PhD Positions at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands

We are looking for excellent candidates for the PhD project.
Title PhD project: Intelligent Trading Agents that Facilitate Decision Making in Multi-Agent Marketplaces using Preference Modeling
PhD supervisors: Eric van Heck, Wolf Ketter

Abstract: Modern business networks and markets are highly dynamic and exhibit a high degree of uncertainty. Under these conditions business managers are routinely faced with complex strategic, tactical, and operational decisions; decisions ranging from the macroscopic (i.e. which markets should we enter and when?) to the microscopic (i.e. which products should be packed on which pallet?).

Also customers are faced with multi attribute decisions, such as from whom can I book a travel under certain constraints (money, time, quality, etc)? Within this project we investigate how learning agents may be designed to support humans in these decision making processes. We define learning agents as software entities that carry out some set of operations on behalf of a user or another program with some degree of independence or autonomy, improve their performance from experience and in so doing employ some knowledge or representation of the user’s goals or needs.

The candidate must fit in the following profile:
MSc or MBA degree in Business Administration, or Management & Economics, or Information Management, or Computer science & Economics; Excellent study record; International orientation and the capacity to speak and write in English; Affiliation with the IT industry, Commitment and drive to execute PhD research.

More info at:
http://www.erim.eur.nl/ERIM/Doctoral_Programme

Application deadline: April 1, 2008

Contact:
Prof. dr ir Eric van Heck
Professor of Information Management and Markets
ERIM Director of Doctoral Education

Rotterdam School of Management
Erasmus University
Department of Decision and Information Sciences
PO Box 1738 (Rm T9-01)
3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Tel: +31-10-4082032
Fax: +31-10-4089010
Email: evanheck[ at ]rsm.nl
http://www.rsm.nl/evanheck