PhD Studentship in Computer Science (Large Scale Complex IT Systems), University of York, UK

York has just won a five year EPSRC-funded Large Scale Complex IT Systems (LSCITS) initiative. LSCITS is a collaboration between Bristol, Leeds, Oxford, St Andrews and the University of York, and is intended to address fundamental problems in the development and assessment of modern, complex computer-based systems. York's part of the programme focuses on high integrity applications.

There is a EPSRC PhD studentship available to start October 2007 or April 2008 to research in the area of: Context Independent Dependability Properties. The aim of the programme is to develop, if practical, a "contract language" and analysis method to evaluate the dependability properties of complex system configurations, given knowledge of the properties of the components. To make this practical it is likely that a subset of the dependability properties will be considered, e.g. safety, availability and reliability. If appropriate, the results will be integrated into the work on agile high integrity processes, and hence validated.

The work will involve a mixture of academic study, case studies and technology transfer. The work will be carried out at York, but will involve interaction with the other collaborators. This will include regular project, technical and experimental meetings; special interest group meetings and workshops.

Requirements: Applicants should have (or expect to gain in the near future) a 1st or 2(i) honours degree, or a masters qualification in Computer Science or a related discipline.

The grant covers both academic fees and subsistence for three years. The stipend in the academic year 2007-2008 is GBP 12,600, tax exempt, GBP 12,900 in the following year, and around GBP 13,200 in the final year. Additional support to cover project costs and conference travel will also be available.

Due to EPSRC restrictions, the above studentships are available to UK/EU candidates only.

Informal enquiries regarding the project may be obtained by contacting the supervisors: Dr R Paige (paige[at]cs.york.ac.uk) and Dr S. King (king[at]cs.york.ac.uk) or the LSCITS Principal Investigator Prof J A McDermid (john.mcdermid[at]cs.york.ac.uk).

Application forms and instructions can be found in Graduate Schools Office homepage: http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/gso/gsp/apply/paperapply.htm.

Further information about the University, the Department and the HISE Group may be found in the following web sites
http://www.york.ac.uk/;
http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/;
http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/hise/