Research Assistant/Associate in Formal Methods

We are a world class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

Salary
Research Assistant £33,951 to £35,608 per annum.
Research Associate £36,636 per annum.

The Role
We are seeking a highly motivated researcher to join the Software Security Lab at School of Computing, Newcastle University as a Research Associate/Assistant in Formal Methods. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research at the intersection of formal methods, program analysis, and software security.

The focus of this role is to develop formal solutions for secure open-source software development to protect against software supply chain attacks where third-party code is released along with a certificate to certify when it is secure to use it and what would be the consequence of reusing it. The developed solutions will combine interesting theoretical foundation with practical relevance to help produce tomorrow's secure systems.

You will play a key role in designing and developing novel formal theories and building tools with rigorous foundations for the specification, verification, and analysis of software systems. The position offers considerable scope for independent research and collaboration in a vibrant research environment, with opportunities to collaborate with leading industrial partners, including Google DeepMind.

You should hold a PhD (or near completion) in formal methods, program analysis, or a closely related area. We are looking for individuals with strong analytical and problem-solving abilities who can work independently, manage research activities effectively, and deliver high-quality outcomes. Experience in tool development and solid programming skills are essential, with expertise in functional programming languages, Rust, or Java particularly desirable.

The appointment is available on a full-time (37 hours per week), fixed-term basis for 8 months, with the possibility of extension, and is available for immediate start.

If you are interested in advancing the theory and practice of secure software systems and would like to work on challenging and impactful research problems, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Please reach out to Dr. Narges Khakpour at narges.khakpour@newcastle.ac.uk if you have any questions.

Find out more about the Faculty SaGE here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/sage/.

Find out more about our Research Institutes: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/research/.

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