Research Position
ULTRA group (Useful Logics, Types, Rewriting, and their Automation)
Computer Science Department
School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Description of the Position
A research position is available working on modular reasoning and
compositional analysis for computer systems and software with
special interest in mobility and concurrency.
The position is working with Joe Wells in the ULTRA
(Useful Logics, Types, Rewriting, and their Automation) group in
the Computer Science
Department in the School
of Mathematical and Computer Sciences at Heriot-Watt University
in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.
The position involves collaboration with the EPSRC and
NSF-funded Church
Project as well as various contacts in the European Global
Computing community.
The research will include collaboration on the Poly*
polymorphic retargetable type system for process and mobility
calculi, but is not limited to that topic.
It will be helpful if the researcher is competent in 1 or more of
the following knowledge areas.
-
Formal calculi for reasoning about the meaning of computer systems
(including computer programs), especially those dealing with
aspects of (a) concurrency and (b) mobility, but also those
dealing with aspects of (c) modules, linking, and loading, (d)
resource usage, (e) components, (f) staged compilation, (g)
classes and objects, etc.
-
Analysis of systems represented in formal calculi.
-
Constraint solving and unification.
-
Type systems, especially those with features similar to
intersection and union types.
-
Programming languages good for use for any of the above.
The duration of the position is 1.5 years, with possible further
extension depending on performance, funding, and other circumstances.
Applications to spend a shorter period (e.g., the sabbatical leave
of an established academic) will be considered.
The initial salary will be in the range from 22111 GBP to 32471 GBP
per year, commensurate with qualifications and experience.
The position is available immediately.
It is preferred that before starting the
researcher will have completed a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline
in Computer Science. Very good Ph.D. students elsewhere who
want to spend part of their studies visiting Heriot-Watt will be
considered. Applicants from outside the European Economic Area
(EEA) will be considered.
The researcher will probably collaborate on 1 or more of the
following activities. The specific activities will be matched to
the strengths of the researcher.
-
Designing new type systems for compositional (modular) analysis of
systems that may involve one or more aspects of mobility,
concurrency, and modularity, as well as other features such as
resource awareness, components, run-time code generation, objects,
etc.
-
Designing analysis algorithms for the new type systems.
-
Designing theories (e.g., “calculi”) for reasoning about the
meaning of computer systems with some of the features mentioned
above.
-
Making software systems incorporating the new type systems,
algorithms, and calculi.
-
Writing scientific reports on the work done.
Contact Information
Informal inquiries should be directed to Joe Wells at:
Formal applications should be directed to the Heriot-Watt
Human Resources Office at:
Web: |
http://www.hw.ac.uk/hr/ |
E-mail: |
hr@hw.ac.uk
(responses will usually be by paper mail, telephone, or fax)
|
Voice mail: |
+44 131 451 3475 (available at all times) |
Fax: |
+44 131 451 3475 |
Minicom: |
+44 131 451 8212 |
Post: |
Human Resources Office
Heriot-Watt University
EDINBURGH
EH14 4AS
GREAT BRITAIN
|
Applying for the Position
Please use the reference code 16/07/H
to help prevent
your application from getting mixed up. For documents sent by
e-mail, please use a public and standard format. (The best formats
are plain text and PDF, because some of our staff may have trouble
with HTML or PostScript. Microsoft Word format is forbidden except
where returning a form our human resources office has supplied in
this format.)
To formally apply for this position, please do as many as possible
of the items in the following list by 2007-02-12. The first 2 items
are absolutely necessary and the 3rd and 4th are quite important.
If you expect trouble meeting the deadline, please ask Joe Wells
what to do.
-
Cause 3 recommendation letters to be sent directly by their
writers. Do not send the letters with your application. (If
someone tells you the letters are not needed yet or that less than
3 are needed, this is a mistake. We want to see the letters
before choosing who to interview.)
-
Send the following yourself:
- your complete curriculum vitae, and
-
contact details for the 3 people writing your recommendation
letters.
-
Get the Heriot-Watt Human Resources Office to send you an
“application pack”. (This contains an application form (available
at
http://www.hw.ac.uk/hr/htm/forms/Academic%20Application%20form.pdf),
an equal opportunities monitoring form (available at
http://www.hw.ac.uk/hr/htm/forms/Equal%20Opportunities%20Monitoring%20Form%20new%20Riccarton.doc),
information for applicants with disabilities, and some additional
information about Heriot-Watt and the position.)
-
Fill out and return by post the application form and the equal
opportunities monitoring form. If your curriculum vitae is
well constructed, then some information requested will be
redundant, so just write “see c.v.” in those blanks, but please
return the application form anyway. Although the application form
requests only the addresses of 2 references, please follow the
instructions above instead and supply 3.
-
Optionally, also send either of the following:
-
a brief statement about why your research accomplishments and
interests are a good match for the position, and
-
up to 3 relevant publications of yours.
-
It is helpful to inform Joe Wells that you are applying so that he
knows to ask our human resources office for your application materials.
It is helpful to send copies to Joe Wells of any electronic files
you submit.
-
Anyone who might need a work permit if hired (usually someone who
is not a citizen of an EEA country) should also do the following.
In addition to possibly being e-mailed or faxed, each
recommendation letter should also be sent by post on
official-looking headed stationery paper and should include
details on your whereabouts over the last two years. A work
permit application also needs copies of any degree certificates,
so it is a good idea to send those also at the same time as you
send the rest of your application. Work permit applications can
take quite some time for the UK's Home Office to process, so
please avoid delays.
For your information, it is helpful if the writers of reference
letters provide details of:
-
the capacity in which they know the candidate,
-
the candidate's skills, abilities and performance in relation to
the post applied for,
-
the candidate's employment record including details of the
candidate's role and service dates,
-
their view of the candidate's suitability for the post as a whole,
in light of the attached details and their knowledge of the
candidate's experience and abilities,
-
any further relevant information which would assist us in making
an appointment.