We offer an exciting opportunity to join a project on Socio-Technical Governance Models for Data-Intensive Adaptive Systems as part of an interdisciplinary team in Lero , the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software and in collaboration with EMPOWER , the Science Foundation Ireland funded Programme on Data Governance. The aim of the project is to investigate the design and governance of Data-intensive adaptive systems. Funded by the Science Foundation Ireland Lero Research Centre, this project examines the emergence of Data ecosystems addressing how we manage and use data, and how we design and implement intelligent systems that leverage “shared” data within their operation. Solutions need to respect the rights and freedoms of data subjects (i.e. GDPR) while at the same time, turning personal data into an asset for the society. The challenges go beyond technical issues to issues of data ownership, privacy, ethics, and authorised reuse by third parties.
The recent European Parliament's directive on the reuse of public sector information (recast) will enrich the public data ecosystem with dynamic data from public utilities while simultaneously raising more complex open data governance requirements. Scaling up current data governance processes and operationalising guidelines need to be supported by Responsible Software Engineering practices and conceptual tools such as the data ethics canvas to effectively govern future public data ecosystems.
The PhD candidate will address one specific challenge investigating the Ethical aspects of Responsible Software Engineering in the governance of data-intensive adaptive systems and its relevance for the Software Engineering Profession.
This will involve an investigation of Responsible Software Engineering practices and the conceptual tools needed to effectively govern future public data ecosystems and current data governance processes.
The successful candidate will be hosted at the Innovation Value Institute in conjunction with School of Business at Maynooth University, offering a modern, world-class and interdisciplinary research Environment. Additionally, the candidate will be affiliated with Lero – the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software. Lero brings together expert software teams from universities and institutes of technology across Ireland in a co-ordinated centre of research excellence with a strong industry focus.