The Department of Computer and Information Sciences is seeking a highly motivated and skilled Research Associates in the area of evolutionary computation, ideally with background and experience in mobile network or distributed systems to work on the Autonomous Systems Evolution project. This project is funded by Rakuten Mobile Inc with the goal of realising the company’s vision of a fully-autonomous phone network that can monitor, repair and adapt to future requirements itself (see https://rakuten.today/blog/rakuten-mobile-scientists-build-future-telecommunications-autonomous-networking.html), and will provide an enthusiastic and dedicated candidate with an exciting opportunity to carry out ground-breaking and impactful research in a close collaboration with industry. The successful candidate will work with Dr. Marc Roper in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and Dr. Paul Harvey in Rakuten Mobile Inc., and will be expected to spend some of the time working on site at Rakuten’s labs in Tokyo.

The project’s aim is to develop techniques to support the dynamic configuration of a mobile network control system in response to changing goals and objectives to ensure that the service remains fit for purpose, is robust to failures, and meets its requirements. The goal of the project is to investigate, build, and evaluate approaches for the construction of such a flexible autonomous system through a hierarchy of independent components powered by evolutionary algorithms. One major challenge is that the system needs to effectively and efficiently respond to changes from multiple perspectives - from high-level strategy to low-level disruptions – and to accommodate this the project will focus in particular on the design of the master evolutionary controllers, the representation of the fitness function at different levels in the system, and the development of strategies for the efficient exploration of the search space. This is an ambitious and exciting project and will provide the associates with an excellent opportunity to develop their research careers.

As a leading international technological university, Strathclyde is recognised for its world class research, knowledge exchange and educational programmes. The Faculty of Science is one of the UK’s leading faculties of science, providing a vibrant, dynamic, supportive and friendly place to work or study. The Department of Computer and Information Sciences is a highly-rated and vibrant department with over 80 staff and 75 PhD students whose research activity spans a range of activity including theoretical computer science, cyber security, artificial intelligence and machine learning, digital health, and information science. Our close links with industry ensure that our research remains relevant to community and commerce.

Applicants must have a PhD in an appropriate discipline (computer science, software engineering, or a very closely related subject) and have expertise in the area of evolutionary computing, and ideally knowledge of mobile networks or distributed systems. They will conduct independent research, and have initiative and good organisational skills and an ability to plan and organise their own workload effectively. They will have excellent communication and presentation skills and be able to present complex information in an accessible way to a range of audiences. Good interpersonal skills are essential to ensure an efficient and collegial working relationship with international collaborators.