PhD position in Logic and Verification for AI - Utrecht University

[Jan Broersen]

PhD position in logic and verification for AI - Utrecht University

Deadline for application: October 20th, 2014

For the ERC consolidator project "Responsible Intelligent Systems" 
(REINS) we are looking for a PhD student to be employed in the division 
of artificial intelligence at the department of information and 
computing sciences.

REINS

The REINS project aims to provide a framework for automating 
responsibility, liability, and risk checking for intelligent systems. As 
intelligent systems are increasingly integrated into our daily life, the 
division, assignment and checking of responsibilities between human and 
artificial agents become increasingly important. From robots in 
medicine, the military and transportation (self-driving cars); to 
automated trading agents on the financial markets (algotrades); to 
automated monitoring, prediction and protection systems (pacemakers, 
automated surveillance, early warning systems); we delegate more and 
more responsibility to intelligent devices. By delegating 
responsibilities to intelligent devices, we run the risk of losing track 
of our indirect legal and moral liabilities.

The REINS project divides into three sub-projects: sp1: ”Logics of 
Collective Responsibility”, sp2: “Grades of Responsibility relative to 
Normative Systems" and sp3: “Formal Responsibility Checking”. With 
positions in sub-projects 1 and 2 being fulfilled we are now soliciting 
applications for the PhD position on the third sub-project.

REINS sub-project 3: "Formal Responsibility Checking"

In the Formal Responsibility Checking sub-project we investigate how to 
apply known techniques from the program verification domain (model 
checking, theorem proving) to the responsibility checking domain. We aim 
to develop translations from logical formalisms for representing 
(graded) responsibilities and normative systems, such as the ones 
developed in sub-projects 1 and 2, to formalisms for which model 
checkers and theorem provers already exist.

Starting date: February 1st, 2015 (later or earlier dates may be negotiated)
Goal: Suitable algorithms for responsibility checking through theorem 
proving and model checking
Scientific context: computer science, philosophy, logic, artificial 
intelligence

*Job Description*

Candidates are expected to:
- complete and defend a PhD thesis within the nominal time-frame;
- regularly present intermediate research results at our internal 
colloquium and at international workshops and conferences;
- collaborate with the other researchers in the REINS project;
- participate in the organization of research activities and events such 
as conferences, workshops and symposia;
- assist in teaching tasks and/or take on teaching responsibilities.

*Conditions of employment*

The PhD position is a full-time position for 4 years. Salary starts at € 
2,042.- and increases to € 2,612.- gross per month in the fourth year of 
the appointment. The salary is supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% 
and an end-of-year bonus of 8,3% per year. In addition we offer: a 
pension scheme, a partially paid parental leave, flexible employment 
conditions. Conditions are based on the Collective Labour Agreement 
Dutch Universities. More information is available on: 
http://www.uu.nl/EN/informationfor/jobseekers/Working-for-Utrecht-University/terms-of-employment/Pages/default.aspx

*Utrecht University*

Utrecht University has great ambitions for its teaching quality and 
study success rates. This also applies to its clear research profiles 
which are centred around four themes: Sustainability, Life Sciences, 
Youth & Identity, and Institutions. Utrecht University plays a prominent 
role in our society and contributes to finding the answers to topical 
and future societal issues.

*Faculty of Science*

The Faculty of Science consists of six departments: Biology, 
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Information and Computing Sciences, Physics and 
Astronomy, Chemistry and Mathematics. The Faculty is home to 3500 
students and nearly 2000 staff and is internationally renowned for the 
quality of its research. The Faculty's academic programmes reflect 
developments in today's society.

*Department of Information and Computing Sciences*

The Department of Information and Computing Sciences is nationally and 
internationally well known for its fundamental research in computer 
science and as an initiator in the area of game technology. The 
department's research activities are clustered into four divisions, viz. 
Virtual Worlds, Artificial Intelligence, Interaction Technology, and 
Software Systems. The Department of Information and Computing Sciences 
offers educational bachelor programs in computer science and information 
science, and four (English) research master programs, viz. Game and 
Media Technology, Computing Science, Business Informatics, and 
Artificial Intelligence. Three years ago the Department introduced a 
track on Game Technology in the bachelor program in computer science, 
which led to a substantial annual increase of bachelor students. The 
bachelor programs are the largest computer science and information 
science programs in the Netherlands

*Division Artificial Intelligence*

The division Artificial Intelligence comprises the chairs Intelligent 
Systems, Decision Support Systems and Algorithmic Data Analysis. 
Together these groups cover a broad spectrum of subjects in Artificial 
Intelligence, ranging from symbolic logic approaches to sub-symbolic 
evolutionary approaches; from agent programming to machine learning; 
from knowledge discovery to knowledge representation; from Bayesian 
networks to applied algorithmics for AI.

*How to apply*

Candidates are invited to send (1) a motivation letter, (2) a CV, (3) 
the email address of a referee, and (4) a master thesis plus grades by 
following the instructions on the vacancies page of our faculty 
http://www.uu.nl/faculty/science/EN/AboutFBW/organisation/Pages/vacancies.aspx 
or on the vacancies page of our department 
http://www.cs.uu.nl/vacatures/en/ Deadline for applications is October 
20th, 2014. For any further information on the project or the vacancies 
one can contact dr. Broersen at email address J.M.Broersen at uu.nl or 
professor John-Jules Charles Meyer at email address J.J.C.Meyer at uu.nl