News

KRITIS ("Kritische Infrastrukturen: Konstruktion, Funktionskrisen und
Schutz in Städten"), a new interdisciplinary research training group at
Technsiche Universität Darmstadt and funded through the German Research
Foundation, is currently seeking a

Doctoral Researcher

to start on 1 October 2016.

KRITIS researches systems for technical supply and disposal, and for
communication and transport, which have become the central nervous
system of modern cities.  Their disruption can trigger dramatic crises.
Modern city infrastructures are increasingly vulnerable not only to
external threats (natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and cyber
attacks) but also due to their inherent complexity and interdependence.
Our aim is to understand and describe these complex systems in their
spatial and temporal contexts.  This is done in three main research areas:

(1) We want to ensure that technical infrastructures are constructed
with the term "critical" in mind.  We therefore ask what
technical-functional needs, and political and social considerations, are
relevant, and how these vary according to the systems' historical and
spacial context.

(2) We assume that the complex spatial and temporal arrangements become
particularly visible during infrastructural-functional crises.  We
therefore investigate failures of urban infrastructures, including the
conditions contributing to their vulnerability or resilience.

(3) Finally, we ask how we can best organize protection against or
preparation for infrastructural-functional crises (so-called "prevention
and preparedness").

Research in the training group takes an interdisciplinary approach, with
cooperation among the following specialities:  space and infrastructure
planning, modern and contemporary history, medieval history, philosophy
of technology, comparative analysis of political systems, ubiquitous
knowledge processing, urban design and planning, rail systems, and
computer science for architecture and construction.

In this area, the discipline of ubiquitous knowledge processing (Prof.
Iryna Gurevych) is concerned with the interactions between urban
infrastructure (e.g., transport, telecommunications), communication in
social media, and the relevant spatial and temporal analysis methods
from the perspective of adaptive information and text processing.  This
will be of particular interest to doctoral candidates in the fields of
real-time text analysis which can be applied to the early detection of
crises, to public opinion-making, or to crisis management through
automated evaluation of (online) content such as Twitter.


Possible dissertation topics include:

* Social-spatial differences of criticality: location- and
class-specific text-analytic mining of argumentation on urban
infrastructure in social media

* Mining of arguments on urban infrastructure in social media for
cascading reactions (i.e., spatio-temporal spread of social media
responses to the collapse of urban infrastructure)

* Early recognition of vulnerability: Real-time monitoring of
information on hazards to urban infrastructure in social media

* User expectations on the speed of resolution of infrastructural
failures – comparison and analysis of tweets across national boundaries

For discussion or advice on further possible research topics and
organizational issues, please contact Prof. Iryna Gurevych at
jobs@ukp.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de.


Requirements:  The successful applicants should produce a doctoral
dissertation related to one or more of the above-noted research
priorities.  This dissertation should be completed within three years
and submitted to one of the departments of Technische Universität
Darmstadt.  Further information on KRITIS's scientific program and its
participating professors will be available on the following website:
<http://www.kritis.tu-
darmstadt.de>

It is expected that all members of the research training group will be
intensively engaged in interdisciplinary cooperation leading to
scholarly publications and lectures.  To this end, regular participation
in seminars, symposia, workshops, etc. is required, which necessitates
the doctoral candidate being domiciled in the Rhine-Main area.

Working environment and conditions:  KRITIS offers an excellent research
infrastructure for doctoral students who wish to carry out their own
research project within an innovative and internationally networked
program.  The members of the group work in shared offices under the
support and patronage of participating professors.  Among the special
services include the possibility of a financed stay abroad in one of
four internationally renowned partner universities.  We also work with
various partners in the private and public sector (companies, government
offices, and other organizations) at which candidates can complete
internships.

Salaries for doctoral candidates depend on qualifications and
experience, and will be in line with the collective agreement for
employees at TU Darmstadt (TV-TU Darmstadt).  The positions are limited
to three years and include, depending on the field, 65% to 100%
(full-time) employment.


Your application:  TU Darmstadt strives to increase its number of female
employees, and as such particularly encourages women to apply.  All
other things being equal, applicants who have a degree of disability of
at least 50% (or the equivalent) will receive preference.  Please
prepare your application in English or German, and compressed as a
single file (up to 6 MB).  Applications should be sent by e-mail to
Prof. Iryna Gurevych at jobs@ukp.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de by 10 July
2016.  The application should include a CV listing language skills and
overseas experience, scanned copies of academic credentials, and a
sketch of up to five pages for a doctoral project.

We look forward to receiving your application!