[TYPES/announce] Research position / programming languages / University of Glasgow

[Simon Gay]

[ This position might be of interest to list subscribers. ]

University of Glasgow
College of Science and Engineering
School of Computing Science

Research Assistant / Associate
Ref: 037408
Grade 6/7: £29,176 - £32,817 / £35,845 - £40,322 per annum

We have a position for a research assistant / associate in the
theory, design and implementation of programming languages. This
position is associated with the EPSRC-funded project "STARDUST: Session 
Types for Reliable Distributed Systems".

The position is available for four years from 1st September 2020
or a date to be agreed.


*Project Description*

Distributed software systems are an essential part of the infrastructure 
of modern society. Such systems typically comprise diverse software 
components deployed across networks of hosts. Ensuring their reliability 
is challenging, as software components must correctly communicate and 
synchronise with each other, and any of the hardware or software 
components may fail. Failure and service "outage" is extremely costly, 
with worldwide financial losses due to software failures in 2017 
estimated at US$1.7tn, up from US$1.1tn in 2016.

Failures can occur at all levels of the system stack: hardware, 
operating systems, networks, software, and users. Here we focus on using 
advanced programming language technologies to enable the software level 
to handle failures that arise from any level of the stack. Our aim is to 
provide software-level reliability for distributed systems by combining 
fault prevention with fault tolerance. The key objective is to combine 
the communication-structuring mechanism of session types with the 
scalability and fault-tolerance of actor-based software architectures.

The result will be a well-founded theory of reliable actor programming, 
supported by a collection of libraries and tools, and validated on a 
range of case studies. Key aims are to deliver tools that provide 
lightweight support for developers – e.g. warning of potential issues – 
and to allow developers to continue to use established idioms. By doing 
so we aim to deliver a step change in the engineering of reliable 
distributed software systems.

The project is a collaboration between the University of Glasgow 
(Professor Simon Gay and Professor Phil Trinder), Imperial College 
London (Professor Nobuko Yoshida) and the University of Kent (Professor 
Simon Thompson and Dr Laura Bocchi). The industrial partners are Actyx 
AG, Erlang Solutions Ltd, Lightbend, Quviq AB and Tata Consultancy Services.


*Principal Duties*

The successful candidates will be responsible for conducting research 
into the theory and practice of session types for actor languages, and 
for evaluating programming language designs and implementations in 
relation to realistic case studies provided by the industrial collaborators.

You should have, or be close to completion of, a PhD in a relevant area, 
or have comparable experience; an awarded PhD or equivalent experience 
is necessary for appointment at Grade 7. You should have a track record 
of publication and communication of research results, strong programming 
and software engineering skills, and a strong background in programming 
languages, including type systems and implementation. It is desirable 
also to have one or more of the following: a combination of theoretical 
and practical skills; knowledge of the theory or practice of concurrent 
and distributed systems; knowledge of the theory or practice of 
actor-based languages; knowledge of the theory of session types.

We seek applicants at an international level of excellence. The School 
of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow has an international 
research reputation, and Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, offers an 
outstanding range of cultural resources and a high quality of life.

It is the University of Glasgow’s mission to foster an inclusive 
climate, which ensures equality in our working, learning, research and 
teaching environment.

We strongly endorse the principles of Athena SWAN, including a 
supportive and flexible working environment, with commitment from all 
levels of the organisation in promoting gender equity.


*Coronavirus / COVID-19*

Considering the current travel restrictions, interviews will be held 
remotely if necessary. We will also be flexible about the starting date 
and working practices.


*Further information*

For informal enquiries or further information about the project,
please contact Professor Simon Gay <Simon.Gay at glasgow.ac.uk> or
Professor Phil Trinder <Phil.Trinder at glasgow.ac.uk>.

*Application details*

Online advert at jobs.ac.uk:

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BZP526/research-assistant-associate

Glasgow University online application system:

https://www.gla.ac.uk/it/iframe/jobs/ (enter reference 037408)

Closing date: 27th April 2020


The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401.