Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Trustworthy GenAI-assisted Software Engineering
This is Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
With about 17,500 students, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest higher education institutions in Norway. A broad range of academic programmes are offered at Bachelor, Master and PhD levels, spread out on five campuses Førde, Sogndal, Bergen, Stord og Haugesund.
Our ambition is to build stronger and more solid academic and research environments that will interact nationally and internationally. The aim is to become a recognized actor on the international higher education arena. Increased international cooperation and engagement in externally funded projects will work towards this goal.
The Faculty of Technology, Environmental and Social Sciences offers a wide range of courses both at undergraduate and graduate levels in:
Engineering and Natural sciences Economic and Administrative sciences Maritime sciences Social sciences and Humanities. The Faculty is
also responsible for PhD programmes in computer technology, innovation and regional development and in nautical operations.
The Department of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematical Sciences has a strong academic and research environment, offering programmes at bachelor’s, master’s and PhD levels. The department has around 1,100 students and more than 120 staff members, and plays a key role in advancing technologies for digitalisation and the green transition.
We offer education across our campuses in Førde, Bergen and Haugesund, with six study programmes in computer science and electrical engineering, and teaching contributions in mathematics, statistics and physics.
The department hosts active research groups in areas such as software engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics, human-computer interaction and sensor networks, and collaborates closely with industry and public sector partners
The Department of Computer science, Electrical engineering and Mathematical sciences at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL) has an open position as a post-doctoral researcher within trustworthy GenAI-assisted software engineering.
The position is for a period of up to 3 years and associated with the strategically funded TERSE project.
Workplace is campus Bergen.
Project and duties of the position
The TERSE project aims to develop actionable methods, guidelines and software tools for enhancing
software engineering with the application of GenAI; and to explore how profession-oriented education and
curricula in software engineering should be transformed in light the emerging GenAI era. A central element
of the project is collaboration with industry, public sector institutions and international partners aimed to
investigate the real-world effects of GenAI in software engineering.
Software technology and engineering are key enablers in the ongoing digital transformation of society.
GenAI has emerged as a disruptive technology not only within a multitude of sectors profoundly impacting
the way we will work in the future, but also within the profession of software engineering itself where code
is increasingly being automatically produced by GenAI-based coding co-pilots and agents. Considering the
pivotal and increasingly critical role of software in society, the prospect of such a disruptive change raises
fundamental questions on the feasibility and risks associated with the application of GenAI, and on how the
future profession of software engineers will change.
The postdoctoral researcher will work closely with the four work package leaders of the TERSE project on
coordinated industry collaboration enabling longitudinal and empirical studies of GenAI, and on developing
and evaluating methods and software technology to detect, prevent, and mitigate faults in GenAI-generated
software. Key research questions to be addressed include: what measurable productivity and software
quality effects occur when applying GenAI in software engineering processes; how to develop and apply
software engineering tools which make AI-assisted development dependable; what are best practices and
methodology for trustworthy application of GenAI-based software tools and technology; and how to
integrate GenAI in software engineering education.
Research environment
The postdoctoral researcher will be a key researcher in the TERSE project and part of the software engineering research group at HVL https://www.hvl.no/en/research/group/software-engineering/ . The research group currently include 10 professors and associate professors, 12 postdoctoral researchers and PhD candidates, and a large number of master students in software engineering and
in applied computer science. The software engineering research group is conducting high-quality research presented at international venues, and has broad scientific expertise including empirical software engineering, model- based software engineering, and formal methods for software engineering. The research group has a strong track record of externally funded projects with national and international industry and with academic partners. This includes projects within cloud computing and services, internet-of-things, business process modelling, AI, machine learning, collaborative systems, and security spanning domains such as healthcare services, marine environments, robotics, industrial automation and emergency work. The postdoctoral research fellow will be provided with work expense funding that can be used forconference participation, travel and research visits, and equipment. The place of employment is
Campus Bergen.
Qualifications
The successful applicant must have earned a PhD degree in informatics/computer science/software engineering or have submitted the PhD thesis before the application deadline. The PhD must have been awarded before the candidate can be offered the position. The scientific profile of qualified candidates must be within software engineering, and preferably include the application of generative AI and machine learning in software engineering or software engineering for AI. In addition to the required educational background and scientific profile, the following criteria will be assessed in the ranking of qualified candidates:
- Quality and relevance of the PhD thesis
- Publication and project acquisition track record, quality and relevance of publications
- Practical software engineering skills, including experience with generative AI in software development or the engineering of software for AI solutions
- Research network, industrial work experience and/or experience from industrial collaboration
- Ability to work in the intersection of theoretical, applied, and empirical research
- Teaching experience and interest in curriculum development in software engineering education
- Ability to collaborate, engage in writing funding applications, lead the writing of research papers, ability to initiate and advance research work, and research and scientific leadership potential
- Dissemination capacity, oral and written communication skills in English (or in Norwegian)
The application must include the following:
- Cover letter, including a statement of motivation, description of relevance of research profile in relation to the position and summary of scientific work and industry experience
- Up to five selected publications
- Copies of educational certificates, transcript of academic records
- Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)
Applicants will in addition be assessed in relation to their prospective starting date.
Short-listed candidates might be required to give a research presentation, in addition to an interview. If the documents submitted are not in English or in a Scandinavian language, the applicants must submit the corresponding certified translations.
HVL/Ingvild F. Melien