[AISWorld] PhD position in Information Systems/Business Process Management

[Vanderfeesten, I.T.P.]

School of Industrial Engineering
Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences
Eindhoven University of Technology

PhD position in the area of Information Systems/Business Process Management
Vacancy ID: V39.2321
Intended starting date: 1 October 2015

The School of Industrial Engineering of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) has a vacancy for a Ph.D. student in Information Systems/Business Process Management for a cutting-edge international research project in collaboration with industry.

Organization
Eindhoven University of Technology is one of the world’s leading research universities (ranked by the Times Higher Education Supplement). It is in particular well‐known for its joint research with industry (ranked number one worldwide by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies). The Information Systems Group in the School of Industrial Engineering performs advanced research in the area of business process engineering, focusing on business process management (BPM) and business process intelligence (BPI). The group has a strong national and international reputation for both basic research in the academic community and applied research with industry. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to profit from the benefits that such an environment has to offer and to contribute to the ongoing research.

The research will be conducted at Eindhoven University of Technology, at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences (IE&IS), embedded within the Research Group of Information Systems. The position is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Programme, as part of the ‘HORSE’ project. The ‘HORSE’ project involves three universities, three centers for applied re-search, six technical companies and another three application companies, from eight different Europe-an countries. During the project several other application companies will be recruited. Therefore, the project has a strong link with practice.

Job description
You, as a successful applicant, will perform the research project outlined below in an international re-search team. You will report research findings at international conferences and workshops and in re-search journals. The European project that forms the context for this position also involves intensive collaboration with an international group of companies on the topic of business process management for the high tech industry.
The research will be concluded with a Ph.D. thesis. A small teaching load (on average about 10%) is part of the job description. The project will be supervised by prof.dr.ir. Paul W.P.J. Grefen and dr.ir. Irene T.P. Vanderfeesten.

Research project
The Ph.D. project is part of a larger, prestigious and innovative, European project in the area of smart factories and focuses on the application of business process management concepts and theories in this domain. The goal of the Ph.D. project is to develop the means to manage high tech manufacturing processes in which humans, robots, autonomous guided vehicles, and machinery collaborate. It involves the design of a modeling tool for high tech manufacturing processes and their various types of actors, and the development of an execution environment in which a process engine takes care of assigning tasks to the right actors and of handling exceptions, such as safety warnings and unavailability of resources, on the fly.

The objective of the overall project is to develop new technologies to realize industrial tasks in an efficient manner. The project fosters technology deployment towards SMEs by developing a methodological and technical framework for easy adaptation of robotic solutions and by setting up infrastructures and environments that will act as clustering points for selected application areas in manufacturing and for product life cycle management. It involves academic as well as industrial developments.

Requirements
You, as a successful applicant, have a Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Science or a similar field of study. You have a strong affinity with interdisciplinary research that involves both Computer Science and Business Science, as well as collaboration with industry. You are able to work on a challenging topic that has both basic and applied research aspects. Your communication skills are excellent as is your proficiency in English and your ability to collaborate in an international setting.

Appointment and salary
We offer:
•             A challenging job in a dynamic and ambitious university;
•             a PhD appointment for a period of 4 years with target start date end 2015;
•             gross monthly salary is €2.125,- in the first year up to  €2.717,- (gross) in the fourth year (on a full-time basis),
•             A yearly holiday allowance of 8% and 8.3% end of year allowance;
•             A broad package of fringe benefits (including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving ex-penses, savings schemes, coverage of costs of publishing the dissertation and excellent sports facilities).

Application
Your application must contain the following documents (all in English):
•             Cover letter (1 page max), which includes a motivation of your interest in the vacancy and an explanation of why you would fit well for the project;
•             a detailed curriculum vitae;
•             a course list of your Masters and Bachelor programs (including grades);
•             results of a recent English language test, or other evidence of your English language capabilities;
•             name and contact information of two references.

Additional Information
More information about the IS group can be found at http://is.ieis.tue.nl. Questions about this position should be addressed to dr. Irene Vanderfeesten (i.t.p.vanderfeesten at tue.nl<mailto:i.t.p.vanderfeesten at tue.nl>).
Information about terms of employment can be obtained from Kees Deneer MSc, personnel officer (pz.ieis at tue.nl<mailto:pz.ieis at tue.nl>). Further information about the Eindhoven University of Technology can be found at www.tue.nl<http://www.tue.nl>. You can apply by pressing the ‘apply now’ button for this vacancy on the TU/e web-site. The deadline for applications is 26 July 2015. We don’t accept applications send by e-mail. You can only upload the maximum of 5 documents. If you have more than 5 documents you will need to combine them.