The Department of Informatics (IFI) is one of nine departments belonging to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo. IFI is Norway’s largest university department for general education and research in Computer Science and related topics. You can read more about the Department here:. The Department has near 800 students on bachelor level, near 300 master students, and over 200 PhD students. The totall staff of the Department is close to 250 employees, about 150 of these are full time scientific positions: about 60 Professors and Associate Professors.

The fellowship is for a period of up to 3 years.

Job Description:

The scholarship is in the framework of the Tidal News (Middleware Platform for Adaptive and Dependable Data Dissemination) project.

We are witnessing a dramatic increase in the use of data-centric distributed systems such as the dynamic Web, sensor networks, network-monitoring systems, and various publish-subscribe systems. The ubiquitous presence of such systems creates very large application networks that spread over large geographical areas and diverse intra- and inter-organizational domains. The visions of massive demand-driven data dissemination, intensive processing, and intelligent fusion in order to build dynamic knowledge bases that seemed infeasible just a few years ago are about to come true.

However, the realization of this potential demands adequate support from middleware that could be used to deploy and support such systems. At this time, both COTS middleware software and even state-of-art research middleware lack the technological foundations to cope with the enormous volume of data, constantly changing underlying network connectivity, and dynamic system organization. Typically, numerous information transmitters produce continuous data flows as well as massive unpredictable bursts of data at geographically dispersed locations. This data needs to be rapidly processed, routed, and classified by the degree of criticality, and intelligently fused. A large number of potentially mobile clients can issue multiple concurrent queries of varying urgency, priority, and precision requirements. In order to build a system that is capable of handling such a demanding situation, there is a clear need to develop new middleware technologies for scalable, mobility, adaptive, and reliable handling of these high-volume dynamic information flows.

We are seeking a student who is interested in designing, developing, and evaluating techniques that address these issues.

Requirements:

Applicants must have a degree in Computer Science, or in a related study, with excellent results. They must also be able to demonstrate interest in scientific research. The ideal candidate for the position will have strong background in distributed computing.

The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree.

The fellowship requires admission to the research training programme at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. An approved plan for the research training, including a project outline, must be submitted no later than two months after taking up the position, and the admission must be approved within three months. For further information see:

A good command of English is required of all students attending the University of Oslo.

The application must include:

• Application letter
• Project description
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work – scientific publications),
• Copies of transcripts of records, and educational certificates
• List of publications and academic work that the applicant swishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number

Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University’s grading system.

Please remember that all documents should be in English or a Scandinavian language.

Closing date for applications: September 17, 2010