Special PhD positions at the Department of Computer Science

2024

Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University, announces an open call for up to two PhD positions with special funding starting from February 2024, in the following areas:

The deadline for application is December 8, 2023.

General information

Prospective PhD students are expected to show their research background and skills in the area of the selected PhD topic. They should also be proficient in English; prior knowledge of Czech is not necessary.

Stipend

Each of the PhD positions is funded with a stipend of net value at least 39000CZK per month (this amount consists of the standard doctoral stipend 15000 CZK and its 14000 CZK addition for publication activity, and the extra departmental supplement of 10000 CZK per month). The stipend is granted to successful applicants for the first 2 years, with an expected renewal (after an evaluation) for another 2 years. The total length of study is 4 years.

Application procedure

Applicants are advised to contact directly their prospective supervisor (as listed below) for more specific details, well ahead of the deadline. Applications consisting of CV, motivation letter, and possibly other relevant documents supporting the candidate's excellence should be sent to prof. RNDr. Ivana Černá, CSc. (cerna@fi.muni.cz) by December 8, 2023. Applications will be evaluated by the departmental committee, which will choose the best eligible applicant(s) over all the advertised topics.
The candidates are still obliged to pass the standard admission procedure for doctoral study. The stipend can be awarded only after successfully completing the standard admission procedure.


Combinatorics and complexity of problems on graphs defined by geometry

Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Petr Hliněný, Ph.D.
Area: Theoretical computer science (Computational complexity)

In quite many practical applications, one can meet graphs which come with geometric background - these include various geometric intersection graphs (such as interval and disk graphs), visibility graphs, and the area of planarity, graph drawing and crossing-minimization. This research topic focuses on designing parameterized algorithms and algorithmic metatheorems for such graphs under restrictions of their geometric representations. Deep combinatorial insight into the structure of such graphs and into their relation to established structural graph parameters is also sought.

Formal methods for program analysis

Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Jan Strejček, Ph.D.
Area: Theoretical computer science (Formal methods)

Algorithms and tools for program slicing, test generation, bug finding, and software verification. Automata over infinite and finite words. SAT and SMT solving.

Risk-Aware Planning and Reinforcement Learning

Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Petr Novotný, Ph.D.
Area: Machine learning, Probabilistic planning, Formal methods

The goal of safe learning is to ensure that autonomous agents trained by reinforcement learning methods do not exhibit unintentional and possibly dangerous behaviour. One of promising approaches to achieving this goal is developing risk-aware planning and learning algorithms, i.e. algorithms that not only optimize the agent's expected utility but also care about its higher-order effects and try to mitigate the impact of tail events. A successful applicant will work on the development of new risk-aware algorithms, using the tools from reinforcement learning, probabilistic planning, and formal methods.