Description
The Semantic Computing Group [1] at Bielefeld University has an opening for a research position (PhD or postdoc) to work on developing new methodologies to support open science, in particular the concept of analytical reproducibility as well as quality assurance of scientific data.The position is available in the context of the project CONQUAIRE (Continuous quality control for research data to ensure reproducibility: an institutional approach), which is funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).
The project will require to develop and implement new methodologies for managing research data with the goal to publish the data and analytical scripts to maximize transparency and reproducibility of the results. The goal will be to elicit requirements from different groups and disciplines of our university (biology, psychology, sports science, linguistics, economics, robotics, etc.) and develop a methodology and infrastructure that meets the needs of these groups. The framework should be implemented on top of an existing web-based Git repository manager (e.g. GitLab) and include components for automatically checking and verifying the quality of data. The position requires working in close cooper
ation with scientists from different disciplines as well as with Bielefeld University Library.
The requirements of the position are the following:
excellent Master’s degree in computer science, information science or library science
excellent knowledge of database technology
strong software engineering skills
strong programming skills in scripting languages (e.g. Bash, JavaScript, Perl, Python or Ruby)
knowledge and experience with versioning systems (Git, SVN)
strong writing skills
strong analytics skills
excellent communication skills and interest in interdisciplinary work
willingness to work on a collaborative and interdisciplinary project involving different stakeholders
The following skills will be considered as a plus, while not strictly mandatory:
experience with open science projects
experience in developing open source code
experience with scientific workflow systems (e.g. taverna)
command of German
The position will be available for three years, starting from January 2016 and will allow the candidate to work towards obtaining a PhD degree at the end of the project . The salary is according to the university pay scale (TV-L 13, 100%) and amounts to about 3.500 EUR per month (pre-taxes). Working language of the project will be English, knowledge of German is not mandatory, but a plus.
The Semantic Computing group is part of the Cognitive Interaction Technology Center of Excellence [5] that hosts over 250 researchers working on intelligent systems in a highly interdisciplinary context.
Bielefeld University [6] is a young, very dynamic and fast growing university. It is a campus university hosting more than 22.000 students. Housing and many other facilities offered directly on campus. With close to 330.000 inhabitants, Bielefeld [7] is one of the top 20 major cities in Germany. It has many leisure and cultural activities to offer and is at the center of the Teutoburg Forest [8], offering many possibilities for outdoor activities.
To apply, please send a full CV and letter of motivation (in one PDF document) to Prof. Philipp Cimiano (cimiano@cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de) by October 2nd, 2015. For informal inquiries, please contact directly Prof. Cimiano.
[1] http://www.sc.cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de/