15 Feb
2017
15 Feb
'17
6:23 p.m.
The computer science departments of University of Lille (France) and the University of
Mons (Belgium) seek applications for a PhD position in software engineering, under joint
co-supervision between Prof. Laurence Duchien (Spirals team, CRIStAL laboratory, Lille)
and Prof. Tom Mens (Software Engineering Lab, INFORTECH Research Institute, Mons). The
funding will be for a PhD in Sciences, and will be ensured for a 3 year period. The
candidate is expected to carry out half of his research time at each university (18 months
in each research team). Lille and Mons are 80 km away (1 hour by train).
The topic of the thesis will be "Exploring the variability and evolution of cloud
computing systems – An approach based on feature modelling and behavioural design
models". A more detailed description is provided below. Only highly qualified PhD
candidates with a master's degree in computer science should apply. The required
skills include very good knowledge in the field of software engineering, excellent
programming skills and good knowledge of formal tools.
The start date of the employment is expected to be 15 September 2017 or as soon as
possible thereafter.
Applications will be received electronically (by e-mail) until 31 March 2017, but
preferably earlier.
The application must contain:
+ a motivation letter including a statement of your research interests
+ a full curriculum vitae, including list of publications if any
+ a copy of your master's thesis and publications, if any
+ a copy of your bachelor and master diplomas and transcripts of record, including grades
and relative position
+ a minimum of two letters of recommendation, including the contact details of the
referents
Applications received after the deadline, or not complying with the above requirements,
may not be considered.
During your PhD studies, your key tasks are to: manage and carry out your research in an
independent way; write scientific articles and your PhD thesis; participate in
international conferences; teach and disseminate your research; attain credits in
PhD-level courses;
Enquiries about the position can be made to Professor Laurence Duchien, University of
Lille, France, Laurence.Duchien(a)univ-lille1.fr
or Professor Tom Mens, University of Mons, Belgium, tom.mens(a)umons.ac.be
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Short description of thesis topic:
Cloud computing systems usually exhibit high variability due to the number of choices
concerning the selection of cloud providers as well as of their offered cloud services. At
the same time, they provide a flexible environment, where resources and services can be
provisioned and released on demand. To cope with the high volatility and variability of
such systems, the goal of the thesis is to propose a model-based approach for expressing
their variability, facilitating their evolution, and exploring the design space of
possible solutions. The proposed approach will rely on research advances in dynamic
software product lines [1], and will use techniques such as feature modelling to specify
and analyse the variabilities and commonalities in cloud computing services and providers
at a high level of abstraction [2]. Behavioural aspects of these systems will be modelled
using statechart-based design models [3,4], and the technique of design by contract will
be used to constrain these models [5]. Semi-automated and interactive tool support will be
provided to verify and test structural and behavioural properties over these models. In
addition, evolution of these models will be supported. In particular, the research should
focus on support for behaviour preserving refactoring and dynamic reconfiguration. The
practical use of these techniques to explore and traverse the design space of cloud
environments will also be explored by an extension of SALOON tools [2,6] and an
experimental validation on cloud evolutions defined by several providers. For example,
when reconfiguring a cloud environment, the selected set features (representing cloud
providers and services) may have a different impact on performance, costs or
reconfiguration time, and optimal reconfiguration paths should be proposed.
References:
[1] S. Hallsteinsen, M. Hinchey, S. Park, and K. Schmid. Dynamic software product lines.
COMPUTER, 41(4):93-95, 2008.
[2] C. Quinton, D. Romero, and L. Duchien. SALOON: a platform for selecting and
configuring cloud environments. Software: Practice and Experience, 46(1):55{78, 2016.
[3] D. Harel and E. Gery, “Executable object modeling with statecharts,” IEEE Computer,
vol. 30, no. 7, pp. 31–42, July 1997.
[4] D. Drusinsky, Modeling and Verification Using UML Statecharts. Elsevier Science, 2006.
[5] B. Meyer. 1992. Applying "Design by Contract". Computer 25, 10 (October
1992), 40-51. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/2.161279
[6] https://team.inria.fr/spirals/saloon/