The University of Oslo is calling for applications from students for PhD Research Fellowship in Informatics at Department of Informatics
Deadline for application: 7-April-2019. Starting date as soon as possible. No later than 01-October-2019.
The fellowship period is either 3 or 4 years, where a choice of four years would imply 3 years devoted to research education combined with a compulsory work load of 25% that consists of teaching and supervision duties and research assistance.
Job description
Through recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of languages that run on top of runtime systems. JavaScript, Java, C#, Scala, Python, and Go are just a few examples of widely adopted managed languages that run on top of such runtimes. The extensive use of managed languages reveals that application developers want to take advantage of all the benefits of using a runtime system, and also shows that current runtimes’ design is mature, providing competitive performance when compared to traditional languages such as C and C++. Therefore, we foresee that runtime system utilization will continue to grow in the future, suggesting the need for more research in this area. In addition, many research works have shown that memory management algorithms, Garbage Collection (GC) algorithms in particular, can be tuned in order to prioritize specific performance metrics such as latency, throughput, and memory utilization (footprint). With the recent development of new GC algorithms providing ultra-low latency (e.g., NG2C, C4, Shanendoah, ZGC), the memory management landscape becomes more complex. In particular, selecting the correct GC for a specific application is not trivial since each GC provides different trade-offs.
Thus, this PhD proposal addresses the need to study how current GCs perform regarding the above mentioned metrics (in particular, latency and throughput) to better understand their trade-offs and select the right GC solution. An example of such trade-off is the need of higher footprint and lower throughput in order to guarantee lower pause times, i.e. lower latency (as is the case with C4, Shanendoah, and ZGC). Findings on how current GCs behave, for example, with smaller footprints, could affect both migration and other related memory management works (e.g., in dynamic vertical scalability algorithms) which try to reduce the amount of memory used before a JVM live migration or during periods in which applications have low activity. In short, not only current GCs must be studied, but trade-offs must also be ameliorated; for example, this PhD will explore a possible solution which is to use the underlying host operating system to identify unmodified memory pages that could be skipped during a full tracing cycle, thus helping to minimize applications pause times.
The candidate will be supervised by a group of supervisors in the Programming and Software Engineering Group who have broad competence in informatics: Paulo Ferreira, Professor, Department of Informatics, UiO Eric Jul, Professor, Department of Informatics, UiO
Qualification requirements
• Applicants must hold a Master’s degree (120 ECTS, minimum grade B in the ECTS grading scale) or equivalent in informatics or a related field. The Master’s degree must include a thesis of at least 30 ECTS. • Prior knowledge and/or practice with system level programming, JVM or Garbage Collection, is considered an advantage. • Documented strong programming skills. • The candidate should be motivated. • Fluent oral and written communication skills in English.
The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition of being a leading research faculty. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.
The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree. The fellowship requires admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The application to the PhD programme must be submitted to the department no later than two months after taking up the position. For more information see: http://www.uio.no/english/research/phd/ http://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/
They offer
• Salary NOK 449 900 – 497 000 per annum depending on qualifications and seniority as PhD Research Fellow, (position code 1017). • Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement, in addition to Oslo’s family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities.
How to apply
The application must include: • Cover letter. Statement of motivation and research interests. • CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work – scientific publications). • Copies of educational certificates, transcript of records (must include grades from BSc and MSc degrees) • Letters of recommendation. • Documentation of English proficiency for International applicants. • List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee. • Names and contact details of 2–3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number).
The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, please follow the link “apply for this job”. Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University’s grading system. Please note that all documents should be in English (or a Scandinavian language).
Short-listed applicants may be called in for an interview.
Candidates without a Master’s degree have until June 30th 2019 to complete the final exam.
Formal regulations
Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Research Fellowships at the University of Oslo. Note that no one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.
According to the Norwegian Freedom and Information Act (“Offentleglova”) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.
The appointment may be shortened/given a more limited scope within the framework of the applicable guidelines on account of any previous employment in academic positions.
The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results etc.
The University of Oslo aims to achieve a balanced gender composition in the workforce and to recruit people with ethnic minority backgrounds.
Contact information For further information please contact: Paulo Ferreira, e-mail: paulofe@ifi.uio.no