PhD Position in Effective & Efficient Information Retrieval at the University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is looking for a versatile, highly motivated PhD candidate to address research into effective and efficient information retrieval. This position is initially funded for 12 months, with the possibility of extension subject to performance. It is open to applicants from the UK and EU only, until the position has been filled.

* Job Description

While many information retrieval techniques can increase effectiveness, many do so at the cost of degraded efficiency. Instead, a search engine may make an appropriate choice to decide what to deploy for a particular query or load. In this research project, we expect a successful PhD candidate to research efficient and effective search techniques, deploy and test these within the Terrier information retrieval platform, within in environments such as Web search and social search.

* Requirements

Applicants must have completed a strong bachelor's degree (research oriented master's degree preferred) in a relevant field by the appointment date, and must have strong and demonstrable skills and knowledge across:

- information retrieval, including social and Web search;

- knowledge of search engine architectures, including learning to rank and techniques for efficient search;

- solid programming skills (particularly Java) are a requirement.

Research experience, or a track record of project based work, and demonstrable interest in the domain are a clear plus.

*Environment

The University of Glasgow offers an unrivalled research environment for PhD students undertaking work in the field of large-scale text mining and retrieval, with access to modern datasets and Big Data computing facilities. The University hosts one of the oldest IR groups in Europe, with over 30 research-active members. 

* Application?

Applications should include: i) a detailed curriculum vitae, ii) a research proposal (max 3 pages), and iii) preferably two letters of reference. Please submit applications to Craig Macdonald or Iadh Ounis, c.f. firstname.lastname@glasgow.ac.uk