The Theoretical Computer Science Group (Prof. Barbara Koenig) at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Campus Duisburg (Germany) has two open PhD positions paid according to TV-L 13 (full-time). The first position is in the DFG project BEMEGA ("Behavioural Equivalences: Environmental Aspects, Metrics and Generic Algorithms"), which has been recently extended. For this position, candidates at post-doc level can also be considered. The second position is in the research training group UCSM ("User-Centred Social Media"), which provides an interdisciplinary research environment with computer science and psychology as the main contributing disciplines. Requirements ------------ You should have or should be in the process of obtaining a MSc or equivalent degree (in Computer Science or Mathematics). Prior knowledge about the topics of the projects is considered an advantage. Good English speaking and writing skills are demanded, as well as the willingness to learn German. DFG Project BEMEGA - Behavioural Equivalences: Environmental Aspects, Metrics and Generic Algorithms ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Behavioural equivalences are an important concept for the analysis and verification of concurrent systems. Two processes or system states are behaviourally equivalent if they are indistinguishable from the point of view of an external observer. Depending on the power that is given to the observer, one obtains different notions such as strong and weak bisimilarity or trace equivalence. The purpose of this project is to gain a general view on the notion of behavioural equivalences and, independently of the specific type of a system, to provide advanced concepts, methods and algorithms for behavioural equivalences. In particular, we work on the following topics: * Environmental Aspects and Side Effects (environmental and context-dependent aspects of behavioural equivalences, explicit vs. implicit branching) * Metrics and Distances (measuring the behavioural distance of system states) * Logics and Games * Generic Algorithms (for minimization, determinization, up-to techniques, computation of behavioural distances) * Tools and Applications The application deadline is 21 May 2018. http://www.ti.inf.uni-due.de/en/research/bemega/ ====================================================================== Research Training Group UCSM - User-Centred Social Media ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The research training group (RTG) UCSM provides an interdisciplinary research environment with computer science and psychology as the main contributing disciplines. From this interdisciplinary perspective, it addresses research challenges related to Social Media which are understood as complex socio-technical systems characterized by features such as user-generated content, social interaction and awareness, and emergent functionality. Significant research gaps have been identified with respect to analyzing and understanding the characteristics and determinants of user behaviour, both at the individual and the collective level, as well as regarding the user-centred design of social media systems. The planned PhD topic which will be supervised by me is called "Handling Uncertainty when Analysing and Observing Social Media". The application deadline is 15 May 2018. https://ucsm.info/open-positions ====================================================================== Your Application ---------------- You can obtain further information by adressing your enquiries to: Barbara Koenig barbara_koenig@uni-due.de tel.: ++49-203-3793397 If you are interested in the position, please send your application. Your application should include: * A description of your interest in the project, including your motivation and specific qualifications. * A curriculum vitae, including an abstract of your graduate thesis and the name of your supervisor. * If you are interested in a post-doc position, please include a list of your publications and the names of possible referees. For the first position, please send your application directly to me (barbara_koenig@uni-due.de), for the second position, please apply via the web page of the research training group (https://ucsm.info/open-positions).