Ref PAR 2023/879
The University of Gothenburg tackles society’s challenges with diverse knowledge. 56 000 students and 6 600 employees make the university a large and inspiring place to work and study. Strong research and attractive study programmes attract scientists and students from around the world. With new knowledge and new perspectives, the University contributes to a better future.
Doctoral position in AI for Software Engineering
The department of Computer Science and Engineering is strongly international, with approximately 300 employees from over 30 countries. The department is a fully integrated department with the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology as principals. The position is placed in the Division of Interaction Design and Software Engineering at the department, with the University of Gothenburg as the employer.
Located in Gothenburg – Sweden’s second-largest city – the department is surrounded by a vibrant ecosystem of software-intensive companies. The department is connected to science parks in Gothenburg for industrial collaborations in fields including intelligent vehicles and transport systems, mobile internet, energy, nanotechnology, and life sciences. The Department aims to actively improve our gender balance and we work broadly with equality projects. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at the University and Department.
The successful candidate will conduct research under the supervision of Prof. Miroslaw Staron and work in tight collaboration with world-class researchers in the Interaction Design and Software Engineering Division at Chalmers and University of Gothenburg. In particular, the division has a strong software development and AI Engineering focus, which is a part of the Software Center (www.software-center.se).
Software center (www.software-center.se) is a large research center with five universities and fifteen companies, focusing on applied and fundamental research in software engineering. The goal of the center is to increase the productivity of the European software industry. Software center has research projects within software engineering, artificial intelligence, software metrics and data-driven software development. Our collaboration partners are large software companies like Volvo and Ericsson, middle-sized companies like Zenseact and Axis and small enterprises like Advenica. Through these collaborations, Software Center provides opportunities to conduct both applied and fundamental research in the areas of software development, AI-development, and development of new methods, tools, and processes.
Zenseact (www.zenseact.com) is developing the complete software stack for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and emerging autonomous driving (AD) technology. At Zenseact, a few hundred developers use the C++ programming language to implement these systems, a large part of which is safety-critical code. This comes with a broad umbrella of best software engineering and safety-critical practices, implemented as far as possible via CI/CD automation, with safety culture as a guiding star. However, a particular challenge in large-scale agile development in the safety-critical domain can be balancing the size of this umbrella to promote development speed while always maintaining a focus on safety.
General information about being a doctoral student at the University of Gothenburg can be found on the university’s doctoral student pages.
Subject area description
Machine Learning (ML) uses big data to enable software algorithms to “learn” complex patterns in data, solving difficult problems such as recognizing images and diagnosing cancer. In software engineering, machine learning has led to a few groundbreaking technologies like Github CoPilot, ChatGPT, DALL-E and large programming language models. These new technologies have led to enormous increase of productivity within requirements engineering, programming, designing, and testing of software systems.
The goal of this project is to study, develop and evaluate large language models (like GPT-3/4) in software development, with the focus on programming, requirements engineering, testing and quality assurance. In collaboration with Software Center companies, like Zenseact, we will study how these large language models can help contemporary software industry to become more productive and more competitive on the global market. We study opportunities and obstacles as well as we construct new tools and methods to overcome them.
Duties
Education at third-cycle level comprises four years of full-time study, and leads to a doctoral degree. Those who are employed as doctoral students must primarily devote themselves to their doctoral education. However, a doctoral student may to a limited extent work with education, research and administration, so-called departmental service in a teaching or supporting role, which can be concentrated on certain parts of the year depending on the needs of the business in consultation with the student. Such work may, before the doctoral degree is completed, not cover more than 20% of full-time work over the study period. If departmental service is performed corresponding to 20% of full-time study time, the employment contract is extended by the corresponding period, which gives a total employment of five years.
The purpose of the education is for the doctoral student to acquire the knowledge and skills required to be able to conduct independent research in the field of service, and to contribute to the development of knowledge in the subject by writing a scientific dissertation. The doctoral education is in total 240 higher education credits and includes thesis work corresponding to 180 higher education credits and courses corresponding to 60 higher education credits.
More specifically, this project requires to collaborate closely with software development organizations, which means that the candidate will spend time both at the university and on premises of the collaborating companies in Sweden and in Europe. Duties for the candidate include reading, reviewing, and writing research papers; giving presentations; taking courses; conducting systematic literature reviews; designing and conducting empirical studies; interacting with industrial companies; and performing quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The candidate will become familiar with, evaluate and apply techniques related to artificial intelligence for software engineering; and will become familiar with the space of machine learning (ML), including different algorithms, contexts, data preparation strategies, and challenges.
Eligibility
Education at third-cycle level requires general eligibility and, where appropriate, specific eligibility as set out in the general syllabus for the subject.
The general eligibility requirements for education at third-cycle level are:
- having completed a degree at second-cycle level, or
2. the fulfilment of course requirements totalling at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits must be at second-cycle level, or - the acquisition of equivalent knowledge in some other way, either in Sweden or abroad.
Specific entry requirements for this subject, according to the general syllabus, are:
To be qualified for admission to third-cycle program in Computer Science and Engineering the applicant is required to have obtained a second-cycle qualification. The orientation of the student’s degree shall have a sufficiently close connection to the subject of computer science and engineering.
Equivalent requirements apply to individuals who have been awarded their degree in a country other than Sweden.
Further desirable but not mandatory criteria include previous research experience including publications in international, peer-reviewed venues; a Master’s degree in a related subject; expertise in software engineering, knowledge of artificial intelligence and machine learning; and knowledge of requirements engineering, including concepts and techniques.
The candidate must be prepared to work directly with software development organizations and to be able to visit their premises when needed.
The candidate is expected to have advanced English skills in reading and writing, equivalent to at least the C1 leerl in English of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Assessment criteria
The selection of applicants who meet the basic and specific eligibility requirements will be based on the ability to assimilate the education at third-cycle level.
Employment
Once you have been admitted for education at third-cycle level, you will be employed as a doctoral student at the University of Gothenburg.
The provisions for employment as a doctoral student can be found in ordinance SFS 1993:100.
Initial employment as a doctoral student may apply for a maximum of one year, and may be renewed by a maximum of two years at a time.
A doctoral student may be employed as a doctoral student for a maximum of eight years, but the total period of employment may not be longer than the equivalent of full-time education at third-cycle level for four years.
The University applies a local agreement on salaries for doctoral students.
Type of employment: Fixed-term employment, HF 5 kap 7 §
Extent: 100 % of full time
Location: Department of Computer Science and Engineering /Division of Interaction Design and Software Engineering
First day of employment: 2023-11-01 or as soon as possible
Contact information
Regarding the project, please contact Miroslaw Staron (e-mail: miroslaw.staron@chalmers.se)
Regarding the position, please contact Palle Dahlstedt (e-mail: palle@chalmers.se) .
Regarding the appointment procedure, please contact HR-partner Robin Garnham (e-mail: robin.garnham@chalmers.se)
Unions
Union representatives at the University of Gothenburg can be found here:
https://www.gu.se/om-universitetet/jobba-hos-oss/hjalp-for-sokande
Application
You can apply to be admitted for education at third-cycle level via the University of Gothenburg’s recruitment portal.
It is your responsibility to ensure that the application is complete as per the vacancy notice, and that the University receives it by the final application deadline.
The application is to be written in English.
Applications must be received by: 2023-09-12
Information for International Applicants
Choosing a career in a foreign country is a big step. Thus, to give you a general idea of what we and Gothenburg have to offer in terms of benefits and life in general for you and your family/spouse/partner please visit:
The University works actively to achieve a working environment with equal conditions, and values the qualities that diversity brings to its operations.
In accordance with the National Archives of Sweden’s regulations, the University must archive application documents for two years after the appointment is filled. If you request that your documents are returned, they will be returned to you once the two years have passed. Otherwise, they will be destroyed.
In connection to this recruitment, we have already decided which recruitment channels we should use. We therefore decline further contact with vendors, recruitment and staffing companies.
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