Computer Science and Engineering
The doctoral program aims at preparing researchers and professionals with a wide knowledge about the foundations of informatics and information engineering, and about their application to a variety of systems in many different domains. The program introduces new perspectives in formulating and solving technical challenges that are currently a target of very active research areas. The research activity focuses on key aspects of informatics and information engineering such as open end-ness, dynamics and control, autonomy, security, concurrency, cost-effectiveness, quality of services, dependability, optimization, and is concerned especially with the application to networked and large-scale systems with high degrees of interaction.

Economics,Markets, Institutions
The program aims at dealing with issues in political economy, applied public economics, the functioning of industries and markets, the impact of macroeconomics on productivity and growth.
A distinctive feature of the PhD program is the strong integration of theoretical, technical and pratical expertise, aimed to educate highly qualified professionals, who analyze, plan, and manage concrete interventions of political economy.
Theoretical methodologies and models are tested through the methodical/systematic investigation of real world cases. At the end of the program, students are able to identify commonalities as well as distinctive characters of economies, markets, and industries.

Management and Development of Cultural Heritage

Ph.D. in collaboration with Politecnico di Torino
The program aims at formalizing in a consistent multidisciplinary course, specific know-hows needed by researchers and professionals operating at the highest levels of management of culture and cultural heritage. The PhD program rests on three main educational pillars: historical/humanistic, economical/managerial, juridical, which are cut across by a technological area that focuses on IT applications commonly used for the valorization and fruition of cultural heritage.
the PhD program integrates the theoretical approach with the technical and pratical ones, in order to educate both highly qualified professional operating in the concrete field of cultural policy and researchers who will be active in the field of cultural heritage.

Institutions, Politics and Policies
Ph.D. in collaboration with Libera Università degli Studi Sociali “Guido Carli”

The PhD in Institutions, Politics and Policies is a multidisciplinary course analyzing political institutions, politics and policies from the point of view of history and political science, and to a lesser extent economics and law. It adopts a comparative perspective, and pays particular attention to processes of change over time. It aims at forming analysis able to: understand and, if possible, channel processes of transformation of politics and political institutions; plan and manage public policies, assessing their impact; confront their specific problems of countries in transition towards democracy and a market economy.
Duration: 3 years

Language: Courses and seminars are held in English. Foreign Ph.D. students are required to attend an Italian Language and Culture Course.

Classes begin in February 2012.

Deadline
The deadline for applications is September 28, 2011 at 18:00 (Italian time).
For further information visit the official site.

• [Italy] 15 PhD Positions in Computer Science and Engineering, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Luca
• [Italy] Young Research Fellows in Computer Science, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca
• [Italy] PhD Positions in Computer Science and Engineering at IMT Lucca
• [Italy] PhD Scholarships in Business and Economics, University of Venice
• [Italy] Funded Doctoral Programme in Economics and Management, The University of Trento

The establishment of this Fellowship Programme is intended to attract to NTU and NUS the best and most talented doctoral students from Singapore, the region, and beyond and educate them to be future leaders in science and technology for Singapore and beyond. The Fellowship will provide them with the opportunity to be involved in the strategic research programmes at the SMART Centre and provide them with the opportunity to be co-advised by an MIT faculty member. The student may spend up to six months doing research at MIT.

The SMA3 Graduate Fellowship at SMART provides:

• up to four years of full tuition fees at the student’s home university;
• a monthly stipend of S$3,200;
• a scholarly allowance of up to S$12,000 to help cover the expenses associated with a six month research residency at MIT;
• and co-supervision by an MIT and NTU/NUS faculty.

There is no bond associated with this fellowship.

Eligibility: A student must:

• have graduated with an undergraduate degree with first class or second-upper (or equivalent);
• be an incoming new PhD student not currently matriculated;
• have a research interest that fits within one or more of the projects currently being carried out in SMART Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG)s.

The projects within the IRGs:

• BioSystems and Micromechanics (BioSyM)
• Center for Environmental Sensing and Modeling (CENSAM)
• Future Urban Mobility (FM)
• Infectious Diseases (ID)

Application:
January 2012 Intake: May 17, 2011 through July 17, 2011
For more infromation please visit the official site

• [USA] PhD Studentship in Speech Communication
• [Singapore] Postdoctoral Fellowships at The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The National University of Singapore
• [USA] National University of Singapore (NUS)-Stanford Southeast Asia Fellowships
• [Singapore] Postdoc/Scientist Positions in Signal/Video Processing at National Univ. of Singapore
• [Ireland] PhD at the Child and Family Research Centre, National University of Ireland

Assignments for Position:

I.

• To perform fabrication of glass, PDMS, and/or parylene microfluidic channels for biotechnology applications,
• To contribute to the further development of lab-on-a-chip components, such as cell cytometry devices, microvalves/pumps, electrophoresis and dielectrophoresis devices.
• To adapt new materials and techniques for the aforementioned microfluidic systems. • To perform various tests on different types of microfluidic devices.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. degree in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering, with a focus on MEMS
• Experience in microfluidics for life sciences
• Clean room experience based on micromachining process
• Knowledge of English language (spoken and written) Assignments for Position

II.

• To work on testing of microfluidic components with biological substances,
• To adapt different molecular biology techniques for microfluidic chips and setups,
• To develop surface chemistry protocols for immobilization for different substances including DNA, proteins, cells, and bacteria.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology,
• Experience in immobilization and surface chemistry protocols,
• Knowledge of English language (spoken and written)

METU-MEMS Center has been participating in numerous high-ranking public and industrial R&D projects. The Center has up-to-date micromachining fabrication equipment. There is also a separate clean room for testing of fabricated devices with biological substances. For more details see websites: www.mems.metu.edu.tr and www.metu-mems.eu Applications including the usual documents (motivation letter, detailed CV, academic records and certificates, etc.) are requested to be sent either by email to: Ms. Ceren Celik ccelik[a--t]metu.edu.tr.

Deadline: July 01, 2011

• [USA] Postdoctoral Fellowship in Modern Southeast Asian Studies at The Weatherhead East Asian Institute of Columbia Universit
• [Denmark] International PhD Position, Technical University of Denmark
• [USA] Postdoctoral Fellowship in Decision Sciences at Columbia University
• [Norway] Postdoctoral Position in Biochemistry/Biophysics, University of Oslo
• [UK] International Master’s Scholarships at The University of Edinburgh

Project 7: How do wood-feeding insects digest their diet?
Supervisors: Prof. Jonathan Gershenzon, Dr. Axel Schmidt, Dr. Martin Kaltenpoth, MPI-CE

Wood-feeding insects are sometimes known to use microbial symbionts present in their guts to help in digestion and nutrient mobilization. However, nothing is known about how such insects cope with wood and resin. The large pine weevil, Hylobius abietis, is a serious pest on the bark of young conifer trees in northern Europe that must deal with both wood fiber and terpene-containing resin as major parts of its diet. This project will explore the metabolic fate of resin terpenes in these insects and the role of gut bacteria in processing terpenes and wood at the molecular, protein and metabolite levels. The project combines entomological, microbiological, chemical and molecular biology methods to better understand the lifestyle of one fascinating, long-lived species of insect. Collaboration between Research Group on Insect Symbiosis (Dr. Martin Kaltenpoth) and Department of Biochemistry (Dr. Axel Schmidt).

The project will be part of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) “The Exploration of Ecological Interactions with Molecular and Chemical Techniques” in Jena, Germany. Students holding a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in molecular biology, ecology, entomology, microbiology, chemistry, biochemistry and neuroethology, with a proven record of success in one of the disciplines and interest in examining ecological interactions, are eligible to conduct a doctoral project within the IMPRS.

The Research School is a joint initiative of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research. The main focus is on the interaction between plants and animals, and their environment, as well as the evolutionary and behavioral consequences of these interactions.

Application deadline is June 26, 2011. For detailed information about the IMPRS, PhD topics offered and application requirements, please visit our website http://imprs.ice.mpg.de/.

• [Germany] PhD positions in Molecular and Chemical Ecology, The International Max Planck Research School
• [Germany] PhD Scholarships within The IMPRS for Quantum Dynamics in Physics, Chemistry and Biology
• [Germany] International Summer Internships 2007 at The Max-Planck Institute of Immunobiology
• [Germany] Doctoral Program in Economics, Law and Psychology at Max Planck Institute of Economics
• [Germany] PhD Positions in International PhD Program at International Max-Planck Research School

A postdoctoral position is available in the laboratory of Prof. Michael Radermacher at the University of Vermont, to study the structure and function of mitochondrial and bacterial complex I by 3D electron microscopy. We have determined the structures of eukaryotic and bacterial complex I at intermediate resolutions. Now, the emergence of the first X-ray structures of bacterial complex I and first X-ray results for eukaryotic complex I open up new exciting possibilities for analyzing different conformations. The work will require biochemical preparation of samples of complex I, electron microscopy and data processing with techniques well established in the laboratory. Alternatively, depending on interest, emphasis can be placed on improvement of image processing techniques in connection with the 3D reconstruction of complex I. The candidate we are looking for must have experience in 3D electron microscopy or other biological structure determination methods (e.g. X-ray crystallography, NMR, etc.).

Our laboratory is one of the leading laboratories in 3D electron microscopy, imaging and data processing. Over the years we have developed a large number of techniques for 3D reconstruction of single particles, many of which have become standard methods. We have a large set of prior results on the structure of complex I that will help in the current research. For additional questions please contact me at the email address below.

We have close interactions with other research groups at UVM, in Medicine, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biology as well as Computer Science. The University of Vermont offers a highly interdisciplinary and collaborative environment.
Applications should include a cover letter with an explanation of your previous experience in 3D electron microscopy or structural biology (very important), a CV, and names and addresses of three references. Please email your application to mraderma[at]uvm.edu

Deadline: June 20, 2011

• [USA] PostDoctoral Position in Microfluidic Protein Crystallization, University of Chicago
• [UK] Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Computational Chemistry, Oxford University
• [USA] Postdoctoral Fellow in Low Temperature Physics, Harvard University
• [USA] Postdoctoral Positions in Immunology and Microscopy at University of Michigan
• [USA] Postdoctoral Fellow in DNA Repair, University of Delaware

Nevertheless, our experience regarding the use of the E model in end-point voice quality assessing probes has demonstrated some substantial drawbacks of the model. According to several published tests, the model judges too severely the degradations due to packet loss, jitter and delay, and therefore underpredicts quality. On the other hand, the information about packet loss, jitter and delay is often the only available in an end-point. Therefore, in the first place it is important to construct a new model which will evaluate better the influence of these three factors on quality. However, if time allows we do not exclude the possibility of including other parameters, such as noise or echo.

The most important part of the study will concern the study of the influence of packet loss on voice quality for the purposes of real-time measurement. The impact of certain parameters such as delay or noise has already been studied by France Telecom and elsewhere. It is only required to integrate them into one unique quality evaluation model. We would also like, that the model took into account dynamic phenomena such as recency effect. At the end, the model should evaluate quality score in narrow band (300-3400 Hz) as well as wide band (50-7000 Hz) on a single, mixed, quality scale.

In order to construct the model the creation of new subjective databases will be necessary. Some work can be based on objective tests (PESQ), using the test chain which has been developed in our team.

A validation of the performance of the model (formally at the end of the development, but also probably on intermediate versions) is necessary. In particular, the use of the method described in ITU-T P.564 will be deeply appreciated.

Applicant profile (not all are required)

• C and Matlab programming
• Data analysis, statistical methods
• Mathematics
• Understanding of human perception and judgment, especially of psychophysics
• QoS, voice quality
• VoIP comprehension (in particular of voice flows: protocols, codecs, jitter buffer, aspects related to packet loss, jitter and delay)
• IP comprehension
• Experience in neural networks is considered as an optional plus

contact
Please send applications to:
Anna CZUCZMAN
France Telecom – Division R&D
TECH/SSTP – Lannion
anna.czuczman [a-t] orange-ftgroup.com
(+33) 2 96 05 22 90

• [France] Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Model Driven Engineering (MDE) at INRIA Renne
• [France] Postdoctoral Fellow in Laser Processing of Transparent Materials, Université Jean Monnet
• [UK-France] PhD Studentships in Animal Genetics
• [Netherlands] PhD Studentship in New Generation of Solar Cells at Radboud/Delft Univ. of Tech
• [Ireland] PhD Positions in Geoinformatics and Climate Change

SystemsX.ch, the Swiss initiative in systems biology, has initiated a new project entitled “Neurochoice: Neural Correlates of Collective Decision Making”, with principal investigators located at the Universi-ties of Zurich, Bern, and Geneva, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. One part of the project, focusing on fMRI studies of the role of risk during human decision-making, will be completed under the direction of Prof. Ernst Fehr and Kerstin Preuschoff at the Institute for Empirical Research in Economics in Zurich. We are presently seeking applicants for the positions of post-doctoral researcher and PhD student.

These positions require a background in neurobiology, economics, psychology or computer science, and an interest in neuroeconomics and/or mathematical modeling of behavioral and neuroimaging data. Previous experience in neuroimaging techniques and fMRI data analysis is a major advantage. Candidates should have an interest in designing and conducting experiments in neuroeconomics and social neuroscience. Finally, candidates should have programming experience, e.g. in MATLAB or similar languages.

Employment can begin immediately but is negotiable. The Institute for Empirical Research in Economics offers an exciting and interdisciplinary work environment and excellent research facilities, including a 3T MRI scanner dedicated to research and a large and well-equipped laboratory for conducting behavioral experiments.

Application may be made electronically or by post. Please submit your CV, copies of all relevant diplomas, a statement of interest, and the names and email addresses of two referees to the following address by December 14, 2008: Sally Gschwend, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, Blümlisalpstr. 10, 8006 Zürich , Switzerland, s.gschwend[ at ]iew.uzh.ch

The University of Zurich is an equal opportunity employer, and as such welcomes applications from women and minority candidates.

• [Switzerland] Doctoral Assistantship in Applied Microeconomics and Econometrics at ETH Zurich
• [Switzerland] Doctoral Students and Researchers in Economics, KOF Swiss Economic Institute
• [Switzerland] Postdoctoral Position in Ribosome Biochemistry, University of Zurich
• [Switzerland] International PhD Programs in Life Sciences – University of Zurich
• [Switzerland] PhD Studentship: Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS) Zurich