Fully financed PhD student positions within data communications and networking at SimTel Innovation, Norway

We are looking for skillful and hard working candidates with high academic credentials/results for PhD student positions within the area of data communication, computer networks and distributed systems at SimTel Innovation, a joint research project between Simula and the telecom operator, Telenor.

The PhD positions are targeted at the following research topics:
Peer-to-Peer (P2P), overlay networking
Multi-link access
Cognitive radio and dynamic spectrum access, with focus on higher layers

Applications should be submitted by July 31st 2009.

We offer a competitive salary that reflects that we are hand-picking only top candidates. The successful candidate should not need additional funding.
SimTel Innovation holds office at Simula Research Laboratory, a 15 minutes drive from the center of Oslo, Norway. The chosen PhD candidates will be enrolled in the 3-yearPhD-program of the Simula School of Research and Innovation. The PhD degrees will be awarded by the University of Oslo.
Work environment

SimTel Innovation is an ambitious joint research project between Simula Research Laboratory, Simula Innovation and Telenor R&I. SimTel Innovation focuses on high quality research with a high potential for innovation and commercialization within the fields of telecom, information technology and media. The joint research project provides an exclusive opportunity to do innovative research within a fruitful partnership between an academic research institution, a large network operator and its strategic vendor partners.

The current research activities of SimTel Innovation focus on resilience in peer-to-peer and overlay networks. The project also focuses on solutions that improve theservice availability and quality for wireless and mobile terminals in heterogeneous access networks. We are currently developing a scalable and deployable solution for multilink transport. We also envision cognitive radio as a natural evolution from the current scenario with dynamic use of multiple fixed technology spectrums. The topics for the new PhD students will be related to these current activities.

Simula Research Laboratory conducts basic research in the fields of communication technology, scientific computing and software engineering. The aim is to carry out top quality research, educate graduate university students and create new businesses. The research will focus on fundamental scientific problems with a large potential for important applications in society.

Simula School of Research and Innovation delivers education in partnership with the industry and the universities in Norway. It actively supports and creates theconditions necessary for the establishment of businesses based on the research it conducts. The PhD students will be formally employed by – and enrolled in the PhD-program of – Simula School of Research and Innovation. However, the PhD degrees will finally be awarded by the University of Oslo, Norway.

Simula Innovation is the innovation and commercialization company owned by Simula Research Laboratory. Simula Innovation works closely with researchers at Simula Research Laboratory and assists them in their efforts to realize their insights in terms of real-world applications and commercial opportunities. For that purpose we have built up a comprehensive network of contacts with national and international business communities, investors and industrial resource people.

Telenor is emerging as one of the fastest growing providers of mobile communication services worldwide with more than 150 million subscriptions. Telenor is also thelargest provider of TV services in the Nordic region. Telenor Research and Innovation (Telenor R&I) is one of Norway's largest research establishments and collaborates extensively with academia and industrial partners both nationally and internationally. Based on its research competence and commercialization skills, Telenor R&I is able to realize new options in a variety of ways, e.g. through Telenor market units, in new business areas or as independent spin-offs from Telenor R&I, alone or in collaboration with third parties. This allows for great flexibility and agile management of new initiatives.

Guidelines for applicants
After having been selected, the candidate needs to be formally enrolled as a PhD student at the University of Oslo. To be enrolled, the candidate must meet their strictly enforced formal grade requirement (cf the grading system of the Bologna agreement), which is:

• Bachelor degree grades must have an average grade of C or better, and
• Master degree grades must have an average grade of B or better, and
• The Master thesis must be graded to B or better.

Successful candidates must also satisfy the following requirements:

• MSc, preferably in computer science or related areas
• A strong background in computer networks
• Good ability to cooperate with others
• Good ability to work independently on challenging problems
• Good skills in English – oral and written

Your application shall contain the following material:

• A cover letter, preferably in one or two pages: State clearly the research topics that you are most interested in. We would like to read about your research interests andtheir relation to the topics of the PhD position.
• Curriculum Vitae (CV), including:

1. Your name (given, family), data of birth, nationality, sex, current address, phone number and email address.
2. Your highest degree: name of your degree, educational institution, department and year of completion.
3. A list of your higher education: degree, type of education, educational institution, department, place, year of completion/duration. You may also include the national or international rank of the institution (with a hyperlink to the place where it is ranked) if applicable. You should also indicate your average grades, in terms of “A”, “B”, “C”, etc. corresponding to the Bologna agreement, for (i) your bachelor courses/projects, (ii) your master courses/projects not including your Master thesis, and (iii) your Master thesis (i.e. amounting to three average grades in total for most applicants). 
4. A list of your employments: company/institution name and duration. 
5. Your list of publications with precise information about authors, title and place of the publication. You may include your Master thesis in the list, but indicate the statusof your Master thesis (e.g. submitted, accepted, in progress etc.)
   

• A summary of your Master thesis, maximum one page. (Applicants who are not yet finished, should state so, and detail the status of the work, when it is due, etc.)
• Certificates for all university level degrees.
• Official grade sheets for all courses taken at the university level. In an integrated grade sheet, indicate the grades that were included in the bachelor and master educations, respectively.
• Applicants with some university education outside Norway: an official description of the grading system of every university-level institution, including an official mapping of grades either to the European credit system according to the Bologna agreement, or an official translation of the grading scale to a scale based on thepercentage of successful participants.
• Applicants with some university education outside the University of Oslo: the official course descriptions or URLs for official course descriptions for all courses at themaster level and above.
• Any reference letter that you consider appropriate. Applicants should attach a statement of research capabilities from MSc supervisor or another relevant person.

We may ask to get an electronic copy of your Masters thesis and certified copies of transcripts. In that case, we will come back to you later and ask explicitly for it.

Only electronic applications are accepted. Your application shall consist of exactly two separate electronic files. The first file is your CV, preferably in PDF format, but postscript or MS-Word is also acceptable. Use your name when naming the file, i.e. on the form “--CV.pdf”. The second file contains your complete application, as outlined above. (For our convenience, you may include also your CV again in this file.) We would prefer if you are able to merge all items (cover letter, CV, master-thesis-summary, certificates, transcripts, recommendation letters etc) in the order outlined above into one single pdf (or ps) file, and name it “--SimTel09.pdf”. If you are not able to do so, please include all the material (preferably pdf files) into a single zip cabinet. The name of thezip file shall then be on the form “--SimTel09.zip”.

Please email your application with the two files (i.e. CV and complete application) attached to jobs@simula.no within 31 July 2009.

Important: The subject field of your email must include “SimTel09”. The text body of your email should be very brief, as we expect to find your personal message and all relevant information in the cover letter.

For any further questions about the PhD positions, please contact: Paal E. Engelstad on paalee@simula.no

Info source: http://simula.no/jobs/SimTel09