PhD Position in Dependence Logic

University of Auckland, Department of Computer Science

Auckland's harbour setting, magnificent beaches and verdant bush make it a great place to study and work, while the University's close proximity to New Zealand's major businesses and hospitals enables staff and students to rub shoulders with leading practitioners in their field. Auckland offers a diverse range of employment and leisure options, including easy access to high quality schools which prepare students extremely well for the transition to university.

The Department of Computer Science is the country's largest, most diverse, and most accomplished. The department was founded in 1981. It now has more than 40 academic staff and 80 research students, and an ever-growing cohort of undergraduates. The department is among the top 100 Computer Science Departments in the world according to the 2016 QS World University Rankings.

We are currently looking for a PhD student to undertake research on dependence logic. Dependence logic is a novel logical formalism that has intriguing connections to computer science, statistics, linguistics, game theory, social choice theory, philosophy, and physics. We are seeking a PhD student to join a 3-year project that examines new variants of dependence logic, including approximate and probabilistic variants, and their applications to reasoning in database theory and statistics. The student will be supervised by Miika Hannula and Sebastian Link. We expect the applicant to have:

Good programming skills and a background in statistics would be ideal, but are not necessarily expected attributes.

The position is available from March 1, 2017, and the funding covers the student fees and an annual stipend of NZD 27,500. All applications should include a CV, a 1-page personal statement of suitability, and a letter of recommendation. Applications can be sent to m.hannula@auckland.ac.nz by end of January 2017.