PhD positions in Electric Power System Control

The Power System Laboratory (PSL) and the Automatic Control Laboratory (IfA) at the Department of Electrical Engineering – ETH Zürich invite applications for two fully-funded PhD positions in the field of Electric Power System Control. The successful candidates will be working in the PSL and IFA research groups and supervised jointly by Profs. Gabriela Hug-Glanzmann and Florian Dörfler. ETH Zürich is located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland.

The two positions are integrated into the project “MIGRATE -- Massive InteGRATion of power Electronic devices”, funded by the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Within MIGRATE, the impact of the proliferation of power electronic interfaced devices to the transmission system will be investigated. The PhD projects will focus on developing and validating innovative control techniques to ensure the secure operation of a system with 100% penetration of power electronic interfaced devices.

The positions require a MSc. (or equivalent) in electrical engineering, control engineering, applied mathematics, or a related field. Excellent knowledge of the English language, both oral and written, but also an interest in learning German is expected. Candidates must have strong mathematical skills and at least some knowledge of programming. Preference will be given to candidates with previous experience in power system dynamics and stability, and/or control and optimization. Finally, the successful candidates should be able to work in a team, are expected to have good communication skills, and to be willing to interact within an international research environment.

Successful candidates will receive an annual stipend according to the standard university rules (https://www.ethz.ch/en/the-eth-zurich/welcome-center/employment-contract-and-salary/salary.html). The planned starting date is February 1^st, 2016, or as soon as possible after that.

Applications with Cover Letter, CV, BSc and MSc transcripts, work certificates, list of publications, and two letters of reference should be sent by January 15th, 2016 online to migrate-phd-positions@ethz.ch. Any documents not in English or German, should be accompanied by a translation.

Please contact Dr. Petros Aristidou (aristidou at eeh.ee.ethz.ch) in case of questions related to the project (no applications).

Researcher Position in Earthquake Early Warning, Swiss Seismological Service

The Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at the ETH Zurich is the federal agency responsible for monitoring earthquakes in Switzerland and for assessing Switzerland’s seismic hazard. The SED employs a team of 70 scientists and staff. The Seismic Network group at the SED work on rapid earthquake characterisation including earthquake early warning (EEW). EEW algorithms developed within the team include the point source approaches Virtual Seismologist and Gutenberg Algorithm, and the finite source approach FinDer. Some of these methods have been independently integrated into the open-source and widely used SeisComP3 (SC3), our earthquake monitoring system. The Network group is also collaborating with INETER in Nicaragua on evaluating the local feasibility of EEW with a view to setting up a prototype system in Central America. In order to develop these projects, the Seismic Network group at SED seeks a highly motivated individual for a

Researcher Position in Earthquake Early Warning

We are looking for a researcher that will develop a production-level EEW probabilistic Bayesian framework that combines independent algorithms, and collaborate with seismic networks to ensure optimal operation of EEW. The primary responsibilities for the researcher are to: 

• Develop and test a Bayesian framework for EEW that provides best estimates of ground shaking by integrating prior constraints and all available information from multiple existing EEW algorithms • Manage migration of the framework to a production open-source framework in SC3 
• Collaborate with INETER in Nicaragua to evaluate readiness of local seismic networks for EEW, and suitability of EEW approaches to local seismicity / seismic networks. 
• Ensure optimal performance of EEW systems in Switzerland and Central America. 

The position is initially for 24 months, with the possibility of extension. Extended travel to Central America is expected. The working language of the group is English, though knowledge of Spanish would be regarded positively. The position will be filled at either postdoctoral or senior researcher level, depending on experience.

The candidate should have a PhD in geophysics, engineering or a related field with documented experience on relevant subjects, which should include Bayesian statistics or scientific software development with a strong interest to apply these to earthquake early warning and seismic networks. A solid background in programming, preferably in Python and / or C++, is required. Postdoctoral experience, preferably within a seismic network environment, and / or familiarity with SeisComP3 are not necessary but would be of advantage.

 

For further information please contact Prof. Dr. Stefan Wiemer by email, wiemer@sed.ethz.ch (no applications) or Dr. John Clinton by email, john.clinton@sed.ethz.ch (no applications) and visit our website www.seismo.ethz.ch. The position is available starting early 2016. The selection process starts immediately (January 2016) and will continue until the position is filled.
We are looking forward to your application including a CV, a statement of research interests, and the names and complete contact information of three referees. Only complete applications will be considered. Please apply online (see button below) and address it to: ETH Zürich, Ms. Maja Bügler, Human Resources, CH-8092 Zürich.

 

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Post-doc in Systems Security, LSDS, UK

To start in March 2016 (or shortly thereafter)

The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science among UK Universities, and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2014 REF assessment, The Department was ranked third (1st in the Research Intensity table published by The Times Higher), and was rated as "Excellent" in the previous national assessment of teaching quality.

An opportunity has arisen for one Research Associate (at the post-doctoral level) to work on the EU-funded SeReCa project in the research areas of systems security and distributed systems. The goal of the project is to investigate how new hardware trust mechanisms can be used to improve the security of cloud computing infrastructures and applications.

The position offer an exciting opportunity for conducting internationally leading and impactful research, which aims to solve real-world security problems in the context of cloud computing. The project will be done in collaboration with TU Dresden, TU Braunschweig and Red Hat. Within the project, the Research Associates will be responsible for designing new hardware-supported security models and APIs for cloud environments, investigating their impact on current cloud computing stacks, and implementing and evaluating experimental software prototypes. They will be expected to publicise their research results at premier systems security and distributed systems conferences and journals.

To apply for this position, you will need to have a strong computing or engineering background. You should also have experience, including a proven publication track record, in one or more of the following areas: security, distributed systems, software systems. You must have a PhD (or equivalent experience and/or qualifications) in computer science or a related area. *Candidates close to completion of their PhD will also be considered and could be appointed as Research Assistant within the salary range £29,350 - £32,520 per annum.

You must have excellent communication skills and be able to organise your own work and prioritise work to meet conference deadlines. All applicants must be fluent in spoken and written English. You will be part of the Large-Scale Distributed Systems (LSDS) research group.

For further information on the group and related projects, see: http://lsds.doc.ic.ac.uk Informal enquiries related to the position should be directed to Dr Peter Pietzuch: prp@doc.ic.ac.uk

Committed to equality and valuing diversity. We are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Two Ticks Employer and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people.

Closing Date: 20 January 2016 (midnight BST)

How To Apply

Our preferred method of application is online via our website at: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/employment (please select “job search” then enter the job title or vacancy reference number EN20150421AM into “keywords”). Please complete and upload an application form as directed.

Applications must include the following:

• A college application form
• Please quote job reference number PP SERECA on the application form
• A full CV, with a list of all publications
• A 2-page research statement indicating what you see are interesting research issues relating to the above post and why your expertise is relevant.

Research application form Should you have any queries regarding the application process please contact Sarah Willis: s.willis@imperial.ac.uk

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Phd Students Positions in Reliable Embedded Processors, Spain

BSC-CNS (Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación) is the National Supercomputing Facility in Spain and was officially constituted in April 2005. BSC-CNS manages MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, located at the Torre Girona chapel. The mission of BSC-CNS is to investigate, develop and manage information technology in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof and currently has over 400 staff from 41 countries.  To get an idea of what its like to work at the BSC take a look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRkEii7OzRE

Context and Mission:

Applications are invited for PhD student positions in the research lines of the Computer Architecture Operating System Department (http://www.bsc.es/caos) at Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS).

The CAOS group (www.bsc.es/caos) is a very active research group with more than 20 papers published only in the last two years. In this same period the CAOS group i) has led several European projects PROARTIS (http://proartis-project.eu/) and PROXIMA (http://proxima-project.eu/); and ii) it has participated in other projects: MERASA (http://www.merasa.org/), parMERASA (http://www.parmerasa.eu/) and VeTeSS (http://vetess.eu/). The CAOS group is actively working with the European Space Agency around the use of multicore processors in the Space domain (some of them listed in http://microelectronics.esa.int/ngmp/).

Key Duties

• We are offering PhD Students positions for a period of 4 years respectively in the CAOS group on dependable embedded systems.
• The objective of this position is to do a PhD in the field of reliable processor architectures for real-time systems.

Requirements

• Education
  • Master
• Knowledge
  • Computer Architecture (multi-threading and multi-core)
  • Performance analysis
  • Programming (C/C++, assembler, VHDL or Verilog)
  • Digital circuits
  • CMOS technology 

Conditions

The position will be located at BSC within the Computer Sciences department in collaboration with the specific program coordinator. The fellowship will be for 4 years.

Applications Procedure

All applications must be included:

1. A motivation letter
2. A full CV including contact details
3. Two reference LETTERS or CONTACTS

BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.

Deadline : Wednesday, 30 March, 2016

Apply Online 

PhD student positions in parallel and distributed data streaming, Sweden

The Distributed Computing and Systems (DCS) research group 

(www.cse.chalmers.se/research/group/dcs/) in the Networks and Systems Division consists of approximately 20 international researchers and has been acknowledged as one of the leading research groups in practical multi-core synchronization and programming internationally (with results adopted in e.g. Java JDK, C++). The group has a strong background in data streaming and big data applications, coordination in networked systems, cyber-physical systems in energy and transportation, sensor networks and security. It has an extensive network of academic and industrial contacts and collaborations and has been supported by the major research organizations in Sweden and internationally.

The research will focus on parallel and distributed data streaming and their leveraging in future data-intensive applications (e.g. smart connected systems, such as autonomous and adaptive production systems,  smart energy systems, intelligent vehicular systems and networks). The core of the research will be the design and implementation of streaming processing algorithms that allow for data analysis which is (i) efficient and reliable (ii) high-throughput and low-latency and (iii) parallel, distributed and adaptive. The ultimate goal is to shape data streaming solutions that can be deployed in many-core and distributed architectures leveraging their underlying parallelism and the distributed nature of their data. The research will be funded by the Swedish Foundation of Strategic Research project titled "Future factories in the Cloud (FiC)" and will provide the possibilities for interactions with other top universities and industry in Sweden and Internationally.

Salary for the position is as specified in Chalmers' general agreement for PhD student positions. Currently the starting salary is 27,800SEK per month before tax. The positions are intended to start in winter/early-spring 2016, but a different starting date is also possible to arrange. Your major responsibility as a PhD student is to pursue your own doctoral studies. You are expected to develop your own scientific concepts and communicate the results of your research verbally and in writing. The position generally also includes teaching on Chalmers' undergraduate level or performing other duties corresponding to 20 per cent of working hours.

Full-time temporary employment. The position is limited to a maximum of five years.

Qualifications

To qualify as a PhD student, you must have a solid background in Computer Science and Engineering or in a related discipline, corresponding to a master's level degree of at least 240 higher education credits. As for all PhD studies, a genuine interest and curiosity in the subject matter and excellent analytical and communication skills, both oral and written, are needed.

The ideal candidate for the position has strong background in distributed computing and networked systems, with emphasis on and enthusiam for both algorithmic aspects and programming. Further experience with interdisciplinary projects or background in cyber-physical systems or data analysis is helpful. You may apply even if you have not completed your degree, but expect to do so before the position starts.  Knowledge of Swedish is not a prerequisite for applying since English is our working language for research. Both Swedish and English are used in undergraduate courses. Our researchers and PhD students at the department come from more than 30 different countries.

Chalmers continuously strives to be an attractive employer. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.Application procedure

The application should be marked with Ref 20150555 and written in English. The application should be sent electronically and be attached as pdf-files, as below:

1. Application: (Please name the document: APPLICATION, Family name, reference number)
   − CV
   − Other, for example previous employments or leadership qualifications and positions of trust.
   − Two-three letters of reference
2. Personal letter/Qualifications: (Please name the document as: QUALIFICATIONS, family name, ref. number)
   − 1-3 pages where you introduce yourself present your qualifications and describe your future research plans.
   − Previous research fields and main research results.
   − Future goals and research focus. Are there any specific projects and research issues you are primarily interested in?
3. Other:
   − Copies of bachelor and/or master’s thesis, project-reports and/or research-articles written.
   − Attested copies and transcripts of completed education, grades and other certificates, eg. TOEFL test results.

Please use the button at the foot of the page to reach the application form. The files may be compressed (zipped).

Application deadline: 31 January 2016

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Early-Stage-Researcher/PhD positions Distributed optimization in cyber-physical networks, Italy

Early-Stage-Researcher/PhD positions Distributed optimization in cyber-physical networks 

Early-stage researcher/ PhD positions will be available within the ERC Starting Grant project OPT4SMART. Research will be conducted at the Universit`a del Salento (Lecce, Italy), under the supervision of Prof. Giuseppe Notarstefano. 

About the position We are looking for motivated, talented graduate students from all over the world, who wish to:

•  undertake research at the cutting edge of optimization and control in cyber-physical networks;
•  contribute to the startup of an excellent, international new research group;
•  study in one of the most beautiful Italian cities with a great quality of life. 

The initial appointment will be for one year with the possibility to join the (3 year) PhD program according to the application procedure at Universit`a del Salento. About OPT4SMART (Distributed optimization methods for smart cyber-physical networks)

OPT4SMART is a 5 years research project funded under the EU Horizon 2020 excellence program ERC Starting Grant, supporting investigator-driven frontier research on the basis of scientific excellence, erc.europa.eu. OPT4SMART will investigate a novel distributed, large-scale optimization framework and its application to big-data estimation, learning, decision and control problems in cyber-physical networks. Billions of smart communicating devices with their sensing, computing and control capabilities promise to make our cities, transportation systems, factories and living environments more intelligent, energy-efficient, safe and secure. This extremely complex system is giving rise to a novel peer-to-peer distributed computational model in which a service is built-up cooperatively by peers, rather than by a unique provider that knows and owns all data. The interdisciplinary Optimization Community is facing this revolution sharing a common need: to find new theories, methodologies and tools to optimize over this complex network system. With this in mind, OPT4SMART has a twofold objective. First, to provide a comprehensive theoretical framework to solve distributed optimization problems over peer-to-peer networks. Second, to develop effective numerical tools, based on this framework, to solve estimation, learning, decision and control problems in cyber-physical networks. This twofold objective will be pursued by means of interdisciplinary methodologies arising from a synergic combination of optimization, controls, and graph theories.

About Lecce 

Lecce is a beautiful Baroque city in the South-East of Italy. It is a lively, graceful but relaxed university town in the Salento peninsula, the heel of Italy’s boot. For a 36-hours tour of Lecce you can google The New York Times: “36 hours in Lecce, Italy”. Who should apply The desired candidate holds a Master degree (or equivalent) in Engineering (preferably ECE, ME, AE), Applied Mathematics or related fields, and has

• an excellent academic record showing excellent analytical skills; 
• a strong mathematical background including optimization and preferably systems and control theory; 
• strong interest in optimization and at least one of: control theory, estimation, machine learning; 
• proficiency in oral and written English. 

The above skills and background should clearly appear from the candidate academic record and CV. Contact For further information about the positions and the official calls send an email with subject “OPT4SMART PhD-student last-name” to giuseppe.notarstefano@unisalento.it.

Download Call in pdf format

PhD Fellowships at the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems

The Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems is a joint research center of ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Society. The Center’s mission is to pursue research in the design and analysis of learning systems, synthetic or natural. This initiative brings together more than 30 professors and senior researchers in the fields of machine learning, perception, robotics on large and small scales, as well as neuroscience. 

We offer

PhD Fellowships at the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems

The Center offers a unique fellowship program, where PhD students are co-supervised by one advisor from ETH Zurich and one from the MPI for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen and Stuttgart. PhD students are expected to take advantage of the opportunities offered by both organizations and to actively seek cross-group collaborations. The Center also offers a wide range of activities like retreats, workshops, and summer schools. This is an exciting new program and we expect admission to be highly competitive. Each PhD fellow will have a primary location (chosen based on interests and match) and is expected to spend about one year at the other site as well. Fellowships will be remunerated through employment contracts, subjected to the rules of the Max-Planck-Society and ETH Zurich, respectively. All PhD fellows will register as graduate students at ETH Zurich and - upon successful completion of their PhD project - be granted a doctoral degree by ETH Zurich. Details of this process are governed by ETH regulations and committees. The deadline for applications is January 10, 2016. The selection interviews will take place on February 15 and February 16 at the Max Planck Society’s Ringberg Castle, Tegernsee, Bavaria.

We encourage applications from outstanding candidates with academic backgrounds in Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, Materials Science, Neuroscience and related fields, and a keen interest in doing basic research in areas like: Machine Learning and Empirical Inference of Complex Systems, Machine Intelligence, including Machine Vision and Natural Language Understanding, Perception-Action-Cycle for Autonomous Systems, Robust Model-Based Control for Intelligent Behavior, Robust Perception in Complex Environments, Design, Fabrication, and Control of Synthetic, Bio-Inspired, and Bio-Hybrid Micro/Nanoscale Robotic Systems, or Neurotechnology and Emergent Intelligence in Nervous Systems. We seek to increase the number of women in areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourage women to apply. Furthermore, we are committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourage applications from such qualified individuals.

For further information please contact Mrs. Sabrina Nepozitek at sabrina.Nepozitek@inf.ethz.ch (no application documents) or visit our website http://learning-systems.org/.

We are looking forward to receiving your online application including CV, a short mission statement and scanned transcripts. Please arrange for 2-3 reference letters to be sent directly to Sabrina Nepozitek. Please send it to: ETH Zurich, Human Resources, Mrs. Nadja Lang, CH-8092 Zurich.

 

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