UiO PhD Position

PhD scholarship in the area of Internet of Things

The closing date for applications is 15th May, 2010

Host

ND Research Group
University of Oslo
Department of Informatics
P.O.Box 1080 Blindern
0316 Oslo, Norway

Context

The University of Oslo is Norway's largest and oldest institution of higher education. Founded in 1811, today the University of Oslo has approx. 30,000 students and 4,600 employees. Four Nobel Prize winners and two Turing award recipients indicate the quality of the research at the University in general and at the Department of Informatics in particular.

The country, also known for its unique scenic beauty, has been ranked by the UN as having the highest standard of living in the world. Oslo is considered one of the sunniest places in Northern Europe, with summer temperatures averaging 21 degrees Celsius.

The Department of Informatics (IFI) is one of nine departments belonging to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo. IFI is Norway’s largest university department for broad education and research in Computer Science and related topics. You can read more about the Department here: http://www.ifi.uio.no. The Department has near 800 students on bachelor level, 300 master students, and over 200 PhD students. The overall staff of the Department is close to 250 employees, about 150 of these are full time scientific positions: about 60 Full/Associate Professors and about 90 PhD Fellows/Post Doctoral Fellows.

The fellowship is for a period of up to 4 years, with 25 % compulsory work. Starting date no later than 1 October, 2010.

Project

The scholarship is in the framework of the SeaS (Middleware for Sensor as a Service) international project aiming at contributing to the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT aims at breaking the boundaries between the virtual and the physical worlds. Thus, the IoT concept refers to physical devices, which are accessible through the Internet and thus, act as an extension to the World Wide Web. The project aims at demonstrating the feasibility and benefits of integrating heterogeneous (or hybrid) sensor technologies as reusable services within the Internet of Things. A possible research direction for the PhD scholar is adaptation of future sensor network applications to changing environmental conditions (including the sensor node itself), changing application requirements and different capabilities of each individual sensor node in the network. Another possible research direction is scalable data-dissemination in hybrid and multi-scale sensor networks. The work would include definition of data dissemination as a service, its construction on the fly and constant maintenance (i.e., monitored and reconfigured) in response to sensor node failures, underlying context variations, and changes in the user-specified requirements. The exact choice of direction may depend on the specific interests of the chosen candidate.

Applicants may submit a project proposal for the qualifying work during the program. The project proposal should include research topic, main issues, as well as choice of theory and method.

Requirements

Applicants must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in the area of networks and distributed systems. The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree.

The fellowship requires admission to the research training program at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. An approved plan for the research training, including a project outline, must be submitted no later than two months after taking up the position, and the admission must be approved within three months. For more information see: http://www.uio.no/admhb/reglhb/personal/tilsettingvitenskapelig/regulationstermcondition.xml

A good command of English is required of all students attending the University of Oslo.
http://www.matnat.uio.no/english/research/education/proficiency_in_English.html

Salary

A PhD position is a regular job with social benefits and with salary starting from 355.400 NOK per year depending on seniority/qualifications.

The currently open positions are for four years with 25 % compulsory work. Starting date must be no later than 1 October, 2010. The compulsory will work be for duties beyond the normal research and project work, such as teaching and supervision of master students.

Contact & Application

The application (with reference number 2010/4515) must include:

• Application letter
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications)
• Copies of educational certificates and letters of recommendation
• List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)
• Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University’s grading system. Please remember that all documents should be in English or a Scandinavian language.

Closing date for applications: 15 May, 2010

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results.
The University of Oslo has a goal of recruiting more women in academic positions. Women are encouraged to apply.
The University of Oslo also has a goal of recruiting ethnic minorities to Norway in academic positions. Ethnic minorities are encouraged to apply.

Contacts:

• Head of administration: Narve Trædal (Telephone: +47 22852418)
• Head of ND research group: Professor Frank Eliassen (Telephone: +47 22840148)