Logic List Mailing Archive

PhD student position in the history and philosophy of programming, Lille (France), Deadline: 20 Jun 2018

*Call for application: 3 years PhD position in the history and/or 
philosophy of programming (ANR JCJC PROGRAMme)*

https://programme.hypotheses.org/call-for-application-phd-appel-a-candidature-doctorat

The project PROGRAMme (https://programme.hypotheses.org/) aims at a 
historical and philosophical study of computer programs.  The project is 
funded by the ANR (48 months, JCJC project, contract nr. 
ANR-17-CE38-0003-01, coordinator: Liesbeth De Mol).

*Description of the project*

 	What is a (computer) program? The main question of this project 
starts out from the observation that, within computing, there is a 
diversity of understandings of what a computer program is or should be, 
resulting in very different approaches to the making and using of 
programs. A valuable assumption explaining this situation is the fact that 
computer programs have different modalities: a physical modality (as 
stored and executed in a machine); a formal modality (program-as-text); a 
socio-technical modality (as made and used by humans). The aim is to 
develop a coherent, pluralistic understanding of the notion of ?program? 
and of its implications to theory and practice based on these three 
different modalities. The project will develop a historical and 
philosophical analysis of (models of) programs structured around four 
clusters:

 	1. /Logic/ (e.g. lambda-calculus; Curry-Howard isomorphism)
 	2. /Machines/ (e.g. EDVAC design; PC)
 	3. /Programming languages and notations/ (e.g. Eiffel; Lisp)
 	4. /Systems/ (e.g. Unix; Emacs)

Objectives of the project are to:

 	I. develop a /dynamics of models of ?programs?/ ? how do these 
change and develop across the different clusters and within a given 
cluster ? and identify and categorize scalability issues across and within 
individual clusters (linguistic; ontological; epistemological; etc)

 	II. identify and analyze /invariants/ ? problems, techniques and 
models which or more or less robust across the different clusters or 
within specific clusters and can thus be considered as fundamental. One 
example could by Brooks?s law.

 	III. retrace and systematize the different understandings and 
meanings of programs relative to their respective practices ? /genealogy 
and taxonomy of models/

*Description of the PhD position*

 	PROGRAMme invites applications for a 3 year doctoral position 
expected to start on October 1, 2018. The position will be hosted at 
Université de Lille at the research lab Savoirs, Textes, Langage and 
co-supervised by Liesbeth De Mol (CNRS, UMR 8163 STL) and Shahid Rahman 
(UMR 8163 STL).

 	In line with PROGRAMme, the PhD student is expected to develop a 
PhD project which will contribute to a more coherent and pluralistic 
understanding of (computer) programs by focusing on one of the four 
clusters in relation to one of the three above objectives. Different 
approaches will be allowed and it depends on the skills, interests and 
background of the PhD candidate which approach will be used. The candidate 
should give a short presentation of her/his possible topic and explain how 
it fits into PROGRAMme. See below for more details.

 	PROGRAMme is a multidisciplinary project which requires 
collaboration across different disciplinary boundaries and involves an 
international team of over 20 researchers with diverse backgrounds. The 
succesful candidate will be a member of the team and will spend most of 
her/his working time on her/his project in the context of this project. 
S/he is expected to contribute actively to the regular team meetings as 
well as to the planned bi-weekly work meetings. S/he is also expected to 
publish her/his research results as well as to contribute to the project?s 
wiki. S/he will be encouraged to participate in the most relevant 
conferences and workshops to the project (e.g. HaPoC, HaPoP, SHOT, IACAP, 
CiE etc).

*Requirements*

 	Candidates are required to have completed their Master degree in 
either history and/or philosophy of science and technology. Alternatively, 
a degree in the area of computing (e.g. computer science) is allowed, 
provided there is proven interest towards history and/or philosophy of 
computing. The candidate is also expected to have a good command of spoken 
and written English in order to be able to interact and collaborate with 
the international project team and to contribute to its publications. Good 
knowledge of written and spoken French is considered to be an advantage. 
Any prior research experience which has resulted in talks or publications 
in relevant journals and conferences will be considered a plus. Given the 
collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of PROGRAMme, a proven ability 
to understand and discuss different approaches (whether they be 
historical, philosopical or more technical) will be considered as an 
additional advantage.

*How to apply?*
 	Applications should be to liesbeth.demol@univ-lille3.fr. They should 
include:
1. a cv
2. a short research proposal (at most 2 pages). This should include:
a title
a short (personal) statement which includes a clear motivation of the topic 
with respect to PROGRAMme and with respect to the candidate?s own background 
and interests.
a description of the topic the candidate would like to work on. This should 
also introduce the project?s objective(s) and its significance.
a description of the methods to be used. This should include a description of 
how the project?s main objective(s) will be reached. Given the 
pluridisciplinary nature of PROGRAMme, the candidate should also frame the 
methodology in one or more disciplines relevant to PROGRAMme (e.g. 
epistemology; history and philosophy of science; computer science history; etc)
3. a bibliography for the project (at most 1 page)
4. a sample of academic work (e.g. Master thesis; research papers; etc)

The deadline for the application is *June 20, 2018*.

Review of applications will start on June 21, 2018 and the selected candidates 
will be invited for an interview (possibility of videoconference) to be held in 
the first week of July.

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact Liesbeth De Mol 
(liesbeth.demol@univ-lille3.fr)
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