PhD Candidate in Verification and Validation of Cyber-Physical Systems

NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus in professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim.

At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 42,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

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We offer a 4 year PhD position (with 25% teaching duties) in Verification and Validation of Cyber-Physical Systems at the Information Systems and Software Engineering (ISSE) group of the Department of Computer Science, NTNU.

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree.

The objective of this position is exploring new techniques for Verification and Validation (V&V) of modern computer-based systems. The focus is in particular on Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), which are the result of the introduction of “intelligent” capabilities into traditional, physical, systems. The tight interaction with the physical world means that CPSs, if not operating properly, can cause harm to users and/or the environment (e.g., autonomous vehicles). At the same time, the physical world affects the operating context of the system in unexpected ways.

While V&V practices are relatively established for traditional systems, the current transition towards CPSs is raising significant challenges in the industry. In particular, the adoption of Machine Learning (ML) components, whose precise behavior is difficult to determine, is a major barrier to the development of safe intelligent systems. The candidate will work towards the long-term objective of making those systems easier to be verified and validated. The specific direction within this long-term objective can be adjusted according to the specific background of the candidate. The candidates are encouraged to propose their own idea in the project proposal to be attached to the application.

The ideal candidate will be able to approach this topic from a software engineering and systems engineering perspective, which means keeping in mind the overall system, even when dealing with specific technologies or components. We are looking for candidates with a strong research perspective that can publish their work in leading academic journals and conference proceedings.

You will report to the Head of Department.