The prestigious 4-year Belgian Excellence of Science research project SECO-ASSIST (https://secoassist.github.io) has 4 vacant positions for post-doctoral researchers with relevant expertise for the project. SECO-ASSIST (Automated Assistance for Developing Software in Ecosystems of the Future) is a joint project between software engineering labs in 4 universities in Belgium (UMONS, UAntwerpen, UNamur and VUB), financed by the FWO and FNRS funding agencies. Belgium is centrally located in Europe, and the labs are well-connected to other research teams worldwide. A postdoc period in our groups is an ideal stepping stone for an independent research career in academia or industry. Our teams host researchers of various nationalities, hence the working language will be English.

SECO-ASSIST will focus on fundamental research on recommendation techniques for software ecosystems, lead by Tom Mens (UMONS) and partnered by Serge Demeyer (UAntwerpen), Anthony Cleve (UNamur) and Coen De Roover (VUB, Brussels). Each team has one post-doc and one pre-doc position available. This announcement invites interested applicants with exceptional research skills to join the respective teams, and play a key role in one of the following topics: • Enhance team interaction (UMONS): Explore new recommendation techniques to attract newcomers and retain contributors in software ecosystems, identifying “toxic” team members, predict future abandonment, and find adequate replacements. • Strengthen software tests (UAntwerpen). Use recommendation techniques to support test-related activities in software ecosystems, and encourage developers to focus tests on those parts of the ecosystem with the highest risk. • Improve database manipulation (UNamur): Improper use of database technologies is a considerable bottleneck in data-intensive software systems. Recommendation techniques should improve database manipulation by analysing good and bad database usage in comparable systems within the same ecosystem. • Optimise library usage (VUB): Embrace the software ecosystem itself as a source of already-proven solutions for recommendation techniques that support both providers and consumers of software libraries in decisions regarding library selection, library maintenance, and library migration.

Interested applicants should reach out to the respective teams *before officially applying*. To do so, please contact either Tom Mens (tom.mens@umons.ac.be), Serge Demeyer (serge.demeyer@uantwerpen.be), Anthony Cleve (anthony.cleve@unamur.be) or Coen De Roover (coen.de.roover@vub.be).

Official applications should be submitted by April, 1st 2018 to info-seco@soft.vub.ac.be and should include: • Earliest available starting date. The expected starting date is 1 September 2018 but is negotiable. • Curriculum vitae with a list of publications and previous positions held. We prefer terse CVs that focus on quality rather than quantity. • A one-page research vision in one of the above research domains. We encourage applicants to to seek for a good match and to reach out to us before applying. • A digital copy of the Ph.D. dissertation. • A digital copy of one to three (co-)authored publications demonstrating some of the expected expertise. • Contact details (including e-mail address and phone number) of two academic referees that we may contact.