Closing date     31 August 2019
Level of education     Master's degree
Hours     38 hours per week
Salary indication     €2,325 to €2,972 gross per month

Are you interested in interdisciplinary research projects? Do you like to work in a team of young researchers? We are seeking a PhD candidate who is interested in interdisciplinary research which is done in close collaboration with hospitals and industry.

What are you going to do?

The Enabling Personalized Interventions (EPI) project consists of a consortium of medical professionals, data scientists, ICT-infrastructure experts and machine learning researchers. EPI NWO project aims to empower patients and providers through self-management, shared management, and personalization across the full health spectrum. To do so, we will build a fuller picture of the person by linking traditional eHealth data sets from within the hospital with new sources of data throughout the care delivery chain. We will develop a platform based upon a secure and trustworthy distributed data and analytics infrastructure, combining data analytics, including machine learning, and health decision support algorithms to create new, actionable, and personalized insights for prevention, management, and intervention to providers and patients.

The PhD candidate will specifically focus on the overarching activity of integrating data and analysis results in a so-called digital health twin.

This includes technical aspects, such as the integration of the data analysis infrastructure and the machine learning algorithms into an experimental environment, as well as policy related aspects around accessibility and distribution of data and results. The environment should be able to support dynamically updated data and domain models to enable a self-management enhancing health support system. Managing the dynamics of knowledge models generated by machine learning in a policy heavy domain and the consequences for the architecture and reasoning components is a novel aspect. This research work is done in close collaboration with several hospitals (St. Antonius Ziekenhuis, UMC Utrecht, and VUmc) and industry (Philips and KPMG). They partner in the recently awarded EPI project to develop the required expertise and experimental facilities, AI and analytics, data management and data transfers and organizational structure for establishing a so-called Trusted Digital Market Place in Healthcare

The PhD candidate will therefore have experience on the following subjects:

• machine learning;
• cloud and virtual computing infrastructures;
• network and computing security.

And an interest in:

• healthcare;
• automated policy enforcement.

What do we require?

• MSc in computer science or computer engineering;
• fluency in oral and written English is required as well as good presentation and communication skills;
• familiar with Machine Learning;
• strong programming skills preferably in C and Python;
• capability to work with a team of researchers;
• well-developed analytical skills, creativity, precision and perseverance.

Our offer

A temporary contract for 38 hours per week, for the duration of 48 months. You will get a customized Training and Supervision Plan, that will be evaluated every year.

The salary, depending on relevant experience before the beginning of the employment contract, will be €2,325 to €2,972 (scale P) gross per month, based on 38 hours a week, exclusive 8 % holiday allowance and 8,3 % end-of-year bonus. A favorable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities applies.

Are you curious about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits like our excellent opportunities for study and development? Take a look at Working at the Faculty of Science.

Questions?

Do you have questions about this vacancy? Or do you want to know more about our organisation? Please contact:

dr Adam Belloum
T: +31 (0)20 525 7514

About the Faculty of Science

The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 6,500, as well as 1,600 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

The System and Network Engineering Lab is one of the three largest research labs at the Informatics Institute (IvI) of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The SNE Lab conducts research on leading-edge computer systems of all scales, ranging from global-scale systems and networks to embedded devices. Across these multiple scales our particular interest is on extra-functional properties of computer systems, such as performance, energy consumption, reliability, programmability, productivity, trustability, and security.

Job application

The UvA is an equal-opportunity employer. We prioritise diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for everyone. We value a spirit of enquiry and perseverance, provide the space to keep asking questions, and promote a culture of curiosity and creativity.

Applications should include:

• a motivation letter and CV, including a list of publications.