[ecoop-info] PhD Positions in Formal Methods and Language-based Security at Chalmers

[Wolfgang Ahrendt]

4 *PhD* Positions in Formal Methods and Language-based Security at the 
Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of 
Technology, Sweden

Application deadline: March 30, 2013

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*Job description ...*

*... of the 2 PhD positions in Formal Methods*
The Formal Methods group is an internationally recognized research group 
with a high-profile research track record and an excellent network of 
collaborators. The group's research focus is in the theoretical and 
practical aspects of formal software verification, including automated 
reasoning, interactive theorem proving, runtime verification, and test 
generation. Together with international collaborators, the group members 
co-developed widely recognized verification tools like KeY 
(www.key-project.org), Vampire (http://vprover.org), ALIGATOR 
(http://mtc.epfl.ch/software-tools/Aligator), and LARVA. The research of 
the two advertised PhD positions will be in the area of Software 
Verification, where
- one position has a stronger focus on the creative use and development 
of automated reasoning techniques for software verification,
- the other has a stronger focus on combining static and runtime 
verification of software.
The selection of the specific research topic will take into account both 
the interests of the new PhD student and the research agenda of the group.

*... of the (up to) 2 PhD positions in Language-based Security*
The PhD students will join a world-leading team of researchers on 
programming language-based security. Language-based security facilitates 
specifying and enforcing security policies at the level of programming 
languages early in the software design and construction phase. The focus 
of the advertised positions is on the following directions of work:
- To design rich security policies for confidentiality and integrity, as 
demanded by practical applications (such as web applications).
- To develop practical enforcement mechanisms for these policies in 
expressive programming languages (such as web languages). These 
enforcement mechanisms may combine static (for example, type 
system-based) and dynamic (for example, execution monitoring-based) 
techniques.
- To support the above with case studies in web-application security.
In pursuing these goals, there are possibilities for collaboration with 
our high-profile academic and industrial partners. We run a number of 
ambitious projects with top international partners in academia and 
industry, including the European project WebSand on web application 
security: https://www.websand.eu/

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*Details about Employment*

PhD student positions are limited to five years and normally include 20 
per cent departmental work, mostly teaching duties. Salary for the 
position is as specified in Chalmers' general agreement for PhD student 
positions. Currently the starting salary is 26,250SEK a month before 
tax. The positions are intended to start in spring or fall 2013.

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*Suitable Background*

Applicants for a PhD position must have a degree in Computing Science or 
in a related subject with a strong Computing Science component. They 
must also have a strong, documented interest in doing research. The 
ideal candidate for a position in Formal Methods will have strong 
background in one or more of the following areas: logic, theorem 
proving, software verification. The ideal candidate for a position in 
Language-based Security will have strong background in both programming 
languages and security. You may even apply if you have not yet completed 
your degree, but expect to do so before the position starts.

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*The Department*

The Department has about 70 faculty members and enrolls about 70 PhD 
students from more than 30 countries. The research spans the whole 
spectrum, from theoretical foundations to applied systems development. 
There is extensive national and international collaboration with 
academia and industry all around the world. For more information, see 
http://www.chalmers.se/cse/EN/

Knowledge of Swedish is not a prerequisite for application. English is 
our working language for research. Both Swedish and English are used in 
undergraduate courses. Half of our researchers and PhD students come 
from more than 30 different countries.

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*Gothenburg, Sweden*

Gothenburg is often referred to as the "heart of Scandinavia". The 
videos below give an impression what it's like to live and study in 
Gothenburg.

Live in Gothenburg: http://youtu.be/sbwVIQeGcdY

Study in Gothenburg: http://youtu.be/0WrlGlSyS1c

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*How to Apply*

Electronic application can be submitted following these guidelines:

For the PhD positions in Formal Methods:
http://www.chalmers.se/en/about-chalmers/vacancies/Pages/default.aspx?RMURL=VacDetail.aspx%3FCommAdSeqNo%3D1174

For the PhD positions in Language-based Security:
http://www.chalmers.se/en/about-chalmers/vacancies/Pages/default.aspx?RMURL=VacDetail%2Easpx%3FCommAdSeqNo%3D1173