[Asis-l] Expression of Interest for Post-Doc Position at University of Padua

[Laura Adami]

####################### Expression of Interest for Post-Doc Position at
University of Padua #####################

The Information Management Systems (IMS) Research Group
(http://ims.dei.unipd.it/) at the Department of Information Engineering
(http://www.dei.unipd.it/wdyn/index.php?lingua=en) of the University of
Padua (http://www.unipd.it/index_en.htm), Italy, invites applications
for a two-year post-doctoral researcher position in the experimental
evaluation of information systems.
The position is partially tied to the PROMISE (Participative Research
labOratory for Multimedia and Multimedia Information Systems Evaluation)
Network of Excellence (http://www.promise-noe.eu/) co-financed by the
European Commission. The work of the post-doc researcher will be
supervised by Dr. Nicola Ferro (Coordinator of the PROMISE Network of
Excellence,
http://ims.dei.unipd.it/websites/archive/ims2009/members/ferro/).

Description of the research
====================

The main goal of the PROMISE research program is to advance the
experimental evaluation of complex multilingual information systems in
order to support the decision making process of individuals, commercial
entities, and communities who develop, employ, and improve such systems.
Information systems are becoming increasingly complex: they need to
satisfy user needs and carry out tasks that are becoming progressively
more complicated and cross language. Moreover, they have to manage
increasing amounts of information which is often heterogeneous and
demands for insightful access to it.

Therefore, we plan to affect the current evaluation methodology by
bringing automation into the evaluation of multilingual information
systems. We propose to develop an information management and access
infrastructure which supports and operates the evaluation of such
systems as well as the organization and running of evaluation
initiatives in different areas, moving experimental evaluation from a
handicraft process to a more automated one. In order to pursue this
goal, we will work toward the following three measurable objectives:

• Based on well-defined and compelling use cases, to foster the adoption
of regular and thorough experimental evaluation activities.
• Bring automation into the experimental evaluation process: we will
introduce for the first time methods and tools for moving the
experimental evaluation from an handicraft process to a mostly automatic
one. This goal will be carried out by defining and developing an open
evaluation infrastructure.
• Promote collaboration and re-use over the acquired knowledge-base: we
will explore new ways of exploiting the knowledge created by evaluation
activities.

In this context, the activities of the researcher will be mainly focused
on bringing automation into the experimental evaluation process. By
collecting, analyzing and providing access to the experimental results,
the researcher will contribute substantially to the design and
development of the open evaluation infrastructure. The design and
development of the infrastructure must take into account the
experimental evaluation of multilingual information systems with respect
to different tasks and needs and provide a set of standard interfaces
and modular components so that the infrastructure can be shared and
extended with personalized components and can be used for remote,
loosely-coupled, distributed, and automated evaluation.

The researcher will join an energetic and highly collaborative team of
computer scientists. Tasks will include developing new algorithms and
architectures; their prototyping and analysis; and, scientific
publishing of the results.

About the University and the City
==========================

Probably best known as the city of Saint Anthony or as the economic
capital of Veneto, Padova (Padua) is also one of the most important art
cities in Italy. It is a pleasant historical city, home to one of the
oldest (dating back to 1222) and most prestigious Universities in
Europe. Little more than 400 years ago, Galileo came here as a Professor
of Mathematics to spend, in his own words, "the 18 best years of my
entire life." Bologna, Verona, Florence, Milan, Rome and Turin are all
conveniently reachable by train.
Padova is known also for hosting the oldest botanical garden of Europe.
The most important monuments of the town were realized between the 13th
century and the 15th century, the most extraordinary economic and
cultural period, which left an indelible mark on the town: the medieval
city walls, the great civil and religious buildings, and the University.


About the Position:
===============

This is an expression of interest in this Post-doc position.
The official hiring procedure will be conducted at a Department level
and the candidate's competencies will be evaluated by a commission
nominated by the Department of Information Engineering of the University
of Padua.

• A full-time appointment for a period of 12 months, starting by January
2012 (however other start times could be considered);
• about 19367 up to 25177 annual gross salary on the basis of the
experience of the candidate;
• a comfortable and functional work station at the Department of
Information Engineering;
• free access to laboratories, libraries and facilities of the
University of Padua

Requirements
===========

• Ph.D. in computer science, or related fields;
• experience with database systems and/or information retrieval systems;
• fluent in Java and Web-Programming;
• have a good command of oral and written English (some knowledgeof
Italian is desirable, but not required);
• good analytical, technical, and problem solving skills;
• good teamwork and organizational skills.

The following competencies are considered a plus:

• Web Services design and development: e.g. REpresentational State
Transfer (REST), JavaScript, Asyncronous JavaScript with XML (AJAX),
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
• Metadata schemes, generation and systems.
• XML and related technologies: e.g. XPath, XQuery, XML Schema, and XSLT.


Application details:
===============

Applications must be sent via e-mail (subject: "IMS-PROMISE postdoc
application") to adami at dei.unipd.it . For more information contact Laura
Adami.
****** The initial gather of interest round closes Oct 26,2011 ******

Applications must contain:

• A Cover letter stating the applicant's research goals;
• a detailed CV including: a brief research description presenting your
PhD (1-2 page(s)), publication record, and a list stating relevant
software development experience.