PhD Student in Visualization and Media Technology With a Focus on Information Visualization/Visual Analytics

Ref LiU-2022-05261

Skilled and committed employees are a crucial factor in the success of Linköping University. And we need more of them. Our core expertise comes from teachers and researchers, but a successful university requires experienced and motivated employees in many fields. Everyone is important. We need to recruit many new employees thanks to, among all, an expansion in our research activity. We need you here. We look forward to receiving your application! At the Department of Science and Technology, at the university’s Norrköping campus, we provide education and conduct research in physics and electronics, communications/logistics and media- and information technology. The department is recognised for its work in fields including logistics, visualisation and organic electronics. We combine academic excellence with fruitful collaboration with the Community. Read more at https://liu.se/en/organisation/liu/itn

We are looking for a PhD student in Visualization and Media Technology with a focus on Information Visualization/Visual Analytics formally based at the Department of Science and Technology, Campus Norrköping.

The advertised position will be placed in the iVis group (https://bit.ly/ivis-liu) led by Professor Andreas Kerren. The research group mainly focuses on the explorative analysis and visualization of typically large and complex information spaces, for example in the life sciences, humanities, or environmental sciences. Our research vision is to attack the big data challenge by a combination of human-centered data analysis and interactive visualization for decision making. These research topics are highly relevant for academia and economy as both science and industry make increasing use of data-intensive technologies.

Your work assignments
As a PhD student, you devote most of your time to doctoral studies and the research projects of which you are part. Your work may also include teaching or other departmental duties, up to a maximum of 20% of full-time..

The focus of this advertised PhD position and the corresponding research project will be on the web-based visualization of large and complex, multilayer networks. Related aspects, such as multilayer network embeddings, graph layouts for multilayer networks, or the visual analysis of attributes across network layers, will also be studied. The PhD student will develop foundational visualization principles, techniques and visual analytics tools for analyzing multilayer network data especially from the power systems domain. The work will even include the development and provisioning of a suitable backend infrastructure to serve the web-based, interactive visual display with the needed original and derived data, and/or user data collected during the analytical process (for instance, to provide collaboration features and/or adaptivity). The position will be funded by a research grant awarded from the ELLIIT environment (Call D; https://elliit.se) for a new research project entitled “Visual Analytics of Large and Complex Multilayer Technological Networks”. The project will be performed in an interdisciplinary team together with researchers from Lund University.

Duties consist mainly of the following:

  • Graduate studies in the field of information visualization/visual analytics, with a doctoral degree as the goal. The PhD thesis should be completed and defended within the official appointment duration of five years (4 years graduate studies, 1 year departmental tasks).
  • Research in the field information visualization/visual analytics.
  • Regularly present intermediate research results at international conferences and workshops, and publish them in conference proceedings and journals.
    Close collaboration with the other group members in an interdisciplinary research environment as well as with the domain experts involved in this project.
  • At most 20% of the total working time will be dedicated to teaching and other administrative departmental tasks.

Your qualifications
You have graduated at Master’s level within computer science, media technology, computer engineering, information technology or closely related topic from a recognized university, or completed courses with a minimum of 240 credits, at least 60 of which must be in advanced courses. Alternatively, you have gained essentially corresponding knowledge in another way.

Qualified to PhD studentships are only those who are or have been admitted to graduate studies.

The work of a PhD student is driven by engagement, curiosity, creativity, problem solving, the ability to work independently, but also the ability and willingness to collaborate with fellow colleagues from different backgrounds. Required qualifications are:

  • A Master’s degree in the area of computer science, media technology, computer engineering, information technology or closely related topic from a recognized university.
  • A successfully finished Master’s thesis performed in a field related to Information Visualization, Visual Analytics, Human-Computer Interaction, Graph Drawing, or Data Science.
  • Excellent English communication skills, both verbal and written.

Excellent knowledge in the focused research area of visualization and visual analytics of networks is a strong advantage. Good programming skills (Java, JavaScript / HTML5, WebGL/OpenGL) and a solid training in mathematics, data mining, or machine learning are highly preferred. Knowledge and experience in one or more of the following areas would be advantageous: information visualization, visual analytics, human-computer interaction, data mining, graph drawing.

Terms of employment
When taking up the post, you will be admitted to the program for doctoral studies. More information about the doctoral studies at each faculty is available at Doctoral studies at Linköping University

The employment has a duration of four years’ full-time equivalent. You will initially be employed for a period of one year. The employment will subsequently be renewed for periods of maximum duration two years, depending on your progress through the study plan. The employment may be extended up to a maximum of five years, based on the amount of teaching and departmental duties you have carried out. Further extensions can be granted in special circumstances.

Starting date
By agreement.

Salary and employment benefits
The salary of PhD students is determined according to a locally negotiated salary progression.

More information about employment benefits at Linköping University is available here.

Union representatives
Information about union representatives, see Help for applicants.

Application procedure
Apply for the position by clicking the “Apply” button below. Your application must reach Linköping University no later than February 6, 2023.

Applications and documents received after the date above will not be considered.

We welcome applicants with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives – diversity enriches our work and helps us grow. Preserving everybody’s equal value, rights and opportunities is a natural part of who we are. Read more about our work with: Equal opportunities. We look forward to receiving your application!


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