Umeå University announces three fellowships for postdoctoral qualification in AI for Data Management. Deadline for application is March 26, 2021.
The Department of Computing Science (www.cs.umu.se) is a dynamic department with about 130 employees from over 20 countries. We are providing research and education within a broad spectrum of areas, and offer education at basic, advanced, and PhD levels. The research is internationally well recognized and includes basic research, methods development, and software development, but also research and development within various application domains.
Project description
The research will be carried out within the research group in “Artificial Intelligence for Data Management”, led by Prof. Diego Calvanese, well-known as one of the leading groups worldwide for its foundational and applied research at the interplay between semantic technologies, knowledge representation and reasoning, and databases.
The research project investigates foundational aspects and develops advanced software tools for the flexible and efficient management of large amounts of richly structured data, by relying on the paradigm of Virtual Knowledge Graphs (VKGs, also known as Ontology-based Data Access). The project will build on the open source system Ontop (http://ontop-vkg.org/) and will be carried out in close collaboration with the research team of Prof. Calvanese at the Free Univ. of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy.
It aims at extending the foundations, implementation, and application areas of VKGs along several directions:
- dealing with additional forms of data/knowledge (e.g., temporal, geospatial, aggregated, numeric)
- managing heterogeneous data sources of different types (e.g., graph-data, json, xml, csv, streaming, textual)
- tackling novel kinds of problems (e.g., explanation, privacy, machine learning on VKGs, optimization and performance tuning, updates, and evolution of data/knowledge)
- applying VKGs to novel domains (e.g., industry 4.0, smart cities, e-health). The activities in the project ranges from foundations to the actual design, implementation, and optimization of advanced algorithms
Depending on qualifications and interests, selected candidates may carry out more foundational or more application-oriented research, or a combination of both.
Successful candidates will exist in an environment with other PhD students in the area of AI for Data Management.
The scholarship projects are financed by the Kempe foundation and are associated with the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP). The program addresses research on AI and autonomous systems acting in collaboration with humans, adapting to their environment through sensors, information and knowledge, and forming intelligent systems-of-systems. The vision of WASP is excellent research and competence in AI, autonomous systems and software for the benefit of Swedish industry. Read more at: https://wasp-sweden.org/.
Each scholarship is for two years with a starting date as agreed. The scholarship amounts to 330 000 SEK per year (around 32500 euro). The scholarship is not subject to tax.
Qualifications
A person who has been awarded a doctorate or a foreign qualification deemed to be the equivalent of a doctorate in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering, or another subject of relevance for the project qualifies as a postdoctoral fellow. Priority should be given to candidates who have completed their doctoral degree no more than three years before the closing date of the application. A candidate who has completed their degree prior to this may be considered if special circumstances exist.
In addition, documented knowledge and proven research experiences in one or more of semantic technologies (e.g., RDF, SPARQL, OWL), their foundations in knowledge representation and reasoning (e.g., description logics, logics for knowledge representation), and data management are required as is very good command of the English language, both written and spoken.
The following are desirable qualifications:
- Capability to produce high quality scientific articles that warrant publication in top-rated international conferences and journals in the project areas
- Motivation and interest in developing new competences, as well as acting in an international environment
- Good communication skills as well as ambition and good ability to co-operate in a team
- Independency, creativity, and passion for research
- International research experience
- Development experience in Java, preferably in large-scale projects.
Application
The application should include:
- An introductory letter summarizing the qualifications, research interests, and motivation for applying (max 2 pages),
- CV with list of publications,
- Copies of PhD thesis and of (max 10) relevant scientific publications,
- Copies of doctoral degree certificate and other relevant certificates, including documentation of completed academic courses and obtained grades;
- Name and contact information for two or three persons willing to act as references;
- Any other relevant information, e.g., software development or previous industry experiences.
Submit your application as a PDF marked with the reference number FS 2.1.6-470-21, both in the file name and in the subject field of the email, to medel@diarie.umu.se. The application can be written in English (preferably) or Swedish. Application deadline is 26 March 2021.
The Department of Computing Science values the qualities brought by an even gender distribution, and therefore we particularly encourage women to apply.
Further information
For more information, please contact Prof. Diego Calvanese, diego.calvanese@umu.se.
We look forward to receiving your application.