PhD Position in Knowledge Management and Information Retrieval (in the biomedical domain)

[Apologies for cross-posting]

PhD Position in Knowledge Management and Information Retrieval (in the biomedical domain)
Semantic Web technologies and Linked Open Data are the key to knowledge rich domains like Healthcare and Life Sciences (HCLS). The biomedical knowledge is represented in clinical data models and coding systems, but also in public data repositories and formal knowledge representations, such as ontologies. In theory, the large set of existing ontologies cover our conceptual understanding of the biomedical knowledge, but in practice the mediation between different knowledge repositories is still a challenge considering data integration, data exploitation and even automatic reasoning over data.  The PhD position will focus on existing and required representations of formal knowledge to improve information retrieval, summarization, and graph-based knowledge representation.  The work can be extended to apply reasoning over the formal knowledge representations for improved information retrieval and for the derivation of hidden knowledge. -- Biomedical data resources are rich and complex and thus form a challenging knowledge domain, but the outcomes of this work will also be relevant to other knowledge domains alike, for example to develop semantics driven search engine prototypes across heterogeneous resources or to define advanced graph based data retrieval approaches.

The Insight Centre for Data Analytics at the National University of Ireland, Galway, invites applications for a PhD position in the area of Integration of heterogeneous Data Resources, Information Retrieval, Knowledge Representation, and Reasoning on Knowledge Representations. The selected candidate will be embedded in international collaborations and standardization working groups such as World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Health Level Seven (HL7), BioPortal etc. The candidate will be enabled to publish in high impact international conferences and journals and to participate in world leading research.


Eligibility

*        Four Years Bachelor's Degree or Master's Degree in Computer Science/Information Technology/BioInformatics/Medical Informatics

*        Good knowledge of databases principles, at best also object-oriented database design

*        Excellent background in Java programming

*        Good understanding of semantic Web technologies and Linked Data(RDF,  graph representations)

*        Interests in formal knowledge representations (graphs, semantic resources, ontologies, logics)

*        Alternative skills: text mining technologies, experience in automatic reasoning, ontology alignment

Stipend: PhD scholarship stipend of 18,000 Euros per year (i.e., 1500 Euros per month), no tax. The duration of the contract will be 4 years as a fully funded PhD.


Application procedure
Informal enquiries about these positions may be made to:
Prof. Dr. Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann
Insight Centre for Data Analytics

NUI Galway, The DERI building

IDA Business Park, Lower Dangan

Galway, IRELAND

Email: rebholz@insight-centre.org<mailto:rebholz@insight-centre.org>

Dr. Ratnesh Sahay
Insight Centre for Data Analytics

NUI Galway, The DERI building

IDA Business Park, Lower Dangan

Galway, IRELAND

Email: ratnesh.sahay@insight-centre.org<mailto:ratnesh.sahay@insight-centre.org>

When applying, please use the same email addresses above and put " PhD Position in Knowledge Management and Information Retrieval " in the subject line of your email. Candidates are requested to submit (1) a cover letter explaining your intentions, and (2) a CV (in PDF format) giving details on your academic degrees, working experiences and IT skills (maximum 2 pages). It is difficult but still advantageous, if you can write a paragraph (e.g. in the cover letter, or extra), what ambitions in the PhD position appeal most to you.

Interviews will be carried out towards end of July, beginning of August and possibly also towards the end of August via skype conference call, and the position can be filled without much delay if required. We expect the successful candidate to start at the earliest possible date, ideally in August-October 2015.



INSIGHT Centre for Data Analytics (previously DERI http://deri.ie/) http://www.insight-centre.org/ is a leading research institute in Semantic Web/Linked Data technologies that offers a stimulating, dynamic and multi-cultural research environment, excellent ties to research-groups worldwide, close collaboration with industrial partners and up-to-date infrastructure and resources.