Postdoctoral Research Position in Higher Category Theory

Publiceringsdatum: 2024-10-07

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Jobbannons

We are offering a postdoc position in the areas of higher category theory, homotopy type theory and constructive mathematics, with a competitive monthly salary and full social benefits. 

General Information

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering is a fully integrated department with the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology as principals. The department is widely recognised for excellent research and education, and strongly international with approximately 300 employees from more than 40 countries. Our department is located in Sweden’s second largest city Gothenburg – the world’s most sustainable destination every year since 2016 according to the Global Destination Sustainability Index.

The department is organised in four divisions where research spans from theoretical foundations to applied systems development. The position is placed in the Logic and Types unit of the Computing Science division, with Chalmers University of Technology as employer. You will be part of a lively research environment with fun interaction with researchers in the area of the position and in other areas such as type theory, graph theory, functional programming, formal methods and information security.

Project Background and Description

Category theory is an organizing language for mathematics. Higher categories generalize categories, replacing sets of morphisms between objects by homotopy types. Certain phenomena such as descent or univalence admit a satisfactory explanation only in the higher categorical world.

Constructive mathematics is an approach to mathematics where proofs are effective, yielding algorithms for constructing witnessing objects. While ordinary category theory is largely constructive, higher category theory as developed using the quasicategory model in simplicial sets is typically not, due to the use of excluded middle to make every simplicial set cofibrant.

The goal of the project is to develop the theory of higher categories (also known as (∞, 1)-categories) in a constructive setting, and investigate connections with homotopy type theory. This will use analytic, formal and synthetic approaches.

Main Responsibilities

As a postdoctoral researcher, you will conduct high-quality original research and publish in leading international venues together with senior researchers in the group and other members of the research community. You will work both independently and as part of a team on research related broadly to the goals of the project, and communicate the results verbally and in writing.

Additionally, you will perform teaching activities including supervision of bachelor and master thesis projects for at most 20% of your time, as well as possible co-supervision of PhD students.

Qualifications

To be eligible for appointment as a postdoctoral researcher, you are required to have a doctoral degree in computer science, mathematics or other areas related to the project in this announcement, or a foreign degree that is deemed to be equivalent to such a doctoral degree.

You should be familiar with category theory and have an interest in type theory, homotopy theory, or higher categories. Familiarity with any of the following topics is beneficial: constructive mathematics, type theory, abstract homotopy theory, models of higher categories, simplicial sets.

Since teaching is part of the responsibilities, previous teaching experience is meritorious.

The working language at the department is English and the position requires sound verbal and written communication skills in English.

Contract terms

The position is a full-time position starting as soon as possible after agreement and until the end of September 2027 at the latest, and located in the beautiful city of Gothenburg on the West coast of Sweden.

We offer

At Chalmers we seek to establish a good work/life balance. We want to provide you with the means to pick the best path possible in your pursuit of making a difference. Our ambitions in this area are reflected in the generous employment conditions, including:

• Holiday allowance of 28-35 days per year depending on age;
• A collective agreement including parental pay, sick pay supplement, and medicine costs;
• A wellness allowance towards activities promoting good health;
• Flexible working conditions.

Read more about working at Chalmers and our benefits for employees.

Chalmers continuously strives to be an attractive employer.  Our aim is to actively improve the gender balance and diversity in our department. We therefore welcome a diversity of applicants with different backgrounds and experiences. We work broadly with equality projects, for example the GENIE Initiative on gender equality for excellence. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.

Application procedure

The application should be marked with reference number 20240541 and written in English. The application should be sent electronically and be attached as PDF-files, as described below. Maximum size for each file is 40 MB. Please note that the system does not support Zip files.

The application should include the following items:

CV (Please name the document as: CV, Family name, Ref. number):

• CV including list of publications;
• Other information like previous employment, leadership qualifications, previous teaching and pedagogical experiences;
• Contact information for two references that we can contact.

Personal letter (Please name the document as: Personal letter, Family name, Ref. number): A maximum of 1-3 A4 page where you

• Introduce yourself and explain why you are interested in this position;
• Describe your previous experience of relevance for the position and main research results;
• Describe your future goals and research focus.

Other documents:

• Evidence of written work, preferably in the form of links to research papers and theses; 

• Attested copies of completed education (including grades) and other certificates.

Use the button at the foot of the page to reach the application form.

Application deadline: 3rd November 2024

For questions, please contact:

Senior researcher Christian Sattler, Principal investigator of the project

Sattler@chalmers.se

Associate Professor Ana Bove, Head of Logic and Types unit

Bove@chalmers.se