joe wells

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

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 ****ysis for computer systems and software with special
interest in mobility and concurrency at Heriot-Watt University [1]
working with Joe Wells [2]. The position is in the ULTRA (Useful
Logics, Types, Rewriting, and their Automation) group [3] in the
Computer Science Department [4] in the School of Mathematical and
Computer Sciences [5] at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh [6], the
capital of Scotland [7]. The position involves collaboration with the
EC, EPSRC, NATO, and NSF-funded Church Project [8] as well as various
contacts in the European Global Computing community.

The research will include collaboration on the Poly* [9] 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 which are likely to be used in the project.

* 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.
* ****ysis 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 from 6 months to 1.5 years, depending
on the cir***stances of the researcher, with possible extensions up to
3 years total 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 22289 GBP to 30002 GBP per year. The position is available
immediately. 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) ****ysis 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 ****ysis 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.

References

1. http://www.hw.ac.uk/
2. http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~jbw/
3. http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/ultra/
4. http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/cs/
5. http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/
6. http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/tour/edintour.html
7. http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/scotland/scotland.html
8. http://www.church-project.org/
9. http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/DART/software/PolyStar/FAQ.html

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: +44 131 451 3327

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
fax: +44 131 451 3475
minicom: +44 131 451 8212
post: Human Resources Office
Lord Balerno Building
Heriot-Watt University
EDINBURGH
EH14 4AS
GREAT BRITAIN

Applying for the Position

Please use the reference code 142/05/L to help prevent your
application from getting mixed up. Please convert Microsoft Word
do***ents 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 2005-11-11. 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 recommendation letters to be sent 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, an equal
opportunities monitoring form, 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 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, 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.