Uppsala University, Department of Information Technology

The Department of Information Technology has a leading position in research and education in a wide spectrum of areas, from construction of computer systems, via programming of computers, storage and handling of data, to information retrieval and methods for applying computers in a variety of contexts. The Department currently has about 280 employees, including 120 teachers and 110 PhD students. More than 4,000 students take one or more courses at the department each year. More info: https://www.it.uu.se

Two very important aspects of Information Technology are sustainability and security. To support research in these directions, the department is recruiting up to five postdocs across a range of projects.

Sustainability in Information Technology encompasses both the direct impacts on the environment of IT and the environments where IT is used. For example, the power consumption and emissions generated by operating computing devices (including data centres, mobile devices, embedded devices, and communications networks) as well as the global supply chains that deliver and maintain them, should be studied from a sustainability perspective. IT also plays a key enabling role in sustainability for industry, civil infrastructure, healthcare, and traffic control by improving efficiency. The Faculty of Science and Technology at Uppsala University (https://teknat.uu.se) has selected sustainability as one of its key focus areas.

Security in Information Technology addresses the challenge of protecting from disruptions the people, places, and societal infrastructure that rely on computer systems for data storage and processing. This disruption can come from malicious actors or as side-effects of unexpected interactions. Security research at the Department covers all aspects from speculative hardware attacks to software practices and proof systems for guaranteeing safety and reliability of codes and systems (https://www.it.uu.se/research/arenas/security?lang=en).

To support research in these critical areas, the Department of Information Technology has decided to make a joint effort to recruit five postdoctoral researchers with a focus on “IT for a Sustainable and Secure Society.”

The postdoc position announced here is hosted by The Division of Systems and Control.The other four postdoc positions can be found here.

Duties/Project description: Civil infrastructures provide e.g. electricity, gas and oil, water and wastewater, communication and transportation. Civil infrastructure systems comprise two interlacing networked structures, where the physical one supports material flow (water, heat, electricity, etc), and the digital one carries the information flow as well as  enables the monitoring and control of the physical equipment and processes. Extreme weather and malicious actors threaten both. Digital networks are susceptible to cyber-attacks that corrupt the information flows and compromise the overall system performance. Extreme weather events such as flooding, landslides or fire can devastate the physical infrastructure.

Depending on the applicant’s interest, the project focus may be on either (i) how security incidents propagate through the network structures and affect the physical system’s components and operation, or (ii) how spatio-temporal machine learning can be used to improve extreme weather forecasts on time scales of weeks to months, by using e.g. probabilistic programming or differentiable programming to create hybrid models that combine physics with machine learning.

The position is focused on research in the described research project, and includes a limited amount of teaching and departmental duties, but not more than 20 %.

Requirements: To qualify for an employment as a postdoctor you must have a PhD degree or a foreign degree equivalent to a PhD degree in automatic control, machine learning, scientific computing, applied mathematics, or  dynamical systems. The PhD degree must have been obtained no more than three years prior to the application deadline. The three year period can be extended due to circumstances such as sick leave, parental leave, duties in labour unions, etc. Proficiency in English (spoken and written) is required.

The application must contain:

  • A cover letter briefly describing your motivation for applying for this position and project, and the earliest possible employment date (max 1 page).
  • A curriculum vitae (CV).
  • A copy of relevant diplomas and transcripts (translated into Swedish or English).
  • A list of publications.
  • Up to five selected publications in electronic format.
  • A research statement describing your past and current research (max 1 page) and a proposal for future activities (max 1 page).
  • Contact information for two references.

Salary: Individual salary.

Starting date: As soon as possible.

Type of employment: Temporary position for two years according to central collective agreement.

Scope of employment: 100 %

For further information about the position please contact: Stefan Engblom (stefane@it.uu.se)

Please submit your application by 4 June 2021, UFV-PA 2021/1575.

Are you considering moving to Sweden to work at Uppsala University? Find out more about what it´s like to work and live in Sweden

Type of employment Temporary position
Contract type Full time
First day of employment As soon as possible
Salary Fixed salary
Number of positions 1
Full-time equivalent 100 %
City Uppsala
County Uppsala län
Country Sweden
Reference number UFV-PA 2021/1575
Union representative
  • Seko Universitetsklubben, seko@uadm.uu.se
  • ST/TCO, tco@fackorg.uu.se
  • Saco-rådet, saco@uadm.uu.se
Published 30.Jun.2021
Last application date 01.Jul.2021 11:59 PM CEST

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