Research Job: Compositional Reasoning & Analysis for Software
Systems @ Heriot-Watt U., Scotland, UK
Joe Wells
jbw@macs.hw.ac.uk
13 May 2003 13:46:43 +0100
Research Position
Useful Logics, Types, Rewriting, and their Automation (ULTRA) Group
Computer Science Department
School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
The HTML version of this job posting can be found at:
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~jbw/position-ad.html
Description of the Position
A research position is available working on modular reasoning and
compositional analysis for software at Heriot-Watt University working
with Joe Wells. The position is 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 close collaboration with both the EC-funded DART
(Dynamic Assembly, Reconfiguration, and Type-checking) project
(members: Genova Univ., Heriot-Watt Univ., Imperial Coll., and Torino
Univ.) and the EC, EPSRC, NATO, and NSF-funded Church Project
(members: Boston Coll., Boston Univ., Heriot-Watt Univ., Wellesley
Coll., etc.).
It will be helpful if the researcher is competent in 1 or more of the
following knowledge areas which are likely to be used in the project.
* Formal calculi for reasoning about the meaning of computer systems
(including computer programs), especially those with aspects of
(a) modules, linking, and loading, (b) concurrency, (c) mobility,
(d) staged compilation, (e) resource usage, (f) classes and
objects, etc.
* Analysis of systems represented in formal calculi.
* Constraint solving and unification.
* Type systems, especially those with intersection and union types.
* Programming languages used for any of the above.
The duration of the position is from 6 months to 1.5 years, depending
on the circumstances of the researcher, with extensions possible
depending on salary, experience, performance, and funding.
Applications to spend a shorter period (e.g., the sabbatical leave of
an established academic) will be considered. The initial salary will
be commensurate with qualifications and experience in the range from
20311 GBP to 27339 GBP per year. The position is available as soon as
2003-07-16 with the ideal start date being 2003-08-01. It is preferred
that before starting the researcher will have completed a Ph.D. in a
relevant discipline within 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 concurrency,
mobility, modularity, objects, run-time code generation, etc.
* Designing analysis algorithms for the new type systems.
* Designing theories (e.g., "calculi") for reasoning about the
meaning of dynamic software assembly, i.e., doing in a
non-traditional order one or more of type checking, code
generation, linking, loading, etc.
* 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:
web: http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~jbw/
e-mail: jbw@macs.hw.ac.uk
fax: +44 131 449 3834
Formal applications should be directed to the Heriot-Watt Personnel
Office at:
web: http://www.hw.ac.uk/personnel/
e-mail: personnel@hw.ac.uk (responses will usually be by paper
mail, telephone, or fax)
voice mail: +44 131 451 3475
fax: +44 131 451 3475
minicom: +44 131 451 8212
post: The Personnel Office
Lord Balerno Building
Heriot-Watt University
EDINBURGH
EH14 4AS
GREAT BRITAIN
Applying for the Position
Please use the reference code 59/03/L to help prevent your application
from getting mixed up. Please convert Microsoft Word documents to a
public, standard, and non-proprietary format. The best format is PDF,
because some of our staff will encounter difficulties with HTML or
PostScript.
To formally apply for this position, please do as many as possible of
the items in the following list by 2003-06-13. The first 2 are
absolutely necessary and the 3rd is quite important. If you expect
trouble meeting the deadline, please ask Joe Wells what to do.
* Cause 3 reference letters to be sent. (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 people writing your reference
letters.
* Get the Heriot-Watt Personnel Office to send you an "application
pack". (This contains an application form, an equal opportunities
monitoring form, information for applicants with disabilities, and
some additional information about Heriot-Watt and the position.)
Fill out and return 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.
* 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 personnel office for your application materials.
* 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 letter of
reference 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, the standard solicitation for a reference letter
by Heriot-Watt Personnel Office asks the letter writer for 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.