About the position
Position as PhD Research Fellow in Secure and Sustainable Blockchain Technologies available at the Networks and Distributed systems (ND) group, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, in collaboration with the Digital Security (SEC) research group. Since the position is related to security, applications must be able to receive a security clearance.
No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo. Starting date no later than January 1, 2023.
The research fellowship period is for three (3) years. An additional year of compulsory teaching-related duties may be offered at the time of appointment, for candidates who can and want to contribute to teaching and supervision at the department. In this case, the compulsory duties will be spread out over the full contract period, averaging 25% per year over four (4) years.
Job description
It is planned that this PhD research project will focus on public blockchain sys-tems which can be used within a wide variety of use cases, such as cryptocur-rencies, energy trading, supply chains, healthcare, among many others. These platforms provide many benefits, such as high availability, transparency, and trust between anonymous entities. However, in order to achieve a high level of security (in terms of resilience against attacks and data integrity), many current blockchain platforms, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, rely on non-sustainable mechanisms: one of the most stringent examples is Proof-of-Work (PoW), which achieves a high level of security, but at the cost of a huge energy consumption. Additionally, many of the current mechanisms for securing the chain cause a bottleneck in terms of performance and scalability.
This project aims at improving sustainability of blockchain systems and enhanc-ing their performance and scalability without losing the security guarantees. Among other possibilities, it will focus on investigating novel building blocks that can be used to build open, public, and highly secure global platforms with low carbon footprint.
Qualification requirements
The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. 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.
- Master’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science
- Foreign completed degree (M.Sc.-level) corresponding to a minimum of four years in the Norwegian educational system
- Applicants must also be able to demonstrate interest in scientific research
- The evaluation considers many aspects of excellence, as well as the personal drive and organizational skills
- Fluent oral and communication skill in English
- The ideal candidate for the position will have strong background in distributed computing
Candidates without a Master’s degree have until fall 2022 to complete the final exam.
Grade requirements:
The norm is as follows:
- the average grade point for courses included in the Bachelor’s degree must be C or better in the Norwegian educational system
- the average grade point for courses included in the Master’s degree must be B or better in the Norwegian educational system
- the Master’s thesis must have the grade B or better in the Norwegian educational system
- Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
- English requirements for applicants from outside of EU/ EEA countries and exemptions from the requirements:
http://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/application/application.html
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/
We offer
- Salary NOK 501 200 – 544 400 per year depending on qualifications and seniority as PhD Research Fellow (position code 1017)
- Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement
- A highly dynamic and motivated team of international researchers
- Career development programmes, professional courses and workshops
- Oslo’s family-friendly surroundings with their rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities
- A strong research environment. Our students have won best paper and best demo awards at several conferences. Our alumni are employed by IBM Research, Microsoft, Spotify, and highly reputable academic institutions in Europe.
- The group of Networks and Distributed Systems offers a work environment that is well equipped with the newest hard- and software technology. The research group has tight bonds with Simula Research Laboratory. Furthermore, we have well-established links to national and international research institutions. We conduct collaborative research projects that are funded by Norwegian research funds, and the European Community.
- Highly relevant for the prioritized initiatives at the department such as the Strategic Research Initiative for Concurrent Security and Robustness of Networked Systems (Conserns)
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 the original Bachelor and Master’s degree diploma, transcripts of records and
- Documentation of English proficiency
- 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 may additionally include letters of recommendation from the Master degree advisors and due to other professional engagements, such as summer internships and projects.
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).
Applicants will be called in for an interview.
Formal regulations
Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Research Fellowships at the University of Oslo.
No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.
According to the Norwegian Freedom of 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 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 Roman Vitenberg, e-mail: romanvi@ifi.uio.no or Thiago Garrett, e-mail: thiagoga@ifi.uio.no.
For questions regarding the recruitment system, please contact HR Adviser Therese Ringvold, e-mail: therese.ringvold@mn.uio.no
About the University of Oslo
The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest rated institution of research and education with 28 000 students and 7500 employees. Its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally esteemed research communities make UiO an important contributor to society.
The Department of Informatics (IFI) is one of nine departments belonging to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. IFI is Norway’s largest university department for general education and research in Computer Science and related topics.
The Department has more than 1800 students on bachelor level, 600 master students, and over 240 PhDs and postdocs. The overall staff of the Department is close to 370 employees, about 280 of these in full time positions. The full time tenured academic staff is 75, mostly Full/Associate Professors..