The Scholarship

Answer set programming (ASP) is a form of non-monotonic reasoning which is based on the stable-model semantics. Intuitively, an answer set program can be seen as a collection of rules on which non-deterministic forward chaining is applied. Among others, ASP has proven successful as an elegant and convenient vehicle for commonsense reasoning in discrete domains, and to encode combinatorial optimization problems in a purely declarative way. Extensions of ASP have been proposed with the aim of increasing the expressivity and application potential of traditional ASP.

Possibilistic answer set programming (PASP), for instance, unites ASP and possibilistic logic to support declarative programming under uncertainty. In fuzzy answer set programming (FASP), a generalization of ASP based on fuzzy logic, literals are associated with truth degrees from the unit interval [0,1] to reflect the intensity of properties, thereby allowing to encode continuous optimization problems. Most existing work assumes that rules and facts are given by an expert; in other words, they assume the intervention of a user who explicitly defines the rules of the program. In many potential applications, however, these rules can only be generated (automatically) from imperfect data. This is for example the case when extracting rules from natural language (e.g. interactions between proteins from biomedical literature), or when translating metadata from objects and users from the web 2.0.

Tasks
The successful applicants will perform research to adapt the semantics of ASP and its extensions to satisfy the needs that have arisen in the application domains mentioned above. This includes theory development as a basis for efficient algorithms for reasoning with variants of the FASP and PASP semantics.

Context
One PhD project is part of the Multidisciplinary Research Partnership “Nucleotides to Networks” at Ghent University. The emphasis of this project will be on logic based modelling of biological networks. The successful applicant will carry out his/her research at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science (Ghent University) and the Department of Plant Systems Biology (Ghent University).

The other PhD project is part of the FWO funded project “Fuzzy Answer Set Programming 2.0″. The emphasis of this project will be the development of a theoretically justified alternative for (generalizations) of ad hoc Web 2.0 techniques. The successful applicant will carry out his/her research at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science (Ghent University) and the Department of Computer Science (Vrije Universiteit Brussel).

When

Both positions are available from October 2010.

Profile

The positions are open to highly motivated candidates interested to do research in an academic environment for a 4 years period in view of a PhD degree. Successful candidates are responsible, communicative and flexible persons, who are able to plan and carry out tasks in an independent way. Their English is fluent, both speaking and writing.
Eligible candidates must have a master degree (or equivalent) in mathematics, logic, computer science or computer engineering, or a related field.

Apply

Please send your application letter together with your CV to Martine.DeCock@UGent.be
Screening of credentials will begin Sep 15, 2010 and continue until the positions are filled.

Application Deadline : 15 September 2010