PhD position in information retrieval and semantic data analysis

The Institute of Information Systems of the HES-SO Valais in Sierre
(Switzerland) invites applications for a

PhD position in information retrieval and semantic data analysis

Description
The Institute of Information Systems in Sierre is a research institute at
the University of applied sciences Western Switzerland Valais. It is
engaged in research and development in designing, building and deploying
novel approaches in various domains (
http://www.hevs.ch/en/rad-instituts/institut-informatique-de-gestion/pages-instituts/presentation-1481
). It is situated in Sierre, a town on the border between the French- and
German speaking parts of Valais in the center of the Alps. Sierre is
ideally situated and is almost equidistant from Milan, Geneva and Zürich,
and just 20 minutes from the most famous winter destinations of
Switzerland. It is home to higher education institutes in the fields of IT,
economics, tourism and social work, creating a real breeding ground for
young talent.

We are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate to help shape the future of
information extraction, exploration and visualization. The project will
develop approaches and methods to support push-crowdsourcing for content
missing contextual data and for interactive and dynamic interfaces to
visualize and navigate through these data. The PhD candidate will integrate
the Data Semantics Lab ( http://www.hevs.ch/datasemlab ), a multicultural
research team active in semantics since 10 years, and will collaborate with
two other PhD candidates’ working at the University of Fribourg and the
University of Basel in the framework of a common research project.
Responsibilities

Applicants should have strong analytical skills, programming skills, and
interest in designing, building and publishing innovative approaches and
systems. Applicants should also have skills in the implementation of
research projects, writing of research papers (workshops, conferences,
journals) and an ability to work independently.
Requirements

Bachelor and Master degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or
a closely related field and a research interest in areas such as Linked
Data, Semantic Web, Crowdsourcing, Knowledge Visualization, Social Media
and eTourism. Experience in software development: Java and/or other
relevant technologies; good understanding of semantic Web technologies and
Linked Data (RDF, graph representations); willingness to combine formal
research with practical applications in national and international
projects; Fluent English is essential, knowledge in French and/or German
are an advantage.
Application

Applicants should send their application to maria.sokhn@hevs.ch by
September 1, 2015. It needs to contain a detailed curriculum vita including
grades, a cover letter and the names of three references. Initial
interviews can be carried out via Skype. The position can be filled quickly
in case of an exceptional candidate. We expect the successful candidate to
start ideally in November-December 2015 for 4 years.