[TYPES/announce] Postdoctoral position on Web/database programming languages at Edinburgh LFCS

[James Cheney]

Hi,

We are now accepting applications for a postdoctoral  position in
Web/database programming languages.  The position is for 24 months,
starting on September 1, 2020 or earlier.  Funding is provided by a €1.99M
Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council on the project:
"Skye: A programming language bridging theory and practice for scientific
data curation".

https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=052075

Funding from this ERC grant, and certain national funding schemes, is also
available to help support travel/accommodation costs for visits from
students, researchers or faculty at other institutions whose research
aligns with the project.  Please get in touch if interested.

== Research associate (£33,797 - £40,322)  ==

This postdoctoral research position is on Web/database programming and
scientific data curation techniques in the Skye project.  This project
builds on the Links web programming language to add built-in support for
scientific data management needs, particularly data archiving,
transformation and provenance.  Currently Links supports sophisticated
database access via language-integrated query (ICFP 2013), but only for
relational databases; other data models and query languages are not
supported, and Links's capabilities for rewriting or transforming queries
or updates is limited.

The overall research goal of the Skye project is to identify, develop, and
implement extensibility or metaprogramming capabilities to make advanced
database programming easy.  The successful candidate will focus on
developing language-integrated query support for new data models/query
languages, such as graph or RDF databases, and will work with other Skye
project members to incorporate these techniques into Links.

Links also has other advanced capabilities such as support for type
inference with first-class poplymorphism (PLDI 2020), distributed
programming with session types (POPL 2019) and algebraic effects and
handlers (JFP 2020), and interactions between these features and database
programming or new applications to database programming are in scope.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in programming languages
or databases, with a specialization in Web programming or database
programming including familiarity with different distributed programming
techniques or query languages and data models.  Familiarity with
programming language foundations is also desirable, as is experience with
functional programming (e.g. Scala, OCaml, Haskell).  Candidates with a
strong background in either database or programming language research will
be considered as long as there is clear evidence of ability to learn the
complementary background.


== What about COVID-19 then? ==

Remote working is possible and encouraged.  Successful candidates who are
eligible to work in the UK without a visa (= UK or EEA nationals) will be
able to take up the post and work remotely prior to arrival in Edinburgh.
Candidates currently in the UK on Tier 4 student visas will also be able to
begin work while waiting for a Tier 2 visa.  Candidates in other situations
may be able to start work remotely but this depends on UKVI guidelines
which are in flux; such candidates are advised to contact us to discuss the
situation.


== To apply ==

For more information about the project, and about other related activities
in my group, LFCS, and Edinburgh, please write to me or consult the
following page:

http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/jcheney/group/skye.html

Applications must be received by 5pm GMT, June 9, 2020.  To apply, visit
the University job posting for this position:

Research Associate

https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=052075
<https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=048311>

then click "apply" and follow the instructions.  Please note that
applicants must use the University's application system above, which
involves some account registration and form-filling, and it is recommended
that applicants complete this process well before the deadline, since the
system automatically stops accepting applications after the deadline.

== Environment ==

The University of Edinburgh School of Informatics brings together
world-class research groups in theoretical computer science, artificial
intelligence and cognitive science. The School led the UK 2014 REF rankings
in volume of internationally recognized or internationally excellent
research. In 2013, the School of Informatics received an Athena Swan Silver
Award, in recognition of its commitment to advancing the careers of women
in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM)
employment in higher education and research. Overall the University of
Edinburgh has achieved a Silver Award.

LFCS hosts a wide variety of research on programming languages, and
collaborates with researchers in compilers/systems elsewhere in the School
of Informatics as well as with colleabgues across Scotland as part of the
Scottish Programming Languages & Verification community.  PL research in
the School will soon be strengthened by new arrivals with interests in
verification, program synthesis, DSLs for performance-portable parallelism,
and databases.
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