Positions

I am looking for PhD students to build my new research group at the Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB)! In general, we aim to both have a practical impact by designing principled and fundamental approaches and by creating relevant and usable tools.

The group’s core areas are software engineering, in particular, software quality, software testing, and repair. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Automated Program Repair: developing new repair techniques to aid developers in fixing program bugs
  • Machine Learning Analysis: automated analysis, testing, and repairing of machine learning models
  • Software Testing: exploring and designing (hybrid) testing techniques to systematically generate test inputs that expose incorrect program behavior, and hence, improve the reliability of software and the software development pipelines
  • Intelligent Tutoring Systems: how to help CS students learn programming by applying concepts from automated testing and repair to guide the students toward the right solution
  • Human Factors in SE: studying developer needs and requirements for successful deployment of testing and repair techniques in development practice

Please check my Google Scholar page or publications page for my latest research efforts.

An ideal candidate has some of the following qualities:

  • Completed studies in the fields of Computer Science
  • Very good knowledge of English
  • Strong implementation skills and a desire to create open-source tools
  • The ability to come up with ideas and develop new approaches
  • Not being afraid to tackle challenging, important problems
  • The resilience to deal with fallbacks (which are quite common in research) and maintaining a work-life balance
  • An interest in working on improving technical and non-technical skills
  • A desire to write papers and publish at top venues (ICSE, FSE, ASE, ISSTA, TOSEM, EMSE, …)
  • A motivation to share your work with the community (through presentations, talking to your peers, on your website, etc.)
  • An interest to learn about what other people are working on (e.g., by reading papers)

It is not expected that you have all of these qualities; I am unsure whether I have all of them myself. However, keep in consideration that these qualities reflect ways in which you will likely be challenged and develop further if you decide to join my research group.

If you are interested in a position, please send your application by e-mail to the following address: sq-office@rub.de! Please attach your CV, transcripts, and a statement about your research experience and interest.

Ps. If you are unsure about the PhD life in Germany, I can recommend the blog post by Andreas Zeller!