NICTA - Postdoctoral Fellowships

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NATIONAL ICT AUSTRALIA

AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS AND SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS

Remuneration: Remuneration will be internationally competitive, and funds will be available also for research support and infrastructure, and international conference travel support.

The Autonomous Systems and Sensor Technologies Program seeks to fill xxxx positions to work with Professor Richard Hartley. The research will be directed specifically towards Computer Vision and Image Understanding or closely related areas. The purpose is to broaden the research base in the Computer Vision group, so applications in all areas of computer vision are welcome. The position is available immediately.

Enquiries: Professor Richard Hartley, email: Richard.Hartley@anu.edu.au, tel: (02) 6125 8668, fax: +61 2 6125 8660

Closing date: There is no closing date. This is a rolling recruitment program and assessment of application will commence from 18 November 2002. Selection will take into account excellence of research record and a potential to contribute to the NICTA Mission http://nicta.edu.au/mission.html

Applicants should submit a detailed CV, and a 2 to 3 page outline of research plan to jobs@nicta.com.au

SELECTION CRITERIA

NATIONAL ICT AUSTRALIA

AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS AND SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS

Essential requirements

1.	Postgraduate qualification at PhD level with specialisation relevant to NICTA's research focus.
2.	Research achievements demonstrated by published works in refereed journals or conferences of internationally reputed standard, or by patents granted and other commercialisation success.
3.	Achievement in a research area relevant to NICTA.
4.	Commitment to participation in the supervision and teaching of graduate students at the PhD and honours level.
5.	Potential for further career development
6.	Ability to motivate students, to communicate freely with other staff and to act as a team member.
7.	Commitment to ethical and professional standards.
8.	Good communication skills, oral and written.
9.	An understanding, as demonstrated in the application process, of equal opportunity principles and policies and a commitment to their application in a R & D context.

Desirable Requirements:

1.	Success at research interactions with industry.
2.	Ability to contribute to administrative aspects of research program operation.
3.	Research experience in a number of different research institutions.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The Positions

National ICT Australia Limited (NICTA) is seeking applications from high performing and entrepreneurial early career researchers or recently graduated PhD students in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) disciplines for appointment as Postdoctoral Fellows.

These positions will offer a high level of independence to pursue a research agenda of your choice within the framework and research vision of individual programs. The positions within the Autonomous Systems and Sensor Technologies Program will be based in the Canberra Node. We expect these positions to be highly competitive and excellence of research record and potential to contribute to the mission of NICTA will be key factors in selecting applicants..

These positions do not come with any undergraduate teaching responsibilities. However there are opportunities for successful applicants to be involved with and gain experience in high-quality graduate-level education. NICTA will attract top PhD students through an aggresive and generous program of recruitment. Postdoctoral Fellows will be expected to be involved in the PhD supervision process through participation on student supervisory panels along with more senior researchers. Opportunities will also exist for supervision of honours students as well as in the delivery of graduate and honours coursework.

Applicants with an interest in being involved in this major new and exciting ICT research initiative within the Autonomous Systems and Sensor Technologies Program should make initial contact with the Program Leader, Professor Richard Hartley, email: Richard.Hartley@anu.edu.au, tel: +61 2 6125 8668, fax: +61 2 6125 8660.

Research

NICTA will build upon and benefit from the research record of UNSW and ANU. The Centre will have a balanced portfolio of reseearch activities, on a scale that achieves critical mass. The Centre's research is focused on "Universal ICT": it aims to focus on technologies that will make a real difference and not merely contribute to faster computers and communication links. It will do so through a strong in-house program of research as well as in collaboration with a range of ICT research and commercial organisations.

The focus of research to be undertaken by the Centre falls within five themes:

Infrastructure Technologies;

Intelligent Systems;

Software Engineering;

Human-Machine Interaction; and

Foundations, the basic theories and algorithms on which ICT technologies are built.

Within each theme there are several programs which are the home to all the researchers in the centre. Collaborative actitivites with industry and other research organizations will occur via the mechanisms of projects which will typically span several programs. NICTA will stroongly encourage commercialisation of research and will have a very attractive policy that rewards inventors for their research innovations.

Principal areas of study in control systems include adaptive control and identification, robust control design, multivariable large-scale systems, and nonlinear control, with work also being done in optimisation via dynamical systems in interior point methods.

The program own various robotic hardware, including a Nomad, a submersible autonomous vehicle and a high-performance robot arm/hand, all of which are actively used in research projects. In addition there is a facility for research in autonomous road vehicle navigation. Research projects exist involving sonar, laser, IR and vision sensors applied to robotics applications. Use of visual sensors in face and gesture tracking is of particular interest. Other Computer Vision interests include video analysis, and machine learning. In addition, there is a plan to build up projects in medical computer vision.

NICTA Overview

The National ICT Australia consortium (http://www.noie.gov.au/projects/IndDev/CofE/index.html) was chosen to establish the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Centre of Excellence (http://nicta.com.au). NICTA's Mission is to build Australia's Information and Communication Technology research capability with the long-term aim of generating wealth for the country. NICTA will build its research capability via the four pillars of research, education, commercialisation and linkages.

NICTA's initial Management Team is:

CEO and President

Professor Brian Anderson AO
of the Australian National University is the CEO for the first year. NICTA will soon commence a global search for a permanent CEO for the Centre.

Node Directors:

Professor Arun Sharma of UNSW (Sydney)

Professor Bob Williamson of ANU (Canberra)

NICTA conducts its operations at two nodes (Sydney and Canberra) and at three sites:

Headquarters, Sydney	Australian Technology Park (ATP) (Redfern)
Sydney Research	The University of NSW, Kensington
Canberra Node	The Australian National University

In its intial stages of operation NICTA activities will be carried out in existing buildings. It is expected that by the end of 2004 NICTA will be purpose-built facilities at these locations with first class facilities and resources.

Conditions of Appointment

Appointment: will be for periods from 3 to 5 years. An additional appointment may be possible with the total period of both appointments not exceeding 5 years, and would be dependent on earlier satisfactory performance and must meet the strategic directions of the research program. Exceptionally performing researchers will be considered for future continuing appointments.

Remuneration will be internationally competitive, and funds will be available also for research support and infrastructure, and international conference travel support. Generous superannuation provisions will apply.

Leave provisions are generous, including maternity and parental leave. A program of research leave will also be available

Grants will be provided towards travel and removal expenses.

Applications:

There is no prescribed form for application. Your application should address the selection criteria and also clearly contain the following information:

your full name;
a postal address for correspondence over the next six months or so, together with fax numbers and e-mail addresses;
academic record, including title of any thesis for a postgraduate degree, academic honours and awards, membership of recognised learned societies, etc
a brief statement of your research interests and career objectives; and how these fit with the advertised position;
a 2 to 3 page outline of a proposed research plan
details of present and previous appointments, including dates;
a full list of publications, indicating with an asterisk those you consider to be most significant;
the names and addresses of three referees from academic or research institutions, including postal addresses, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail addresses if possible;
your earliest date of availability;
any other information which you feel you should bring to notice.

It would be helpful if you could send single reprints of recent or particularly significant publications. Please supply your referees with a full copy of your application and confirm that you have done this in your application letter.

Full documentation should be sent to:

The Manager, Human Resources (jobs@nicta.com.au)
National ICTA Australia Limited
Canberra Node, RSISE Building, ANU
Cnr North and Daley Roads
Acton ACT 2601
AUSTRALIA

There is no closing. date. This is a rolling recruitment program and assessment of applications will commence from 18 November 2002.

Date Last Modified: Tue, 15 October 2002