % per year in agreement with the Head of Department, cf. the directive for duties for research fellows (in Norwegian only).

A shorter period of appointment may be decided when the research fellow has already completed parts of his/her research training programme or when the appointment is based on a previous qualifying position (PhD Candidate, research assistant, or the equivalent) in such a way that the total time used for research training amounts to three years.

Remuneration for the position of PhD Candidate is in accordance with the State salary scale code 1017. A compulsory contribution of 2 % to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund will be deducted.

General

We make the appointment in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and guidelines at UiT. At our website, you will find more information for applicants.

UiT The Arctic University of Norway has HR policy objectives that emphasize diversity, and encourages all qualified applicants to apply regardless of their age, gender, functional ability and national or ethnic background. The university will emphasize making the necessary adaptations to the working conditions for employees with reduced functional ability.

We process personal data given in an application or CV in accordance with the Personal Data Act. You may request to not be registered on the public list of applicants, but the University may decide that your name will be made public. You will receive advance notification in the event of such publication.

UiT The Arctic University of Norway

UiT is a multi-campus research univeristy in Norway and the northernmost university of the world. Our central location in the High North, our broad and diverse research and study portfolio, and our interdisciplinary qualities make us uniquely suited to meet the challenges of the future. At UiT you can explore global issues from a close-up perspective.

Credibility, academic freedom, closeness, creativity and commitment shall be hallmarks of the relationship between our employees, between our employees and our students and between UiT and our partners.

Apply for position

Powered by Labrador CMS