Postdoc Researcher at Japan Science and Technology Agency

Dear All,

We are seeking a few postdoc researchers, who works for a project “Zero-Trust IoT Systems by Collaboration of Formal Verification and System Software” by Japan Science and Technology Agency.

We’d be grateful if you could spread the word to interested candidates.

Project Description

The project aims at the construction of formally verified secure IoT systems that follow the concept of “zero trust architecture”, dubbed ZT-IoT systems. It consists of four research teams and two teams, led by Atsushi Igarashi, Kyoto University, Japan and Taro Sekiyama, National Institute of Informatics, Japan (NII) are investigating applications of formal verification or programming language techniques to the construction of secure IoT systems.

The main research topic of Igarashi’s team is centered around the design and theory of security policy engines for ZT-IoT systems, inclucing the design of a language to describe security policies and policy enforcement algorithms and the techniques for verifying policy enforcement algorithms against given security policies. Other team members are Kohei Suenaga and Masaki Waga at Kyoto University.

The main research topic of Sekiyama’s team is centered around techniques for monitoring and intervention for ZT-IoT systems. Other team members include Ichiro Hasuo and Shin-ya Katsumata at NII.

Although the two teams are based in different places, we collaborate closely with each other.

The appointment can start as early as April 2022 (the starting date is negotiable). The contract will initially run until the end of March 2023, with the possibility of annual renewal until the end of the project, which is March 2027 at maximum. Salary will be about 360,000–550,000 JPY/month.

Applicants should have a Ph.D in computer science or related fields, and have a strong background in formal verification and/or programming language theory. Due to the project’s nature, they are required to have strong interests in applying theory to practice; they should also be (self-)motivated, dedicated, and able to work both independently and collaboratively. Strong communication skills in oral and written English are required.

Workplace

Members of Igarashi’s team will work at Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan and members of Sekiyama’s team will work at NII, Tokyo, Japan.

Living costs in Japan are not very high nowadays. An estimate is available, and we can find rent cheaper than the cited amount.

Applications and inquiries

Inquiries can be sent to application-zt-iot [at] fos.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp, with the subject CREST Job Inquiry. Feel free to ask us any questions on relevance, topics, compensation, etc. We will reply when we see enough relevance.

Applications should be made electronically via the following JREC-IN Portal web sites. For

Please upload a pdf including

  • your brief CV,
  • short description of research interests (can be very informal and short),
  • the list of papers (a dblp or Google scholar link will do, for example),
  • a couple of representative papers (in pdf), and
  • (preferably) the contact of two references.

We will contact you for further material and interview, provided that we find sufficient relevance in your application. Starting dates are negotiable. The positions will remain open until filled.

Many thanks, Taro.