From: R A Ruddle (royr++at++comp.leeds.ac.uk)
Date: 05/08/2001 06:41:55
The School of Computing at Leeds is recruiting at Lecturer, Senior
Lecturer, or Reader level. Amoungst the areas of focus for the School's
research (see below) are HCI, virtual environments, and collaborative
working. Research for these areas is centered in the Informatics Research
Institute (www.iri.leeds.ac.uk), which contains comprehensively-equipped
VE laboratories (Onyx3, TAN Holobench, networked multimedia conferencing,
etc.).
We would welcome applications from specialists in these areas. For
further information about current HCI/VE research, please contact Dr Roy
Ruddle (Tel: +44 (0)113 233 5430, Email: royr++at++comp.leeds.ac.uk).
The full advert follows below:
--- Lectureships/Senior Lectureships In Computing And Informatics (With The Possibility Of Appointment At Reader Level)School Of Computing
Closing Date: 22-05-2001
These permanent posts are available in our expanding School, with the possibility of appointment at Senior Lecturer/Reader level. You will be required to undertake leading-edge research and teaching of the highest standard within our broadly based degree programmes and should strengthen one of our existing research groups: Computer Vision and Language, Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, Multi-disciplinary Informatics, Scientific Computation and Visualization, Theoretical Computer Science. Prior experience in teaching, preferably in higher education, would be an advantage. Applicants should have a Ph.D. (or equivalent experience) in a relevant discipline. Preference may be given to candidates who can strengthen our teaching across our four B.Sc. and two M.Sc. degree programmes.
The School and the University have made a strategic commitment to developing multidisciplinary research activity through the formation of a well equipped Informatics Research Institute; applicants who can contribute to its development are especially welcome.
Salary: Lecturer A/B (18,731 - 30,967 p.a. under review). For exceptionally well qualified candidates appointment at Senior Lecturer or Reader level is possible (32,510 - 39,718 p.a. under review).
Further details
Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Tony Cohn (tel: 0113-233-5482; fax: 0113-233-5468; email recruit++at++comp.leeds.ac.uk).
See http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk for further information about the School or http://www.leeds.ac.uk/jobadverts for further particulars about these posts.
--------
FURTHER PARTICULARS
The School of Computing
Leeds is one of the largest universities in Britain, with over twenty-three thousand students and more than five thousand staff, including over two thousand academic and academic-related staff and attracts more applications from students than any other UK university.
The University has departments in all major disciplines and is able to support a number of specialised subjects such as East Asian Studies, Food Science, Textiles and Colour Chemistry (the latter unique in Europe). There are also more than twenty interdisciplinary centres.
Three large colleges and a number of smaller institutions in the region are affiliated also to the University. Additionally, the University is associated with Leeds General Infirmary and St James's University Hospital, who are both members of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. The School of Computing has strong traditions in both research and teaching. We have some 80 teaching, research and support staff, teach over 700 full-time equivalent students, including some 40 FTE on taught MSc.s and around 40 FTE on postgraduate research degrees, and are active in a wide range of research programmes. The School aims to be a leading international university department for research and development, learning and training in core aspects of computer science and information systems. Our objectives are:
- To undertake world class research in all our areas.
- To provide a high quality learning environment at all levels of higher education, that is internationally recognised and professionally relevant.
- To provide an environment that encourages all staff to achieve their full potential and enjoy maximum job satisfaction.
The current Head of the School is Professor Tony Cohn. Professors Martin Berzins, Graham Birtwistle, Ken Brodlie, Peter Dew, Martin Dyer, David Hogg and Tony Wren are the other members of the professoriate. Teaching is undertaken at School level, with research and professional development of staff taking place in academic groups or smaller, more focused and evolving research groups.
We have a large and active teaching programme comprising: three single subject undergraduate honours degrees in Computer Science, Computing, and Information Systems (recently reaccredited by the BCS); considerable and varied contributions to joint degrees with other departments in Science and Arts, including a degree in Cognitive Science run jointly with the Schools of Philosophy and Psychology; and two taught MSc programmes in Information Systems and Distributed Multimedia Systems. The School places considerable emphasis on delivering a high quality learning and teaching environment.
In recognition of the strategic importance of Computing and Informatics, the University has recently increased the unit of Teaching resource for Computing and this will allow our School to continue to grow.
The School is very strong in multi-disciplinary research, which complements our underlying research in foundational aspects of computing. We have close contacts with the end users of computer and information systems through many collaborative programmes with partners elsewhere in the University and in other national and international institutes. Our research programme is focused in five areas:
- Computer Vision and Language (computer vision, natural language processing)
- Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (knowledge/information integration, program analysis, qualitative and spatial reasoning)
- Multi-disciplinary Informatics (biosystems, e-science, networking , virtual working environments, virtual environments, transport informatics and scheduling)
- Scientific Computation and Visualization (computational PDEs graphics and visualization, parallel algorithms)
- Theoretical Computer Science (algorithms and complexity, formal methods, safety-related systems).
Members of the School participate in a number of interdisciplinary research institutes and centres within the University: for example,
- Centre for the Computer Analysis of Language and Speech
- Centre for Computational Geography
- Centre for Computational Fluid Dynamics
- Centre of Medical Imaging Research
- Institute for Transport Studies
- Keyworth Institute for Manufacturing and Information Systems Engineering
- Centre for Virtual Working Systems
- Centre for the Study of Complex Systems
- Informatics Research Institute
The School owns and runs a large heterogeneous network of servers, workstations, PCs and a Beowulf compute cluster to support the computing needs of its staff and students. All academic staff are equipped with a workstation or PC as best fits their teaching and research needs. An extensive ATM experimental network as well as standard 10/100 ethernet provides access to a variety of powerful computational servers. We have access to the University high performance computing facility, based on a Silicon Graphics Origin2000 with 32 processors. This machine supports our compute-intensive work with a number of departments. Our student laboratories are regularly upgraded with well specified PCs running Linux or NT. Students have access to over 1000 PC's in open access clusters around the University.
Expansion of Informatics Research
The School is planning a major expansion in multidisciplinary Informatics as part of wider University strategic initiative to establish an Informatics Research Network (the first stage of which is an Informatics Research Institute housed within the School -- http://www.iri.leeds.ac.uk. This follows an investment of 1.4M this academic year and a further investment of 1M in the next academic year. This will enable us to build an international centre of excellence focussing on generic cross-disciplinary themes and the construction of exemplar systems solving real-world problems from which new generic research problems can be identified. The initiative is spearheaded through the Informatics group and involves key researchers (Profs Berzins, Brodlie, Cohn and Hogg) from the other research groups. A Chair in Informatics has been approved and will be advertised in the near future. The School is particularly keen to attract Informatics Researchers that can further research under the following themes:
- Novel evolutionary adaptive approaches inspired by biology and cognitive science, building on research by Bullock and Noble and growing links with School of Biology and Hewlett Packard, will be extended and applied to new areas such the study of markets and e-commerce.
- Computational modelling of engineering, earth and environmental and biological problems using e-science methodologies with the Scientific Visualisation group and its international collaborators.
- Human interaction research within Virtual Environments with the Computer Vision and Language group and Physiology, will focus on understanding how humans perform both individual and collaborative tasks and create new modelling paradigms for collaborative working and intelligent conferencing.
- Knowledge management, education and change management (applied to manufacturing, health, law and business), social-technical systems, learning technologies, inter-enterprise collaborative internet environments using Grid technologies, knowledge management architectures and modelling with Knowledge Representation and Reasoning and digital library work with Lynne Brindley, Director of the British Library and visiting Professor.
These research themes are studied within larger multidisciplinary projects involving applied informatics groups to advance a range of E-science projects (for example involving bio-informatics researchers, atmospheric scientists and medical physics). Enterprise System-oriented research is undertaken with Keyworth Institute for Manufacturing and Information Systems Engineering and the Faraday Packaging and Printing Centre. New opportunities are being explored such as Court21, an industrial-academic consortium with the Law Department and College of William & Mary (the leading USA University for Court Technology), and with the Leeds-based Nuffield Institute of Health
Through the Informatics Research Institute and the HPC Modelling consortium there are excellent research facilities including: (i) a 32-processor Origin 2000 and two Beowulf parallel machines (with a total of 42 processors); and (ii) a well equipped multidisciplinary research laboratories (established with HEFCE grants totally 1.4M) for a state-of-the-art Virtual Environments (VE) and Intelligent Conferencing research. The facilities include a TAN Holodesk (to create a virtual 3D volume of space), cybergloves, haptic interface devices. The facility is serviced by a 12 processor, three pipe SGI Onyx3 graphics system and a novel intelligent graphics network. A recent Wolfson grant of 80k will link this activity to upgraded Bioinformatics laboratories as part of the Informatics Research Network. Over 1M will be available next year to establish a new state of the art open-planed multidisciplinary Informatics Research Laboratory. This infrastructure will be further strengthen by a White Rose Computational and Data Grid providing Informatics researchers in Leeds, York and Sheffield with state of the HPC and data storage facilities. An investment of over 3M poundsin these facilities is planned for next academic year.
Purposes of the Posts
- To undertake leading-edge research within the School
- To contribute to the School's teaching programme, both in the presentation of modules and in the development of new modules and the means of their delivery.
- To promote opportunities for interdisciplinary research with other departments in the University and with external organisations.
- To support the School's programme of continued professional and vocational education opportunities.
Main Duties
Research:
The lecturers will be expected to maintain an influential publications record of a kind which will enhance the School's research record at international levels and which clearly displays originality and scholarship. The lecturers will be expected to seek research funding in their own right, possibly in collaboration with other members of the University. Lecturers are also expected to play a role within the wider national and international research community.
Teaching:
The lecturers will be expected to maintain and enhance standards of student attainment at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He or she will be required to develop, deliver and assess modules using and evaluating innovative approaches where appropriate. All lecturers are expected to undertake administrative tasks associated with their teaching. A contribution to the training and supervision of postgraduate research students is also expected. In addition, lecturers provide pastoral advice and guidance to students.
Other:
The lecturers should take initiatives to promote industrial, professional and community links and to explore possibilities for further interdisciplinary collaboration within the University. The University and the School place considerable emphasis on the continued professional development of their staff and expect lecturers to take advantage of training opportunities to develop their professional competencies. In particular, new lecturers are, where appropriate, encouraged to register for the Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. The University encourages membership of the Institute for Learning and Teaching and will pay the entrance fee.
Ultimately all lecturers are responsible to the Head of School. All lecturers are expected to work with others, both in course teams and research teams.
New lecturers will normally undergo a process of probation and for this purpose they will be assigned a mentor or advisor, who will work closely with them. The post will, in time, involve the supervision of research students and may involve the direction of research, clerical or technical support staff.
Person Specification
Personal attributes:
The lecturers will be required to demonstrate a capacity for original thought and to possess excellent communication and presentation skills. Good interpersonal and time management skills are essential, as is the capacity to enthuse others and to work successfully in a variety of teams.
Experience:
The persons appointed will have an established record of high quality research, normally demonstrated by a track record of publications in leading journals and conferences, or in the case of recently qualified applicants, there should be sufficient evidence of the potential to build such a record. Ideally, the lecturer should demonstrate evidence of high quality teaching, preferably in higher education. Experience of developing courses and writing research proposals is very desirable.
Education, professional training and technical knowledge:
It is expected that the lecturer will have a Ph.D. (or equivalent experience) in a relevant discipline. Candidates should strengthen one of our existing research groups. Preference may be given to candidates who can strengthen our teaching in the areas of High Performance Computing, Computing Systems and Networking. Industrial experience would be an asset and may, in certain circumstances, compensate for the lack of postgraduate qualifications. Candidates should have a degree of practical computer literacy sufficient for the efficient execution of their research, administration and teaching tasks in an IT environment.
Senior Lectureship candidates
Applicants for Senior Lecturer would normally expected: to be experienced teachers, to have a significant publication record and research experience, and to have demonstrated administrative skill. In certain circumstances, other experience, such as relevant industrial experience may compensate for a lack in one or more of these areas.
Readership candidates
Applicants for a position at Readership level should satisfy the University's usual requirements for a Readership. Some of these requirements are: evidence of a national/international reputation, an established publication list, a proven record of funding, previous student and postdoctoral level supervision. In summary, a Readership is a personal distinction and is conferred solely on grounds of outstanding achievement, recognised externally, in one or more of the following: scholarship, original research, innovative applications.
Further details
Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Tony Cohn (tel: 0113-233-5482; fax: 0113-233-5468; email recruit++at++comp.leeds.ac.uk). See http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk for further information about the School.
Applications should include the following:-
- A completed application form
- A Curriculum Vitae/ information requested on page 3 of the form.
- Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form . Please return the Form in a separate envelope marked 'EOs Monitoring'.
Replies will be treated in complete confidence.
Applications should be returned to: Professor Tony Cohn, School of Computing, The University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, quoting the reference number 048-174-002-009, not later than 22 May 2001.
If you are selected for interview you can expect to hear from the University not later than two months after the closing date. If you are not selected for interview the University will not contact you again. The volume of applications for each post prevents us from being able to notify everyone of the outcome of their application. This unfortunately means we are treating you less courteously than we would wish, but I hope you will appreciate the reasons for this.
Disabled Applicants
The post is located in the School of Computing which is fully accessible. Disabled applicants are welcome to review the building and its access. Disability Services (tel: 0113 233 3927) can provide advice if required.
Disabled applicants are not obliged to inform employers of their disability but will still be covered by the Disability Discrimination Act once their disability becomes known.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue May 08 2001 - 06:44:19 PDT