Archive for August, 2009

Munich, here I come

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

It is final now. I will be starting a European Science Foundation research fellowship at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU- also known as University of Munich). I had been in touch with the concerned research group for some time. Although, I received the offer a while ago, I only got the residence permit this week.

I am really pleased because LMU is a powerhouse for scientific research. There are 36 Nobel laureates are associated with the university. The research group I will be joining has young and motivated people who I get along with quite well. I have met some of them on some of the conferences. The fact that my research interests converge with the group’s made my decision quite easy.

As I looked around for research jobs last year, I realized that there are so many PhD positions compared to post PhD research jobs. So there are only a limited number of research jobs for the recent PhD graduates. This means that even before applying, it very difficult to even identify research jobs which are interesting. From that point of view, it is great that I have an opportunity to research on problems that interest and excite me.

One challenge which I will feel is moving to a new country with a different language. However, some times one should get out of one’s comfort zone. The positive side of this challenge is that I will gain experience of a another country and also get a chance to see a fair bit of Europe.

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Efficient literature overview

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

When one examines a new problem, it is important to explore the relevant literature. The literature may span books, journals, conference proceedings and even research fields (such as mathematics, economics, computer science). So what is the best way to get a good and quick overview of the relevant known results?

  1. Find the relevant recent survey paper. A survey paper best meets the goals for a quick literature over-review. It not only gives an overview of the known research but also provides a window into the literature by giving all the relevant references. The more recent the survey paper, the better.
  2. Look at a recent relevant well written journal paper: High quality journal papers generally are better written and more comprehensive. Even if is such a paper is not a survey paper, it will provide a good summary and references of the relevant literature.
  3. Recent relevant PhD thesis: A recent relevant PhD may be even more comprehensive and provide a good research overview.
  4. Look at papers which cite the classic: There are certain seminal classic papers related to the research problem. In order to collect the relevant literature, it can be helpful to check papers which cite this most relevant classic seminal paper. This can now be easily done via scholar.google.com.
  5. Ask the expert: Good references can be suggested by expert in the field. Experts have already done the exploration and are in a better position to suggest the useful references. This can save a lot of time.
  6. Prolific researchers: There are certain researchers who may have been working on variants of the research problem for more than a few years. It may be a good idea to examine their list of publication to get a better idea of what progress has been made.

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Workshop plans

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

I had written an earlier entry concerning summer workshops and summer schools are useful in broadening one’s research and also picking up new tools. I applied for funding for two such events and thankfully my applications were successful. Therefore, I am excited about visiting Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany and Torrino in Italy in the next couple of months.

The purpose to visit the Max Planck Institute is to take part in 10th Max Planck Advanced Course on the Foundations of Computer Science (ADFOCS):

The purpose of the ADFOCS summer school is to introduce young researchers to topics which are in the focus of current research in the field of theoretical computer science. In order to achieve this, ADFOCS brings together leading researchers from this field with international participants of graduate level and above.

The purpose of visiting Torrino will be to participate in the European Agent Systems Summer School (EASSS). Incidentally, just like ADFOCS, this will be the 10th edition of EASSS. The benefit of EASSS will be to broaden interests in other topics with in multiagent systems.

EASSS 2009 aims to offer a valuable forum for knowledge exchange between various research groups in this field, for the benefit of students and researchers at both beginner and advanced level. The school provides a wide range of state-of-the-art courses given by the most prominent researchers in the area.

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End is only the beginning

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Not every end is the goal. The end of a melody is not its goal, and yet if a melody has not reached its end, it has not reached its goal. A parable.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

Having submitted my thesis, my friends are joking that I should go on a year long holiday. Although some people actually do that, time is pressing at the moment. Having some loose ends from the recent research conducted I decided to carry on and get some further results. Although, this could have waited but things are fresh in my mind and it is better to capitalize on that. Besides, as some people say that the end of the PhD is only the beginning.

Other than that, submitting a thesis is not the end of the PhD process. The viva still waits. This means that although one does not want to see the thesis again, one has to make sure that the material is fresh in the mind just before the viva. This may lead to anxious moments since there is a chance of detecting some error in the thesis! Unlike a detected error in a submitted paper, there is more at stake in a PhD thesis. However, needless worrying does not help either.

There are other things to be done too. Moving house is not an easy task and packing is tiresome. However, the sooner these things get out of the way the better. Getting settled into a new job may be better for mental peace than a year long holiday!

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