Norway PhD Student in Logics for Multi-Agent Systems at Bergen University College

Bergen University College, Faculty of Engineering, has an open position for a PhD student in logics for multi-agent systems. The contract is for 4 years with 25% teaching duties. The PhD student will be attached to the Department of Computer Engineering, and the position is in the faculty`s prioritised area software development. The position forms a part of the faculty`s research programme in software development for distributed systems which is being developed to be one of the University College`s strategic research programmes.

The programme currently involves 7 permanent professors and associate professors and several PhD and masters students. The Department is responsible for the bachelor programmes in computer engineering and information technology, as well as a masters programme in software development in collaboration with Department of Informatics, University of Bergen.

Multi-agent systems are software systems consisting of interacting autonomous components called agents. Autonomy entails that an agent`s behaviour is determined by its individual goals and beliefs about its environments, as opposed to central control. Agents need a way to represent their beliefs about the rest of the system, and a mechanism for reasoning about the system. When we design multi-agent systems we need a way to specify their properties and a method for verifying that a system has a given property. These are some of the reasons formal logic is considered to form one of the formal underpinnings of multi-agent systems. Logic is used for knowledge representation for agents, and is the foundation for tools which let us specify, verify and automatically synthesise multi-agent systems. Logics suitable for this purpose are logics for reasoning about various aspects of interaction. Such aspects include epistemic, intentional, strategic, normative, temporal, etc.

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The research tasks for the student will be to develop and study logics for interaction in multi-agent systems.

The successful applicant must have achieved a masters degree, or equivalent, in computer or information science, logic, or a similar field. Candidates who have submitted their master thesis for evaluation by the deadline of this call may apply if the degree is given within four weeks. No later than 6 months after the appointment is made the PhD student must be enrolled at a PhD study programme at the degree awarding institution (see below).

When evaluating the applicants weight will be put on competence in the research area as described above. The applicant should be competent in formal logic, preferably modal logic. Competence in related areas such as game theory or social choice theory will be an advantage. Existing research experience will count in the evaluation, as will a possible outline of a plan for the PhD research project.

The PhD student must enrol in an approved 4 years PhD programme. 25% of the time will be spent on duties such as teaching, development or administrative tasks. The employment period may be reduced if the successful applicant has held previous employment as a research fellow.

Bergen University College cannot award the PhD degree itself, but will together with a degree awarding institution develop a detailed plan for the PhD studies. The degree awarding institution will be chosen by Bergen University College, and has on previous similar occasions been the University of Bergen. The PhD student will be assigned an academic supervisor at Bergen University College, who will collaborate in applying for enrolment in a PhD programme depending on the candidate`s background. An application for enrolment should first be submitted after an appointment is made. If the evaluation committee finds that several applicants have approximately the same qualifications, the rules for allocation by sex quota in the personnel regulations will be used.

Applicants for the position will be evaluated by a committee consisting of three members. Copies of a written application, CV, diplomas, transcripts, publications and a publication list must be submitted in three complete sets within a week after the deadline. The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the submitted sets are complete. The papers will be returned when the case is closed. Send all papers to: Høgskolen i Bergen, Seksjon for personal- og organisasjonsutvikling, PB 7030, 5020 Bergen.

Applicants may be called in for an interview.

Salery scale
PhD students follow code 1017, salary grade 45-50 of the Norwegian State Salary scale, gross NOK 353 200 to NOK 384 900 per year. PhD students are normally remunerated at salary level 45. There is a compulsory 2 % deduction to the pension fund.

Job type: Permanent
Working hours: Full-time
Working days: Day
Application deadline: November 1st, 2008
Location: Nygårdsgaten 112, 5008 Bergen
Reference Number: 08
Home page: http://www.hib.no/avd_ai/data/index.htm
Contacts: Thomas Ågotnes
Telephone: 55 58 72 29