Alexandre Passant

Here is another Ph.D. position available in DERI. Deadline is next monday, and if you're in SemTech and have any questions, please email / tweet me to discuss it face to face.

As part of the "Social Semantic Enterprise" project, and in collaboration with Cisco Systems and the IRCSET (Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology), the Digital Enterprise Research Institute is currently seeking a Ph.D. candidate on the topic of Social Software, Enterprise data integration, information quality and privacy. This research project is part funded by Cisco Research Center in response to the collaboration RFP category.

The successful candidate will study how to integrate public data from the Social Web (Tweets, linkedIn profile, Facebook updates, etc.) in the Enterprise, while at the same time respecting privacy of employees and ensuring that only relevant and accurate data is shared in the enterprise. This integration will provide a better integration of Social Web platforms both inside and outside the workspace, leveraging both with common semantics for an integrated social knowledge management experience.

Candidates should have at least a M.Sc. degree in computer science, science or engineering with excellent results, have the pre-requisites for Ph.D. studies at NUI Galway, and must be fluent in english. The Ph.D. position covers academic fees, a generous monthly stipend and a research travel allowance for a three year period, as well as the use of DERI's facilities for experimentations and research.

The following criteria are expected from the student:

• Interest with Semantic Web technologies (RDF(S)/OWL, SPARQL, etc.) and Linked Data
• Interest and familiarity with social software (blogs, wikis, microblogging, etc.)
• Interest in Enterprise information systems and data integration
• Interest for standardisation processes
• Good programming skills
• Good english writing skills

The successful candidate will work with Dr. Alexandre Passant in DERI, NUI Galway, within the Social Software Unit. There will be extensive opportunities for collaboration with other researchers and research units and projects in DERI and in Europe, as well as in other world-wide institutes with whom DERI collaborates, including opportunities for a long-term visit during the Ph.D. timeframe. The Digital Enterprise Research Institute, Galway (DERI) is one of the largest semantic research organization in the world. DERI's mission is to enable networked knowledge, globally interlinking information from the Web and the physical world. DERI is based in Galway is one of the most beautiful Irish cities shaped by artistic communities, active student life, innovative industry and leading edge research. Galway is located at the beautiful west coast of Ireland within the Galway Bay, 'between' Europe and the U.S., making it an ideal hub for national, European and international research.

The application must be send by June 28th, 2010 to Dr. Alexandre Passant in either (X)HTML, pdf or plain text and must contain the following:

• a CV
• a one page statement explaining the candidate's interest in and compatibility with the objectives of the position
• a list of (minimum two) referees
• additionally, publications, software and other artifacts that the student may be consider relevant - ideally as links to resources available online
• copies of M.Sc. results and transcripts

Applications that do not follow the previous format will not be considered. Requests for information should be addressed to the same person.

The Unit Social Software (USS) in DERI is currently looking for Ph.D. candidates. Applications must be sent by the end of the week at hr.ie@deri.org and positions will start in September.
More details in the add below:

The Unit Social Software (USS) at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute - DERI: http://www.deri.ie/ - of the National University of Ireland, Galway invites applications for a 4 years fully-funded PhD fellowship position.

DERI is a leading research institute in semantic technologies that offers a stimulating, dynamic and multi-cultural research environment, excellent ties to research-groups worldwide and standardization bodies, close collaboration with industrial partners and up-to-date infrastructure and resources.

The DERI Unit Social Software focuses on the convergence of Social Software and the Semantic Web by developing models and tools that support and take advantage of these two trends. Achievements of DERI USS include SIOC - Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities - and a large number of publications and tutorials on the topic in international venues and journals. USS Research is performed in collaboration with other DERI units and industrial partners. The PhD position is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (http://sfi.ie) within the Lion2 project and offers for the successful candidate an annual stipend, course fees and conference travel when presenting.

Applicants should have a strong interest in Social Software, Semantic Web and Web Science in general and hold an excellent primary degree or Masters qualification in a relevant discipline (e.g. computer science, information
science, knowledge representation), with an emphasis on practical aspects of research (e.g. industrial project experience, ontology development and open-source software developement being distinct advantages). Selected
candidates are expected to have the willingness to combine formal scientific work with application-oriented research and development in projects funded by national and international (EU) funding agencies, as well as participating in
open-source projects and standardization activities.

Please submit your application (including cover letter, relevant publications or software implementation, full CV and contact details for two referees) to hr.ie@deri.org by 5pm on Friday, July 3rd with the subject line 'PhD Position - DERI USS'. Candidates will be contacted in the first week of July and interviews will be then conducted for successful applications. For further information please contact Alexandre Passant (alexandre.passant@deri.org) and John Breslin (john.breslin@deri.org).

This is a long time since I have not posted here but I must admit I spend the last weeks (maybe the last month) away from that blog.

Indeed, I moved from Paris to Galway at the end of August, and so was packing / traveling and then started my new job. As you can guess when reading Galway in a semweb-related blog, I'm now in DERI, where I will keep working - mainly - on the Social Semantic Web, i.e.