Call for expression of interest for three (3) positions of PhD Students in the field of Bioinformatics or Computer Science in the Institute of Computer Science (ICS) Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH)
Position(s): Three (3) positions of PhD Candidates in the field of Bioinformatics or Computer Science
Project: Strengthening Computational Biodiversity Research in Greece (Comp-Biodiv-GR), under the European Program ERA Chair (HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-01: 2023-2028)
Desired starting date: October 1st , 2023 (flexible – latest possible starting date December 2024)
Duration: Initially for a 6 month trial period with the possibility of subsequent extensions until the end of the project
Location: Heraklion, Crete, Greece -candidates are expected to physically and permanently move to Crete (for the duration of the project) Closing date: 07-08-2023 Ref.: “ICS-2075”
Description: Stamatakis (Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)) aims to establish an international research team called the Biodiversity Computing Group (BCG) in Crete with a focus on developing tools, energy-efficient and parallel algorithms and models for analyzing Biodiversity data. ICS-FORTH, located at Heraklion Crete Greece, is one of the most prominent computer science research institutions in Greece, with an outstanding record of scientific achievements, state of the art infrastructure and a broad range of research and innovation activities.
BCG will closely collaborate with local biodiversity research centers, namely the Natural History Museum of Crete and the Hellenic Center for Marine Research. It will also maintain close ties and exchange ideas as well as researchers with the Computational Molecular Evolution group of A. Stamatakis at HITS and the computer science department of KIT. Potential PhD Candidates are expected to inscribed as PhD students at the department of computer science of the University of Crete – note that there are no tuition fees in Greece.
Required qualifications:
Candidates should hold an MSc degree, or should be in the second year of their MSc concluding studies
within 2023. PhD Candidates are expected to be inscribed as PhD students at the University of Crete,
as soon as possible upon contract start – note that there are no tuition fees in Greece.
They should also have equivalent training and experience in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, or
Biology. Applicants with a degree in Biology will be considered if they are “programming biologists”,
e.g., they have written source code in C, C++, PYTHON, R or other scripting languages (ideally available
via a github or analogous open source repositories).
Experience in Bioinformatics software development (as evidenced by links to open source codes
implemented by the candidate or in case of closed code either via making a preview available or
description of coding abilities in the reference letters) Applicants who fail to present previous
experience in software development will be excluded.
The working language of the BCG will be English, and candidates’ written and spoken fluency will be
assessed at interview.
Desired qualifications:
Expertise in parallel and high performance computing and/or energy-aware computing, expertise in big
data analysis and/or application of machine learning techniques to biological problems, expertise in
statistics and uncertainty quantification, expertise in algorithm design and/or algorithm engineering,
expertise in virus evolution, experience with Biodiversity analysis projects based on molecular sequence
data.
Benefits and Salaries
Contract Duration: 4 years approximately
Salaries are set relative to a baseline, calibrated to the standard of living of PhD Students at a leading
German research institute. All PhD positions will be set up according to the applicable greek national
law and according to the arrangement agreed.
Around 2.200 EUR net per month (12 salaries per year)
Selection procedure
Applications will be evaluated by an international evaluation committee composed of five experts in
Bioinformatics and computational molecular evolution. The committee includes:
Prof. Alexandros Stamatakis and
Dr. Nick Goldman, European Bioinformatics Institute, UK
Prof. David Posada, University of Vigo, Spain
Dr. Celine Scornavacca, CNRS, France
Prof. Emily McTavish, University of California at Merced, USA
In case candidates are invited for an interview, they will either be invited to participate in person or
via teleconference. Beyond scientific excellence, selection criteria will include gender and diversity
aspects as well as complementary skills and fit of the candidate to the existing team. Should this first
call not identify a sufficient number of suitable candidates a second call might be issued, that is, not
all positions will necessarily be filled.
Selection Announcement:
The result of the selection will be announced on the website of ICS-FORTH. Candidates have the right
to appeal the selection decision, by addressing their written objection to the ICS secretariat within five
(5) days since the results announcement on the web. They also have the right to access (a) the files of
the candidates as well as (b) the table of candidates’ scores (ranking of candidates results).
All the above information related to the selection procedure will be available at the secretariat of ICS-FORTH in line with the Hellenic Data Protection Authority. Access to personal data of co-candidates shall be limited to personal data (and relevant data) and supporting documents which have been the basis of the evaluation of the candidates for the specific post(s). Prior to the announcement of the personal data
and/or documents of the co-candidates to the applicant, FORTH will inform the data subjects in an
appropriate way.
Application Submission:
Interested candidates can submit their applications via http://www.ics.forth.gr/jobs/en/ using the link
“Apply for the position” under this announcement. Applications must include (if not the application will
be rejected): Detailed CV including a list of talks & publications and open-source code projects.
If no open-source projects have been conducted, please outline why they are not open-source and indicate if they could be made available for inspection upon request. Motivation letter, Scanned copies of academic titles; 2 recommendation letters – candidates must ensure that they are sent directly to
stamatak@ics.forth.gr by their referees until the application deadline. Failure to do so will result in
immediate exclusion.
Contact Information:
For information and questions about the advertised position, the activity of the group or the Institute,
please contact Prof Alexandros Stamatakis (stamatak@ics.forth.gr). We strongly encourage candidates
to have an informal chat with A. Stamatakis prior to submitting their application.
Closing date: 07-08-2023
GDPR Disclaimer
FORTH is compliant with all legal procedures for the processing of personal data as defined by the
Regulation EU/2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal
data. FORTH processes the personal data and relevant supporting documents that you have submitted to us.
Processing of that data is carried out exclusively for the needs and purposes of this specific call. Such
data shall not be transmitted to or communicated to any third party unless required by law.
FORTH retains the above data up to the announcement of the final results of the call, unless further
process and reservation is required by law or for purposes of exercise, enforcement, prosecution of
certain one’s legitimate legal rights’ as defined in the Regulation EU/2016/679 and/or in national law.
We inform you that under the Regulation EU/2016/679 you have the rights to be informed about your
personal data, access to rectification and erasure, restrictions of process and objection to as provided
by applicable regulation and national laws.
We acknowledge also to you, that you have the right to file a complaint to the national Data Protection
Authority. For any further information regarding exercise of your personal data protection rights, you
may contact the Data Protection Officer at FORTH at dpo@admin.forth.gr.
You have the right to withdraw your application and consent for the processing of your personal data
at any time. We inform you that, in this case, FORTH shall destroy such documents and/or supporting
documents submitted and shall delete the related personal data.