[TYPES/announce] Research Associate in Search-Based Programming Language Analysis (closing date 30th September 2015)

[Harman, Mark]

Applications are invited for a Research Associate post on an EPSRC-funded grant in the CREST center at UCL, working in the  general area of Programming Languages,  supervised by Professor Mark Harman and Dr. Earl Barr.

The specific project is concerned with analysis of regions of code which turn out to be written in a language that is not Turing complete (a Sub-Turing region).  Such regions are extremely attractive, because it becomes possible to know, statically, a great deal about their possible executions.  We can imagine that it would be profitable to symbolically execute such regions, for example.  Testing and verification within these regions may also exploit powerful techniques that would be unavailable in general.  Of course, most systems will have relatively trivial Sub-Turing in regions.  However, if the input is constrained, then the number and size of Sub Turing regions will tend to increase.  There is thus an interesting search problem in finding those constraints on the input that tend to maximise useful Sub Turing regions (while minimising the strength of such constraints).  This analysis problem has applications in software reuse, testing and verification, comprehension and genetic improvement.


Key Requirements

Candidates should have recently graduated with a PhD in a relevant subject such as programming languages, program analysis and/or verification. Experience in software analysis is essential.  A familiarity with computational search techniques is also desirable, while an aptitude and interest to develop expertise in this area is essential. Publication in relevant leading peer reviewed conferences and/or journals are essential (quality of research outputs will be favoured over quantity of output).





The Research Environment

The Software Systems Engineering group (SSE) undertakes world-leading research in Requirements Engineering, Software Testing, and Search Based Software Engineering (SBSE).   It also has recognised outstanding strength and high profile research in Context Aware Systems, Quantified Information Theory, Recommender Systems, Security and Program Analysis/Manipulation.   SSE is one of more than 10 research groups in the Department of Computer Science at UCL (http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk<http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/>). The other research groups are each also world leading, providing a rich wider academic and scientific environment in which to undertake software engineering research. Both the department and the university itself are very well known for providing an opportunity-led, collegiate, collaborative and entrepreneurial environment.

The UCL Computer Science Department was recently assessed by the five-year UK-wide research assessment process known as the "Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014)" (www.ref.ac.uk<http://www.ref.ac.uk/>). This determines future general (rather than project-based) research funding.  In the two key rankings of the results (Grade Point Average and research power), UCL Computer Science was ranked in first and second place respectively.

UCL, itself, was founded in 1826, on the principle of education provision free to all, regardless of race, creed or religion. Its motto is "Cuncti adsint meritaeque expectent praemia palmae" (Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward).  It was the first University in England to be entirely secular, admitting students regardless of their religion, and the first to admit women on equal terms with men. UCL is the 13th most cited University in the world (based on data from 1999 to 2009) and the most cited in Europe. Its current and former staff include 28 Nobel Prize winners and 3 winners of the fields medal. It is consistently ranked in the top twenty Universities in the world (typically between 4th and 20th in recent years, depending on the ranking system used). In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) the University as a whole (overall all subjects) was ranked in 8th place for score (GPA) and first place for research power.

UCL is located in the Bloomsbury part of London, surrounded by museums (including the British Museum which is two minutes walk away, and several of its own UCL on-site museums), restaurants, galleries and theatres (all within walking distance). Bloomsbury also has strong literary and artistic associations, dating back several centuries, and is one of the most attractive parts of London in which to work, punctuated by charming squares, green spaces and beautiful architecture. It has excellent transport links, being minutes from several tube (London Underground) stations, and twenty minutes walk from the mainline, national and international railway stations of Euston, King's Cross and St. Pancras International.



Funding for this appointment runs until 31 May 2018 in the first instance

Further Details

For all administrative enquiries please contact Katie Bourke (crest-admin at ucl.ac.uk<mailto:crest-admin at ucl.ac.uk>). If you would like to discussion your application informally please contact Prof. M. Harman (CC: Dr. E. Barr).
The closing date is 30th September 2015.
Interviews will take place in October 2015. When applying please ensure that you are able to attend to present a talk and be interviewed in October. We shall not be able to re-arrange the interview date should you be unable to attend.


TO APPLY FOR THIS POST

You should find that this link

http://bit.ly/1CZmfwA

takes you directly to the application portal for this post. Just in case this should not work you can also apply for the vacancy by going to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/jobs/index.php and searching for vacancy ref. 1478224
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Mark Harman,
Professor of Software Engineering,
Head of the Software Systems Engineering Group and
Director of the CREST centre,
Department of Computer Science,
University College London,
Malet Place, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.

Office: MPEG 7.14
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 1305; 31305 (internal)
PA: Katie Bourke: crest-admin at cs.ucl.ac.uk<mailto:crest-admin at cs.ucl.ac.uk>; +44 (0)20 7679 0325 (Direct Dial); 30325 (internal)

email: Mark.Harman at ucl.ac.uk<mailto:Mark.Harman at ucl.ac.uk>.
web: http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/M.Harman/
twitter: @Mark_Harman
"Mark Harman" on facebook and LinkedIn

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