[Om-announce] Phd Studentship in Automated Reasoning

[Renate Schmidt]

[Please forward to potentially interested students.]

			 EPSRC funded 
	    PHD STUDENTSHIP IN AUTOMATED REASONING

	  CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 14 May 2010
	 ANTICIPATED START DATE: July - September 2010


One EPSRC funded PhD studentship is available in the School of
Computer Science at the University of Manchester.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The project forms part of an EPSRC Research Project with the
aim to automatically generate implemented automated reasoners.

Reasoning is needed in many subfields of computer science from
verification of programs, ontology reasoning for the semantic
web, multi-agent systems to artificial intelligence and text
mining but also other fields including mathematics,
computational linguistics and philosophy.  Implementing an
automated reasoner from scratch or even implementing one as an
extension of an existing reasoner is a time-consuming and
difficult undertaking.  As an alternative we intend to develop
technology and software for automatically generating
implemented automated reasoners.  The idea is that a
user-defined logical formalisation of an application is
automatically transformed, first, into a deduction calculus,
and finally into an implemented automated reasoner.  This will
give non-expert users and developers the ability to build
implemented reasoners with relative ease in a supported way.
The foundation of the project will be a tableau calculus
synthesis framework that we developed in recent work and have
already applied to a number of logics.

The focus of the PhD project will be on tableau prover
generation for modal and description logics (or other
non-classical logics depending on the background of the
successful applicant).  The expected tasks include
significantly contributing to the development of a prototype
implementation of a tableau prover generator and auxiliary
tools, conducting case studies for various logics, developing
refinements and optimisations, and undertaking an evaluation of
the developed technology.

The project will be supervised by Dr Renate Schmidt and Dr
Dmitry Tishkovsky.

WHO CAN APPLY

The successful applicant is expected to conduct research
leading to original contributions to the project culminating in
a PhD thesis.

Expected qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience:
 - A first class BSc(Hons), strong MSc degree, or equivalent,
   in an appropriate discipline;
 - Background in computer science and/or mathematics with
   significant knowledge of logic and/or automated reasoning,
   preferably including modal, description, first-order logic,
   tableau-based reasoning and equality reasoning;
 - Good programming skills;
 - Good communication skills in English, both oral and written;
 - Ability to work collaboratively.

The studentship is expected to start between 1 July 2010 and 30
September 2010 subject to negotiation, and is available for up to
three years with a stipend of 13,290 pounds per annum (tax free),
full university registration fees for UK/EU students, a
contribution of about 74% to the university registration fees for
Non-EU international students, plus travel money for attending
conferences.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply for the studentship, please send a detailed CV, copies
of transcripts (academic records of marks for courses taken),
names of at least two referees (email addresses preferred) and
covering letter by email to:

    pgr-admissions at cs.man.ac.uk.

Email submission of PDF and/or plain text are acceptable. 

The deadline for applications is *14 May 2010*.  Late
applications may be considered.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further details about the studentship and the project
please contact Dr Renate Schmidt, preferably by email at
schmidt at cs.man.ac.uk.  Additional information about
postgraduate research in the School can be found at
http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/phd/.

NOTE

Formal application to be admitted by the PhD program in the
School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester
needs to be made separately by the successful candidate. 

--
Renate Schmidt    schmidt at cs.man.ac.uk
Computer Science  University of Manchester