[ The Types Forum (announcements only),
http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-announce ]
University of Glasgow
College of Science and Engineering
School of Computing Science
Research Assistant / Associate
Ref: 037408
Grade 6/7: £32,332 - £36,024 / £39,347 - £44,263 per annum
We have a position for a research assistant / associate in the
theory, design and implementation of programming languages. This
position is associated with the EPSRC-funded project "STARDUST: Session
Types for Reliable Distributed Systems" (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://epsrc-stardust.github.io/__;!!IBzWLUs!QjRFFiqaFuzZn7F8rXiErjIM2p_9xY6CwCMI-43nKESM0La6PtiMGVvBS9JslhIeRKrVKoAwpbYwCmyzeCVa7RHWj1-yJrMSO9Dr4jc$ ).
The position is available from 1st June 2024 (or a date to be agreed) to
31st July 2026.
The position is based in Glasgow, and working in the office at least
three days per week is expected.
*Project Description*
Distributed software systems are an essential part of the infrastructure
of modern society. Such systems typically comprise diverse software
components deployed across networks of hosts. Ensuring their reliability
is challenging, as software components must correctly communicate and
synchronise with each other, and any of the hardware or software
components may fail. Failure and service "outage" is extremely costly,
with worldwide financial losses due to software failures in 2017
estimated at US$1.7tn, up from US$1.1tn in 2016.
Failures can occur at all levels of the system stack: hardware,
operating systems, networks, software, and users. Here we focus on using
advanced programming language technologies to enable the software level
to handle failures that arise from any level of the stack. Our aim is to
provide software-level reliability for distributed systems by combining
fault prevention with fault tolerance. The key objective is to combine
the communication-structuring mechanism of session types with the
scalability and fault-tolerance of actor-based software architectures.
The result will be a well-founded theory of reliable actor programming,
supported by a collection of libraries and tools, and validated on a
range of case studies. Key aims are to deliver tools that provide
lightweight support for developers – e.g. warning of potential issues –
and to allow developers to continue to use established idioms. By doing
so we aim to deliver a step change in the engineering of reliable
distributed software systems.
The project is a collaboration between the University of Glasgow
(Professor Simon Gay, Professor Phil Trinder and Dr Simon Fowler), the
University of Oxford (Professor Nobuko Yoshida) and the University of
Kent (Professor Simon Thompson and Dr Laura Bocchi). The industrial
partners are Actyx AG, Erlang Solutions Ltd, Quviq AB and Tata
Consultancy Services.
*Principal Duties*
The main achievement so far of the Glasgow part of the STARDUST project
is the development of mailbox typing for a core actor language,
published at ICFP 2023 (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://simonjf.com/writing/pat.pdf__;!!IBzWLUs!QjRFFiqaFuzZn7F8rXiErjIM2p_9xY6CwCMI-43nKESM0La6PtiMGVvBS9JslhIeRKrVKoAwpbYwCmyzeCVa7RHWj1-yJrMSiYaF2Ek$ ). Mailbox
types characterise the unordered contents of mailboxes and allow static
detection of a range of errors related to the production and consumption
of messages. The successful candidate will be responsble for further
theoretical work on mailbox typing, in parallel with and in support of
ongoing work on the design and implementation of a mailbox typing tool
for Erlang/Elixir.
You should have, or be close to completion of, a PhD in a relevant area,
or have comparable experience; an awarded PhD or equivalent experience
is necessary for appointment at Grade 7. You should have a track record
of publication and communication of research results, strong programming
and software engineering skills, and a strong background in programming
languages, including type systems and implementation. It is desirable
also to have one or more of the following: a combination of theoretical
and practical skills; knowledge of the theory or practice of concurrent
and distributed systems; knowledge of the theory or practice of
actor-based languages;
knowledge of the theory of behavioural types.
We seek applicants at an international level of excellence. The School
of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow has an international
research reputation, and Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, offers an
outstanding range of cultural resources and a high quality of life. The
successful applicant will be part of the FATA Section and the
Programming Languages Theme. FATA is a large, friendly, and active
research group in theoretical computer science, including algorithms and
complexity, programming language foundations and formal methods. The
Programming Languages Theme comprises researchers interested in
programming languages from theory, systems, and education. We have a
regular seminar series, PLUG, and members of the theme regularly publish
in top venues (e.g., POPL, ICFP, ECOOP, ESOP, CONCUR). We are also
members of the Scottish Programming Languages Institute and participate
in activities such as the Scottish Programming Languages Seminar and the
Scottish Programming Languages and Verification Summer School.
It is the University of Glasgow’s mission to foster an inclusive
climate, which ensures equality in our working, learning, research and
teaching environment.
We strongly endorse the principles of Athena SWAN, including a
supportive and flexible working environment, with commitment from all
levels of the organisation in promoting gender equity.
*Further information*
For informal enquiries or further information about the project,
please contact Professor Simon Gay <[email protected]>,
Professor Phil Trinder <[email protected]> or Dr Simon Fowler
<[email protected]>.
*Application details*
Online advert at jobs.ac.uk:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DFG143/research-assistant-associate__;!!IBzWLUs!QjRFFiqaFuzZn7F8rXiErjIM2p_9xY6CwCMI-43nKESM0La6PtiMGVvBS9JslhIeRKrVKoAwpbYwCmyzeCVa7RHWj1-yJrMSga4nEg0$
Glasgow University online application system:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.gla.ac.uk/it/iframe/jobs/__;!!IBzWLUs!QjRFFiqaFuzZn7F8rXiErjIM2p_9xY6CwCMI-43nKESM0La6PtiMGVvBS9JslhIeRKrVKoAwpbYwCmyzeCVa7RHWj1-yJrMSbtqN6Js$
(enter reference 136868)
Closing date: 29th February 2024
The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401.
