The University of Edinburgh
Research Associateship
Further Particulars
Applications are invited for a research position, at the level of either Postdoctoral Research Associateship or Postgraduate Research Studentship, to work on the EC funded Long Term Research project MHAOTEU. The goal of this research project is to develop methods and tools for interactive optimisation of memory hierarchy behaviour in computationally-intensive applications. This 3-year project is a collaboration between academic institutions and industrial partners from the UK, France and Spain.
We are looking for an enthusiastic, self-motivated candidate, with a good first degree in Computer Science, and a strong interest in one or more of the following topics:
- program analysis and optimisation
- program transformations
- dynamic program behaviour
- caches and memory hierarchies
- auto-parallelisation
- interactive software engineering tools.
Further technical details about the project can be obtained from the MHAOTEU web-site
Informatics at Edinburgh
At the University of Edinburgh, Departments are organised into Planning Units. The Faculty of Science and Engineering consists of nine planning units. The study of Informatics is centred on the Informatics Planning Unit (IPU), consisting of:- Department of Artificial Intelligence (DAI)
- Department of Computer
Science
(DCS)
including the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science (LFCS) and Computer Systems Group (CSG) - Centre for Cognitive
Science
(CCS)
including the Centre for Neural Science (CNS) - Human Communication Research
Centre
(HCRC)
including the Language Technology Group (LTG).
Research is currently organised at Departmental level, primarily - although there are many interdisciplinary links within the Planning Unit and beyond. Computer Science has been mostly concerned with the engineering principles and the rigorous mathematisation of concepts which lie behind methods and languages for hardware and software design; Artificial Intelligence has contributed at this level, and at the higher levels where machines assist (or replace) humans in sensing, understanding and manipulating their environment; Cognitive Science and the HCRC are concerned with the computational basis of human thought and behaviour, and with how humans interact with computers.
The diverse research strengths of the IPU, together with related activities in the Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute (AIAI), Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) and the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering , provide a stimulating academic environment for Informatics, within the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The EPCC has as one of its main aims the support of applications work being carried out on parallel systems, by investigating those fundamental aspects of parallel computing which can lead to the development of new and improved systems and user support tools. The Department of Electrical Engineering is a world leader both in the development of tools and technologies for digital systems design, and in the design and implementation of novel systems. Edinburgh is the lead University in a partnership with the Universitites of Glasgow, Herriot-Watt, and Strathclyde to develop our teaching and research in System Level Integration (SLI). We plan to establish, jointly, a Centre for System Level Integration, within the Design Complex at Livingston recently announced by Scottish Enterprise. This will provide major new opportunities for teaching and research in this area.
Edinburgh's breadth of excellence, much of it at the frontier, is almost unique among Universities worldwide; as well as playing a leading rôle in many separate topics, Edinburgh is also a world leader in the emerging discipline of Informatics. We already have an established record of interdisciplinary research. The establishment of a Division of Informatics will foster the development of new interdisciplinary areas, both within the Division, and extending to outside it.
Teaching
Teaching within the Informatics Planning Unit has been judged excellent in the most recent (1994) SHEFC assessment exercise. There is a flourishing community of roughly 550 FTE undergraduates, 100 FTE taught postgraduates and 125 FTE research postgraduates.At undergraduate level, we offer four-year Honours degrees in Computer Science, and in Software Engineering, together with the following four-year joint Honours degrees:
- Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science;
- Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics;
- Artificial Intelligence and Psychology;
- Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering;
- Computer Science and Electronics;
- Computer Science and Management Science;
- Computer Science and Mathematics;
- Computer Science and Physics; and
- Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence.
Taught M.Sc courses in Artificial Intelligence (50 students currently), Cognitive Science (20) and Computer Science (30) are offered. There are also M.Sc, M.Phil and Ph.D research degrees. The IPU is moving to establish a Graduate School in Informatics, in conjunction with the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.
As part of the SLI initiative, the four partner Universities are developing a major new MSc in System level Integration, which we plan to deliver from October 1999. Some of this material will be piloted within our existing MSc courses, from October 1998.
Infrastructure
Edinburgh has excellent computing facilities for research and teaching. The University has around 6000 Personal Computers, some 600 servers and workstations, and a Cray T3D supercomputer. The Cray is the most powerful computer in Europe, with 512 processors, giving 76 gigaflops peak performance. It has 32 gigabytes of memory, and 20 terabytes of mass data storage.The computing resource is bound together by state of the art networks: 10,000 computer connections, linked by 120 km of ethernet (10 Mb/s) and some 20 km of fibre optic cable (155 Mb/s). The University has high bandwidth connectivity to the rest of the world -- currently totalling some 1.5 Gb/s (6 * 155 Mb/s + 19 * 34Mb/s).
The University is currently embarked on a major project to develop a Science and Engineering Library, Learning and Information Centre (SELLIC), which will exploit its infrastructure and its expertise in Informatics, to support teaching, research, and scholarship.
The departments of the IPU support their own well-integrated local networks of over 300 workstations. The infrastructure is supported by professional computing officers, who themselves contribute to the development of computing systems to support teaching and research.
Funding
Informatics accounts for a turnover of some £11M. The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) provides a basic grant of £4.4M to support research (£2.7M) and teaching (£1.7M). Contracts and Research Grants from UK research councils, European Union and Industry provide direct support to individual research projects of around £3.8M within the IPU, and £1.1M in AIAI. Student fees provide the balance of the income, around £1.4M (home £0.9M, overseas £0.5M).Department of Computer Science
The Department of Computer Science was established with six staff in 1966, when the functions of the Computer Unit (itself established in 1963) were divided between teaching (in the Department) and service (in what is now the Edinburgh University Computing Service ). It has since grown into one of the largest departments in the Science & Engineering Faculty with 26 lecturing staff (including six professors), supported by 13 computing officers, 7 technical, and 9 secretarial and administrative staff. There are currently three established Chairs and three Personal Chairs The Department has played a leading role in the development of Computer Science; its view of the subject stresses a mutual dependence between scientific theory and engineering practice.
Research
Theoretical research is based in the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science (LFCS), and systems research is mostly based in the Computer Systems Group (CSG).Systems research
Systems research ranges across the various levels that constitute a computer system, from computer architecture at one extreme, to the investigation of human factors in the design of computer interfaces at the other. Most of this research is carried out under the umbrella of the Computer Systems Group (CSG). Within the CSG, Systems Architecture is one unifying theme, and Simulation is now emerging as a second unifying theme. There is interplay between these two themes, since architecture design requires simulation, and simulation requires appropriate architectures.Systems Architecture research includes work in computer architecture (high performance systems and asynchronous systems), distributed computing and distributed databases, flexible systems (custom computing and network computing) and parallel computing (models of parallel computation and structured parallel programming). Simulation research includes work on building simulators and on simulation of real systems (e.g., of cache/memory systems, communication systems and virtual hardware systems). In addition to work under these groupings, there is other research on topics, such as computer supported cooperative work, human-computer interaction, software engineering and virtual environments.
Research into the automatic parallelisation of restricted but significant classes of programs has its roots in the mathematical treatment of the design and analysis of algorithms.
For more information on systems research within the CSG, see
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/csg/index.html
.
Location
Edinburgh is one of the most attractive cities in the UK. It combines the architectural grandeur and cultural advantages of a capital city with unrivalled access to unspoilt countryside.
The Department of Computer Science is located in the James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB), at the King's Buildings campus of Edinburgh University, about 2 miles from the centre of the city. The other Informatics units are currently located in the Central Area: the Department of Artificial Intelligence has two sites, at Forrest Hill and 80 South Bridge; CCS and HCRC are housed in Buccleuch Place.
The University and the Faculty
The University of Edinburgh is a world-class university situated in the heart of Scotland's capital . It was established in 1583 and is now one of the largest in the UK, with an international reputation for excellence in a large array of subjects, including Science and Engineering.
Faculty Groups
For purposes of academic and financial management including planning and budgeting the eight Faculties (Arts, Divinity, Law, Medicine, Music, Science & Engineering, Social Sciences, Veterinary Medicine) are grouped to form four Faculty Groups (Arts, Divinity and Music; Law and Social Sciences; Medicine and Veterinary Medicine; Science and Engineering). Overall managerial responsibility for each Faculty Group is exercised by the Provost, appointed by the University Court on the nomination of the Faculty Group concerned, and with the approval of the Principal, as Designated Officer under the Financial Memorandum for the University.
Science and Engineering
The University of Edinburgh has developed a reputation for leadership
and innovation in many different areas of Science and Engineering
research. This excellence has been recognised by both industry and
government through the award of research grants to University teaching
staff, the Science and Engineering award is currently worth
£24 million. In the 1996 UFC Research Assessment Exercise the
Faculty was rated as
follows:
| Unit of Assessment | 1996 Rating | FTE research active staff |
| Biological Sciences | 5 A | 89.9 |
| Agriculture | 5 B | 24.5 |
| Chemistry | 5 A | 38.0 |
| Physics | 5 B | 47.6 |
| Earth Sciences | 5 A | 49.1 |
| Environmental Sciences | 4 A | 4.0 |
| Pure Mathematics | 5 B | 18.0 |
| Applied Mathematics | 4 B | 10.0 |
| Statistics and OR | 4 A | 12.0 |
| Computer Science | 5 A | 80.2 |
| Chemical Engineering | 3a A | 12.0 |
| Civil Engineering | 4 A | 16.7 |
| Electrical Engineering | 5* A | 31.0 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 3a B | 10.0 |
This research excellence feeds back into undergraduate teaching in many different ways - students will learn of the very latest developments in their subject and the specialised equipment that they might require for an undergraduate project will be available.
Science at the University of Edinburgh began in 1583 at the same time as the foundation of the Tounis College of Edinburgh. From small beginnings within the Faculties of Arts and Medicine it flourished to the extent that degrees in science were instituted in 1864, and in 1893 a separate Faculty of Science was established. Today, the Faculty of Science and Engineering is outstanding in Scotland, within one of the leading research universities in the United Kingdom.
Distinguished former staff and students include Chemist Joseph Black; James Hutton, father of modern Geology; the author Robert Louis Stevenson, who studied Engineering at Edinburgh; Charles Darwin; Max Born, who received the Nobel Prize for Physics; Turing Award winners Robin Milner and Leslie Valiant; and Peter Higgs, of Higgs Boson fame.
The Faculty now has over 4,000 under-graduates, and over 1,000 post-graduates, with over 1,200 academic, research, technical and administrative staff. In the Teaching Quality Assessment exercise conducted by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC),the following subject areas in the Faculty of Science and Engineering have achieved excellent ratings:
- Computer Studies
- Chemistry
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Mathematics & Statistics
- Physics
- Geology
Terms of Appointment
The Research Associateship is a fixed term appointment for a period of two years. A Postgraduate Studentship is also available, and this will be for a period of three years.
Application Procedure
Application forms should be obtained from the personnel department, which may be contacted by phone, fax, or post, (details below) or by completing this form Please quote vacancy reference number 896180
Recruitment
Personnel Office,
The University of Edinburgh,
1 Roxburgh Street,
Edinburgh EH8 9TB
Fax (+44 (0) 131 650 6509)
email personnel@ed.ac.uk
Complete and return the Application Form and the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form, together with a letter of application, your curriculum vitae, a statement of research interests, and the names and addresses of 3 referees. Please include fax numbers and email addresses for referees if possible. Applications should be addressed to Recruitment, at the Personnel Office, and sent by post, fax or email, to arrive by the closing date given in the advertisement.
References will be treated as confidential to the Selection Committee; the curriculum vitae and letters of application of candidates short-listed for interview will be circulated to the Principal Investigators responsible for this post. The taking up of references is selective but does not imply a decision that the applicant will be placed on the final short-list for interview.
Further information can be obtained from Dr. Nigel Topham, Project Leader, (by telephone: +44 (0)131 650 5171, or e-mail: npt@dcs.ed.ac.uk). Prospective applicants are invited to discuss these posts informally with him, or with Dr. Mike O'Boyle, (+44 (0)131 650 5117, mob@dcs.ed.ac.uk ).
NOTE:- These further particulars do not constitute a contract of employment and do not in any way override the terms of any contract of employment which may be issued subsequently to the successful candidate. The University reserves the right to make appointments from outwith those candidates who have submitted formal applications, or to make no appointment.
Summary of Conditions of Employment:
Academic and Academic Related Staff
Hours of Work:
Fixed hours of attendance are not specified, you will be expected to work such hours, normally Monday to Friday, as are required for the proper discharge of your duties.
The working week will average 35 hours. Part-time staff will be remunerated pro-rata to 35 hours.
Leave:
You will be paid your normal salary during any period of sickness absence up to a period of three months, thereafter the conditions of sick leave are at the discretion of Staff Committee.
Annual leave entitlement is 6 working weeks in each academic year. In addition to the period of annual leave, you will be entitled to 8 days contract Public Holidays.
Salary:
Salary is paid monthly by direct transfer to your Bank or Building Society account, normally on the 28th of the month. Salaries for part-time staff are calculated on the full-time scales, pro-rata to the Standard Working Week.
Superannuation:
Staff join the Universities' Superannuation Scheme from their date of appointment to the University. Membership is not compulsory, and staff can elect to be excluded. The employee's contribution to the Universities' Superannuation Scheme is currently 6.35% of basic monthly salary and the University contributes the balance, currently 14.00%. Additional Voluntary Contributions can be paid by employees. Members of the Universities' Superannuation Scheme are contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) under the Social Security Act 1975.
Policy on Smoking:
From 1 October 1997 the University will operate a policy prohibiting smoking in its premises, with certain exceptions for residential accommodation and licensed premises.
The University of Edinburgh
Research Associateship in Computer Science
Department of Computer Science
11th March 1998