Postdoc Logics for Intelligent Interaction: Expressivity and Succinctne 1,0 fte (210242)

Organisation

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative centre of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Balanced study and career paths in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 27,000 students and researchers to develop their own individual talents. Belonging to the best research universities in Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge.

Job description

The project focuses on one of the prominent themes in logic today: intelligent interaction, which occurs in any social situation. There is a multitude of logical theories in this area to such an extent that for one and the same subject there is more than one approach. There is a great need to establish whether alternative approaches actually provide fundamentally different perspectives, or whether the differences are merely superficial. By focusing on the expressivity and succinctness of these logics, possible differences in their underlying conceptual frameworks are revealed, thus advancing our understanding of these conceptual frameworks and thereby of intelligent interaction itself.

A detailed outline of the project can be obtained by sending an e-mail to Ms Fré Moorrees (F.C.Moorrees@rug.nl), in it the postdoc project is described.

Requirements

Secundary

The preferred starting date is January 1st, 2011.

How to apply
Completed applications should include:

• a Curriculum Vitae, outlining in particular previous academic qualifications (BA and MA equivalent), grades, list of publications, etc.
• a letter explaining your competence in the research field, and your motivation
• research proposal of maximum 1000 words plus concise, illustrative bibliography (not required for applicants who plan to do the subproject described in the detailed outline of the project)
• a copy of your most important research paper, which appeared or is submitted for publication to a scientific journal (can be co-authored)
• a short summary of your PhD thesis of maximum 500 words
• names and contact details (including e-mail address) of three referees.

Please apply by clicking the link ‘Apply’ and on AcademicTransfer ‘Apply for this job’. You can use the form to send your CV and letter if they are in Word format. Send other documents (and your CV and letter when they are not in Word format) to: vmp@rug.nl

Information

For information you can contact:
Ms Fré Moorrees,   F.C.Moorrees@rug.nl

- 10 May 2010, Concrete incompleteness from PA through large cardinals, Harvey Friedman
- 10 May 2010, Master of Logic defense, Ernst Odolphi
- 11 May 2010, Congo, Jelle Zuidema
- 11-17 May 2010, An intensive course on model theory by Jouko Vaeaenaenen
2) ANNOUNCEMENTS

- 21 May 2010, Colloquium on Mathematical Logic, Andy Lewis
- 21 May 2010, Colloquium on Mathematical Logic, Gido Scharfenberger-Fabian
- 24 May 2010, Computational Linguistics Seminar, Gideon Borensztajn
- 31 May – 2 June 2010, International Conference on Computational Science 2010 (ICCS 2010), Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- 1 June 2010, Computational Humanities Workshop at ICCS 2010
- 9 June 2010, Computational Linguistics Seminar, Jelle Zuidema
- 30 September – 2 October 2010, Amsterdam Graduate Philosophy Conference on “Truth, Meaning, and Normativity” (AGPC’10), Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam
- 21-23 October 2010, The Making of the Humanities II: Second International Conference on the History of the Humanities, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- 8 December 2010, Computational Linguistics Seminar, Stephen Clark
3) FUNDING, GRANTS AND COMPETITIONS

- Grant Up-to-Date “Nieuwsflits”
4) OPEN POSITIONS AT ILLC

- Assistant Professorship (Universitair Docent) in Statistical Natural Language Processing
5) OPEN POSITIONS, GENERAL

- Postdoctoral research assistantship & PhD student position in theoretical computer science, Oxford (U.K.)
- Two PhD student positions in formal methods / mathematical logic, Zurich (Switzerland)
- 6 June 2010, Post-doc posititon at The Logic and Computation Group at the Australian National University

6) PUBLICATIONS

- ILLC Prepublication (PP) Series PP-2010-12, Amelie Gheerbrant
- ILLC Prepublication (PP) Series PP-2010-13, Umberto Grandi and Ulle Endriss
- ILLC Prepublication (PP) Series PP-2010-14, Benedikt Loewe, Eric Pacuit, Andreas Witzel

1) EVENTS THIS WEEK

- 10 May 2010, Concrete incompleteness from PA through large cardinals, Harvey Friedman
Speaker: Harvey Friedman (Ohio State)
Date and time: Monday 10 May 2010, 13.00-15.00
Location: Room C1.112, Science Park 904, Amsterdam

Note: Professor Friedman will also speak at the meeting “Set Theory, Classical and Constructive”, ILLC, May 6-7.

For more information, contact Jouko Vaeaenaenen (ILLC) at jouko.vaananen@helsinki.fi.

- 10 May 2010, Master of Logic defense, Ernst Odolphi
Title: Temporal Binding by Short Term Plasticity
Date and time: Monday 10 May 2010, 16.00
Location: Room A1.08, Science Park 904, Amsterdam
Supervisor: Reinhard Blutner

- 11 May 2010, Congo, Jelle Zuidema
Speaker: Jelle Zuidema
Title: Geen aap doet het je na
Date and time: Tuesday 11 May 2010, 16.00-17.00
Location: Room C1.112, Science Park 904, Amsterdam

For more information (dutch only), see http://www.congo.eu/index.php?option=com_eventlist&view=details&id=154:lezing-geen-aap-doet-het-je-na&Itemid=2.
- 11-17 May 2010, An intensive course on model theory by Jouko Vaeaenaenen
Location: Room A106/A114, ILLC, Science Park 904, Amsterdam

Jouko Vaeaenaenen will give an intensive course “Lindstroem’s Theorem – An invitation to abstract model theory” May 11-17 at ILLC. Interested participants are kindly requested to send an e-mail to jouko.vaananen@helsinki.fi .

For more information, see http://www.math.helsinki.fi/logic/opetus/lt/
2) ANNOUNCEMENTS

- 21 May 2010, Colloquium on Mathematical Logic, Andy Lewis
Speaker: Andy Lewis (Leeds)
Location: Room TBA, Science Park 904, Amsterdam

For abstracts and more information, see http://www.math.uu.nl/people/jvoosten/seminar.html

- 21 May 2010, Colloquium on Mathematical Logic, Gido Scharfenberger-Fabian
Speaker: Gido Scharfenberger-Fabian (Greifswald)
Title: Advanced Souslin tree constructions for algebraic issues
Location: Room TBA, Science Park 904, Amsterdam

For abstracts and more information, see http://www.math.uu.nl/people/jvoosten/seminar.html

- 24 May 2010, Computational Linguistics Seminar, Gideon Borensztajn
Speaker: Gideon Borensztajn
Date and time: Monday 24 May 2010, 16.00
Location: Room A1.? (TBA), Science Park 904, Amsterdam

For more information and abstracts, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/LaCo/CLS/

- 31 May – 2 June 2010, International Conference on Computational Science 2010 (ICCS 2010), Amsterdam, the Netherlands

The International Conference on Computational Science 2010 (ICCS 2010) aims to bring together researchers and scientists from mathematics and computer science as basic computing disciplines, researchers from various application areas who are pioneering advanced application of computational methods to sciences such as physics, chemistry, life sciences, and engineering, arts and humanitarian fields, along with software developers and vendors, to discuss problems and solutions in the area, to identify new issues, and to shape future directions for research, as well as to help industrial users apply various advanced computational techniques.

The theme for ICCS 2010 in Amsterdam is “Advancing Computational Thinking”, to mark several decades of progress in computational science theory and practice, leading to greatly improved applications in science. This conference will be a unique event focusing on recent developments in methods and modelling of complex systems for diverse areas of science, scalable scientific algorithms, advanced software tools, computational grids, advanced numerical methods, and novel application areas where the above novel models, algorithms and tools can be efficiently applied such as physical systems, computational and systems biology, environmental systems, finance, and others.

For more information, see http://www.iccs-meeting.org/

- 1 June 2010, Computational Humanities Workshop at ICCS 2010
Date and time: 1 June 2010, 13.00-15.00
Location: Tropenmuseum, Mauritskade 63, Amsterdam

Computational Humanities is a new, largely unexplored, field which is situated at the interface between the humanities and the (exact) sciences, in particular information science. The humanities differ from the sciences in their concern with expressions of the human mind, such as language, literature, music, art and history. While computational approaches to the humanities exist since the 1960s, it is only during the last decade or so that digitized data have become available in such quantities that we can observe the emergence of a new overarching field. One of the major aims of this field is to automatically detect novel patterns and concepts in historical, musical, textual and artistic data that are (practically) impossible to find by hand. While initial work in computational humanities focused on local and low-level patterns, there is a shift towards unraveling more complex, higher-level patterns such as the notion of
theme in literature, style in painting and music, and long-term relations in history. The goal of this workshop is (1) to give an introduction to this upcoming field, and (2) to investigate to what extent computational humanities share models and techniques with other areas of computational science.

For more information, see http://staff.science.uva.nl/~rens/CompHum2010.htm

- 9 June 2010, Computational Linguistics Seminar, Jelle Zuidema
Speaker: Jelle Zuidema
Date and time: Wednesday 9 June 2010, 16.00
Location: Room A1.? (TBA), Science Park 904, Amsterdam

For more information and abstracts, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/LaCo/CLS/

- 30 September – 2 October 2010, Amsterdam Graduate Philosophy Conference on “Truth, Meaning, and Normativity” (AGPC’10), Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam
Costs: 60 euro (students) or 90 euros (others)

The Amsterdam Graduate Philosophy Conference 2010 is organised by the Department of Philosophy and the Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation of the Universiteit van Amsterdam. The 3rd Amsterdam Graduate Philosophy Conference is devoted to continue the discussions that were raised in the previous two conferences, as well as to lay
the ground for new ones. The theme this year is Truth, Meaning, and Normativity.

We invite submissions from graduate researchers conducting novel philosophical research into any of the three conference topics. We also encourage submissions that inform the discussion about truth, meaning, and/or normativity by offering a philosophical interpretation of results from other fields such as logic, cognitive psychology and linguistics (including formal semantics and sociolinguistics).

Since the topics of truth, meaning, and normativity naturally feed into each other, we also welcome contributions whose particular aim is to explore any of the many intricate ways in which these notions relate to one another. Submissions on the role that these notions have played, or play, in the broad (analytic) tradition or, more
specifically, within the linguistic turn are also of interest to the conference.

For more information, please visit the conference website at http://www.illc.uva.nl/agpc/agpc10/, or contact agpc@uva.nl.

- 21-23 October 2010, The Making of the Humanities II: Second International Conference on the History of the Humanities, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

This is the second of a biennially organized conference that brings together scholars and historians of humanities disciplines to draw the outlines for a comparative history of the humanities. Although there exist histories of single humanities disciplines, a comparative history would satisfy a long-felt need, and fill a conspicuous gap in intellectual history.

The first highly successful conference, held in 2008, discussed the early modern period. The theme of this year’s meeting is From Early Modern to Modern Disciplines, focusing on the period 1600-1900. Topics include all aspects of the history of philology, linguistics, rhetoric, musicology, literary theory, historiography, art history, archeology and other humanities disciplines, with an emphasis on their interrelations. For more information, see the conference website at http://www.illc.uva.nl/MakingHumanities/2010/.

- 8 December 2010, Computational Linguistics Seminar, Stephen Clark
Speaker: Stephen Clark (University of Cambridge)
Date and time: Wednesday 8 December 2010, 16.00
Location: Room A1.? (TBA), Science Park 904, Amsterdam

For more information and abstracts, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/LaCo/CLS/
3) FUNDING, GRANTS AND COMPETITIONS

- Grant Up-to-Date “Nieuwsflits”

Up to now, Bureau Kennistransfer sent out the Grant Update once a month – an overview of funding opportunities for research and education. As of now UvA employees will find the latest funding information in a user friendly environment on the new funding website at http://www.nieuwsflits.uva.nl/UvARedirect.php?Item=5707.

Additionally, users can subscribe to a monthly ‘nieuwsflits’. The top 3 grants for May: Calls are open for various types of Marie Curie individual fellowships (IIF,IEF, IOF and RG). See http://www.nieuwsflits.uva.nl/UvARedirect.php?Item=5704. The Future of the Internet. See http://www.nieuwsflits.uva.nl/UvARedirect.php?Item=5705. Open Education Call: ALFA Regional Cooperation Programme. ALFA is a programme of cooperation between Higher Education Institutions of the European Union and Latin America. Deadline: 25 June 2010. See http://www.nieuwsflits.uva.nl/UvARedirect.php?Item=5706.
4) OPEN POSITIONS AT ILLC

- Assistant Professorship (Universitair Docent) in Statistical Natural Language Processing

The Language and Computation group in the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) at the University of Amsterdam has a job opening for an Assistant Professorship in Statistical Natural Language Processing (‘Universitair Docent’, 50% research, 50% teaching) 38 hours per week, for 2 years, starting in Fall 2010.

The Language and Computation group is headed by Rens Bod and Khalil Sima’an and has six staff, seven postdoctoral researchers and a dozen of PhD students. For more information on the group, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/Research/research06b.php.

Application deadline: Tuesday 1 June 2010. Vacancy number: 10-1027.
For more information, see http://www.uva.nl/vacatures/vacatures.cfm/5B4DE479-9B43-451D-98711E3245C3AABD
or contact Rens Bod (rens.bod@gmail.com) or Khalil Sima’an.
(K.Simaan@uva.nl).
5) OPEN POSITIONS, GENERAL

- Postdoctoral research assistantship & PhD student position in theoretical computer science, Oxford (U.K.)

The Automated Formal Verification Group is advertising posts for a Grade 7 Research Assistant and a fully funded DPhil (Oxford’s “PhD”) position, to work on the automated verification of concurrent programs that make use of shared memory under the direction of Daniel Kroening and Joel Ouaknine in the Oxford University Computing Laboratory.

The work will take place within the Verification group in the Oxford University Computing La bo ratory, which comprises, in addition to the two investigators, world-leading experts in software verification and model checking such as Marta Kwiatkowska, Tom Melham, Luke Ong, and Bill Roscoe.

Applications must be received before 14 or 31 May 2010, respectively.
For more information, see the ads at http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/news/179-full.html and http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/news/149-full.html, or contact the project supervisors Daniel Kroening (kroening@comlab.ox.ac.uk) and Joel Ouaknine (joel@comlab.ox.ac.uk).

- Two PhD student positions in formal methods / mathematical logic, Zurich (Switzerland)

The research group headed by Prof. David Basin at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETH Zurich) has two open positions for PhD students. For these positions, we are looking for enthusiastic students with a strong background in formal methods or mathematical logic and with an interest in applying their knowledge to formal development and testing of secure software. Additionally, experience in either formal software development by refinement or automated test case generation techniques would be an asset.

The PhD student employed will be given the opportunity to carry out a PhD in Computer Science at ETH Zurich. ETH Zurich regulations require doctoral students to hold a Master’s or equivalent degree (e.g. Diplom). Successful candidates are expected to be able to join us on October 1st, 2010.

For more information, see http://www.infsec.ethz.ch/events/jobs/EUProjects2010 Inquiries should be sent to Christoph Sprenger and Mohammad Torabi Dashti at the following email address: infsec.positions@inf.ethz.ch.

- 6 June 2010, Post-doc posititon at The Logic and Computation Group at the Australian National University

The Logic and Computation Group at the Australian National University in Canberra is currently advertising a three-year fixed term post-doc. Applications close on June 6th 2010. We are looking for people whose research interests are in logic in computer science, automated reasoning, non-classical logics or proof theory.

For more information, see http://jobs.anu.edu.au/PositionDetail.aspx?p=1243
6) PUBLICATIONS

- ILLC Prepublication (PP) Series PP-2010-12, Amelie Gheerbrant

Title: Complete Axiomatization of the Stutter-Invariant Fragment of
the Linear-time mu-calculus

For more information, see the ILLC electronic archives at
http://www.illc.uva.nl/Publications/reportlist.php?Series=PP#PP-2010-12
- ILLC Prepublication (PP) Series PP-2010-13, Umberto Grandi and Ulle Endriss
Title: Lifting Rationality Assumptions in Binary Aggregation

For more information, see the ILLC electronic archives at http://www.illc.uva.nl/Publications/reportlist.php?Series=PP#PP-2010-13
- ILLC Prepublication (PP) Series PP-2010-14, Benedikt Loewe, Eric Pacuit, Andreas Witzel
Title: Planning based on dynamic epistemic logic

For more information, see the ILLC electronic archives at http://www.illc.uva.nl/Publications/reportlist.php?Series=PP#PP-2010-14

Young researchers who
- have completed their PhD (but NOT in the UK)
- are fluent in English
- are keen on spending two years of postdoctoral studies at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK
- would like to work on a project related to the philosophy, logic, epistemology, metaphysics or ethics of information, broadly conceived
- would like to join the research group in the philosophy of information at the University of Hertfordshire
- have not recently spent more than one year in the UK for academic reasons

are very welcome to send their CVs and an initial expression of interest (all in English) to Mrs Penny Driscoll, p.j.driscoll2@herts.ac.uk

Call for Applications:
A 2,5 year Post-Doc position is available in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences in the Institute of Artificial Intelligence (ALICE), offered in collaboration with the department of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Groningen. The candidate will join the Vidi project of Dr. Sonja Smets.

VIDI Project: ‘Reasoning about quantum interaction: Logical modelling and verification of multi-agent quantum protocols’:

As for classical computing, logic is expected to play an essential role in the understanding of quantum computation and quantum information, and especially in the formal verification of quantum communication protocols. Such multi-agent applications involve quantum information flow and classical knowledge transfer (by classical communication) between the agents. So one of our aims in the proposed VIDI research project is to develop the logical tools for modelling complex situations where different types of informational dynamics (classical and quantum) are combined. Our goal is to develop and use a combined classical-quantum logic for the full specification and formal verification of agent-based quantum protocols for secure communication. Towards this goal, we propose to use formalisms based on modal logic, especially combinations of dynamic (or temporal) logics and epistemic (or “spatial”) logics.

The post-doc position on this project will extend the tools of the mentioned modal and epistemic logics with techniques from other logical formalisms, such as for instance probabilistic logic, linear logic and/or coalgebraic logic (or categorical logic, in general). In particular, the selected candidate will work on the development of the logical tools for the verification of quantum protocols where probabilities play an essential role. The main case-study in this part of the project is the formal verification of Quantum Key Distribution.

Qualifications: Candidates should have (or obtain before 1 September 2010) a PhD degree in any area connected to Logic, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy, Mathematics or Physics. Fluent English is a prerequisite.

Job Profile: We are looking for candidates with a strong interest in Quantum Information Theory and either Probability Theory or/and Logic (especially in any of the areas such as Modal Logic, Epistemic Logic, Dynamic Logic, Linear Logic, Categorical Logic or Quantum Logic).

Appointment: The post-doc position is awarded for a period of 30 months. The gross monthly salary will range between € 2.379,- and € 3.755,- gross per month. The successful applicant will be working under daily supervision of Dr. S. Smets. The main focus of the appointment is on research, but can include moderate teaching duties in subjects relevant to the candidate’s research activities. The preferred starting date is 1 September 2010.

How to apply: Send your application electronically to Dr. Sonja Smets at S.J.L.Smets@rug.nl by 7 June 2010. Applications must contain:

- a Curriculum Vitae
- a Letter of Motivation (at most 2 page), explaining why you are interested in this position
- a copy of your most important research paper, which appeared or is submitted for publication to a scientific journal (can be co-authored).
- a short summary of your PhD thesis in maximum 2 pages
- the name and contact details (including email address) of two referees who can provide details about your profile (one of which should be the main supervisor of your PhD thesis).

For further information, please contact Dr. Sonja Smets at S.J.L.Smets@rug.nl

We will start reviewing applications on 7 June 2010 and hope to make a decision soon after that, but applications will continue to be accepted until the position is filled.

http://www.rug.nl/corporate/vacatures/vacaturesRUG

TWO PHD POSITIONS IN LOGICS FOR QUANTUM INTERACTION
UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN, THE NETHERLANDS

Call for Applications:
Two PhD positions are available in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences in the Institute of Artificial Intelligence (ALICE), offered in collaboration with the department of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Groningen. The candidates will join the five-year NWO Vidi project of Dr. Sonja Smets.

VIDI Project: ‘Reasoning about quantum interaction: Logical modelling and verification of multi-agent quantum protocols’:

As for classical computing, logic is expected to play an essential role in the understanding of quantum computation and quantum information, and especially in the formal verification of quantum communication protocols. Such multi-agent applications involve quantum information flow and classical knowledge transfer (by classical communication) between the agents. So one of our aims in the proposed VIDI research project is to develop the logical tools for modelling complex situations where different types of informational dynamics (classical and quantum) are combined. Our goal is to develop and use a combined classical-quantum logic for the full specification and formal verification of agent-based quantum protocols for secure communication. Towards this goal, we propose to use formalisms based on modal logic, especially combinations of dynamic (or temporal) logics and epistemic (or “spatial”) logics. But other logical formalisms, such as probabilistic logic, linear logic and coalgebraic logic (or categorical logic, in general), may also turn out to be useful in this context

Two PhD positions are linked to this project. The first PhD position has the task of studying from a logical perspective the role of classical knowledge transfer in known protocols such as e.g. Teleportation, Super Dense Coding and Quantum Secret Sharing. The second PhD position is associated to the logical study of the (classical and quantum) information flow in protocols dealing with the anonymity of an agent’s identity such as the Quantum Dining Cryptographers and Quantum Electronic Voting.

Qualifications: Candidates should have (or obtain before 1 September 2010) an excellent Masters degree in Logic, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy, Mathematics or Physics. Fluent English is a prerequisite.

Job Profile: We are looking for candidates with a strong interest in Logic (especially in any of the areas such as Modal Logic, Epistemic Logic, Dynamic Logic, Linear Logic, Categorical Logic or Quantum Logic) and in Quantum Information Theory or Quantum Computing.

Appointment: The PhD positions are awarded for a period of four years and should lead to a dissertation. The gross monthly salary for each position will range from 2042 euro in the first year to 2612 euro in the fourth year. The successful applicants are required to participate in the PhD programme at the University of Groningen (see http://www.rug.nl/prospectivestudents/degreeprogrammes/graduateschools/phd) and will be working under the daily supervision of Dr. S. Smets. The main focus of the appointment is on research, but can include moderate teaching duties in subjects relevant to the candidate’s research activities. The preferred starting date is 1 September 2010.

How to apply: Applications must be send electronically to Dr Sonja Smets at S.J.L.Smets@rug.nl, they should arrive by 7 June 2010 and must contain:

- a Curriculum Vitae
- a Letter of Motivation (at most 2 page), explaining why you are interested in this position
- a list of all university courses taken (including grades).
- a short summary of your Master thesis in maximum 2 pages
- the name and contact details (including email address) of two referees who can provide details about your profile (e.g. the supervisors of your master thesis).

For further information, please contact Dr Sonja Smets at S.J.L.Smets@rug.nl

We will start reviewing applications on 7 June 2010 and hope to make a decision soon after that, but applications will continue to be accepted until both positions are filled.

http://www.rug.nl/corporate/vacatures/vacaturesRUG

In an effort to counter the “logic is for boys” stereotype, the “Women in philosophy of logic and philosophical logic” is a list of younger as well as more senior women working in philosophy of logic and philosophical logic in no particular order or organization. We hope it can, among other things, be useful as a source of ideas of potential speakers for conference organizers. While it is most certainly true that women are underrepresented in the more ‘logical’ areas of philosophy, the list suggests that there are quite a few of them doing interesting and important work in the area, and that there is every reason to think that countering the stereotype may have the positive effect of encouraging female students to seriously consider taking up philosophy of logic and philosophical logic as their areas of expertise.

The list is an itinative of Catarina Dutilh Novaes.

Last day for application: August 27th.

This is to inform you that the Swedish Research Council now accepts applications for Postdoc positions for work in Sweden. In the spring call, we were lucky and we now have Carlo Proietti (PhD from IHPST in Paris) with us in Lund for two years.

Main points:
* Open to anyone wishing to work for 6-24 months in a Swedish research institution. Equal opportunity for applicants of any nationality. The applicant selects host institution in Sweden
* It is a reasonably salaried POSITION, not a stipend, with all sorts of social security schemes included.
* In Lund, we currently have an extraordinarily brilliant group of younger people who have recently received their PhD or will do so soon, including Carlo Proietti. They all have a solid formal training, but apply it to real philosophival problems. Therefore, anyone with similar interests would create interesting synergies for us and for him/herself. The senior people in the department are, besides myself, Wlodek Rabinowicz, Peter Gärdenfors and Erik J Olsson.
* I, and anyone in the department, will be happy to provide further information and assistance in the application process.

For the application forms:
Go to www.vr.se (the homepage of the Swedish Research Council). Click “In English” in one of the green bars, then click “Apply for grants”. You will then see a long list. If you click “Humanities and social sciences” in the dropdown menu, it will reduce the list considerably. Then click “Grant for postdoctoral position …”, and you are there. (Do NOT click “Postdoctoral fellowship” – these are only for Swedes going abroad.)

Bengt Hansson
Professor em. of theoretical philosophy
Lund University

Modelling intelligent and rational interaction in multi-agent systems has been one of the main issues in Artificial Intelligence that gained momentum in the last decade of the past century. The ‘agents’ under discussion mainly referred autonomous actors like software programs, robots and even humans. Interaction among them can be cooperative as well as non-cooperative.

This is now merging into broader studies of formal models of society, where computer science meets decision theory, game theory, and social choice theory, for instance in the study of rational deliberation and decision making. One connection which has been made here is ‘social software’, an interesting perspective, but as yet without a complete theory . We have lots of detailed studies of agents’ knowledge, beliefs, preferences, and also of their long-term powers for influencing the outcomes of games. But we do not have a good theory of what may be the most crucial ingredient here: the plans or strategies that information-processing agents have for achieving these goals. In other words, their know-how in addition to their know-that. This is the main topic of this research program.

For more information visit the project’s website: http://www.ai.rug.nl/~sujata/stratmas.html

.

Job description: Institut Jean-Nicod (EHESS/ENS/CNRS, Paris) is seeking to recruit a post-doctoral researcher for 12 months as part of the ANR research project «Cognitive Origins of Vagueness», conducted by Paul Égré. The position is to start September 2009 or possibly later. The applicant’s PhD should have been defended and filed by the starting date. The net salary will be of 2040 Euros/month. French social security and retirement benefits will apply.

The post-doc’s primary responsibility will be to conduct research on vagueness, and the candidate should be motivated to pursue new directions of investigation in this domain, whether theoretical or empirical. Questions of interest for the project concern the incidence of vagueness in language, in perception and in decision (representative issues include, among other topics and non-limitatively, the link between vagueness and language learning, the articulation between perceptual categories and linguistic categories, the role of decision in the assignment of boundaries for concepts, the importance of contextual factors in vagueness resolution).

The candidate should have a PhD in one of these areas: philosophy, psychology, formal semantics, cognitive science, preferably on issues connected to vagueness or categorization. The selected candidate will participate in regular seminars on the topic of vagueness and will also take part in the organization of workshops and scientific events. The candidate will have the possibility to do experimental work and will be given adequate supervision to that effect if appropriate (in partnership with the LSCP and Department of Cognitive Studies at Ecole Normale Supérieure).

Candidates are invited to submit an application (in English) including a curriculum vitae, a letter of motivation with a brief statement of
interests, a writing sample, and two letters of recommendation, by May 13, 2009. The application, as well as individual queries, should be sent directly to Paul Egré : paulegre AT gmail.com. Applications will be reviewed by the selection committee (see below).

Institut Jean-Nicod (http://www.institutnicod.org) is a member of the Department of Cognitive Studies at École Normale Supérieure (DEC-ENS), which also includes dynamic groups in psychology and cognitive science (such as the LSCP, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et de Psycholinguistique, and the LPP, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, with both of which collaborations are taking place).

Selection Committee:
Anouk Barberousse (IHPST)
Mikaël Cozic (IJN, DEC-ENS)
Denis Bonnay (Paris X Nanterre, DEC-ENS)
Jérôme Dokic (EHESS, IJN)
Paul Égré (IJN, DEC-ENS)
Pascal Ludwig (Paris IV-Sorbonne)
Jérôme Sackur (LSCP, DEC-ENS)
Benjamin Spector (IJN, DEC-ENS)

• Sujata Ghosh (Groningen)
• Mikael Cozic (Paris)
• Bryan Renne (Groningen)
• Paul Egré (Paris)
• Jan-Willem Romeijn (Gronignen)
• Katie Steele (LSE)
• Kai Spiekermann (Warwick)
• Sonja Smets (Groningen)
• Brian Hill (Paris)
• Franz Dietrich (LSE and Maastricht)
• Till Grune-Yanoff (KTH – Sweden)
• Olivier Roy (Groningen)

The full program of the session will be available soon. It will surely be not to be missed!