University of Hertfordshire

College Lane

Hatfield

AL10 9AB

United Kingdom

Dr. Raimund Kirner

tel +44 (0)1707 286362

fax +44 (0)1707 284115

email: r.kirner [AT] herts.ac.uk

web: http://ctca.feis.herts.ac.uk/

PhD Studentships on Concurrency Engineering of Multi-Core Applications

The School of Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire close to London is one of the oldest Computer Science academic departments in the UK. The University’s predecessor, Hatfield College of Technology, was one of the very first adopters of Computer Science as an academic discipline in the country. The Compiler Technology and Computer Architecture group has a strong reputation for its work on compiler technologies for distributed and parallel computing platforms. It collaborates with leading hardware institutions in academia and industry.

The CTCA group currently coordinates the FP7 European research project ADVANCE (Asynchronous and Dynamic Virtualisation through performance Analysis to support Concurrency Engineering), which is carried out jointly with three other Universities and five companies across Europe. The objective of this project is to develop dynamic optimisation techniques for concurrency engineering. One of the key concepts within the project is S-NET, which is a locally developed coordination language used to separate coordination and computation within multi-core applications.

Requirements for applicants:

Within scope of the project we offer PhD studentships

Personal profile:            • Graduate student in the area of computer science

                                      • Interest in compilers and compiler technology

                                      • Adequate English skills (written and spoken)

                                      • Interest in programming

                                      • Propensity for teamwork

Suggested Period:        PhD studentships are awarded for three years, with a bursary of about £ 13.500 per annum. A home student’s fee will also be covered.

Tasks:                           Extension of the flow-programming language S-Net, developed at UH, which is a declarative coordination language that describes the dataflow between functional units of a distributed application. Topics include: adding new mechanisms for robustness such as adaptability within the tool chain of S-NET, extending the expressiveness of S-Net towards embedded computing, as well as further issues of language design and implementation.

Applications:                 Further information and an application form can be obtained from Mrs Lorraine Nicholls, 9AB, Tel: +44 (0) 1707 286083, Research Student Administrator, STRI, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, Herts, AL10, l.nicholls [AT] herts.ac.uk. The topic “Programming Languages and Compilation Technology” has to be given on the application form to reply to this post.

The short-listing process will begin on 1. November 2011. (later applications are still possible, in this case please contact directly Dr. Raimund Kirner (r.kirner [AT] herts.ac.uk) to check for availability)