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Two year postdoc position available at University of Sussex




                    University of Sussex                  http://www.susx.ac.uk/


                    School of Cognitive 
                                and 
                    Computing Sciences                 http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/


	Foundations of Computation/ Software Systems Research Groups


Vacancy for a Research Fellow
-----------------------

A postdoctoral research fellow is required for a two year EPSRC funded 
project entitled 

"SafetyNet - Language Techniques for Implementing Policies in
Programmable Networks" 

under the direction of Dr I. Wakeman,  Dr D. Watson and Dr J. Rathke.

This is an ideal position for candidates who have a sound knowledge of
the semantics of programming languages (type systems, static analysis,
operational semantics etc) looking to ground their work in a practical setting. 

They will be given the opportunity to apply, and develop, existing theory 
to the SafetyNet language for programmable networks which has been in
development at the University of Sussex for the past few years:

http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk//projects/safetynet/

Moreover, they will be able to see practical results from their 
efforts as the theoretical work will be conducted alongside another 
research fellow appointed on the project with expertise in compiler
techniques who will be responsible for implementation. 


An overview of the project is as follows:
------------------------------

"The programmable network will form the basis for the pervasive
computing infra-structure, in which applications and appliances are
available anywhere, anytime. One of the requirements is that the
owners of network devices allow third parties to program the devices,
subject to the policies of the device owner.  A major challenge for the
pervasive infra-structure is in providing the dials and knobs through
which the policies of the device owners can be executed.

Our aim is to investigate how far static language and compilation
techniques can be used to provide the control methods through which
policies on third party program execution can be implemented.  We aim
to use recent advances in the semantics of programming languages
combined with compiler analysis techniques to make information about
the behaviour of a program available before it is run.  This
information will be available as type information in any code which is 
loaded onto a machine, so that the device or device manager can make
decision about whether it satisfies its own particular policy
constraints.

We believe that the pervasive network will only be successful if there 
is an economic structure to manage the network of processing nodes.
A secondary effect is that programmers will be able to reason a priori
about the behaviour of their programs over a network of processing
locations of various capabilities and prices.  We propose over the
course of the project to provide a programmers toolkit which will
allow programmers to benchmark their programs against particular
environments."

Details:
------

The position is available from 1st Oct 2001.  A Ph.D. in Computer
Science or equivalent experience is  required. In addition to normal
research duties the successful candidate may be asked to provide
a small amount of assistance to undergraduate teaching. 

The salary will be £17,451 - £26,229 pa (Research & Analogous Scale
1A) commensurate with age and experience. 

To apply please submit applications NOW to 

Dr Ian Wakeman 
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences 
University of Sussex 
Falmer 
Brighton BN1 9QH 
UK 

Tel: +44 1273 678195
email: ianw@cogs.sussex.ac.uk 

from whom more details of the project and the conditions of service are available. 
Informal queries regarding the position may also be forwarded to Dr Julian Rathke 
(julianr@cogs.susx.ac.uk).

Applications should include: 

    a detailed curriculum vitae, 
    names of two referees with their email addresses, 
    a statement outlining the candidate's suitability for and proposed contributions to the project, 
    copies of (or URL references for) any relevant publications.