Several Postdoctoral Research and
PhD Student Positions Available
Summer 2011 (start date as early as 1 June 2011)

within the Software Development Group and the Programming, Logic, and Semantics Group at the IT University of Copenhagen.

All positions report to Dr. Joe Kiniry.

All open positions are part of the DemTech project and focus on the following research question: It is possible to modernize the electoral process while balancing the trust of the people on the trustworthiness of the deployed technology?

Over the last two decades, information technology has begun to transform the electoral process---perhaps the most foundational process upon which democratic societies are built. Computers are gradually replacing manual parts of the democratic process by, for example, tallying results in Excel spreadsheets or by computing seat assignments to parties in parliament (since 1962 in Denmark). With every such transformation, the overall process becomes more efficient and economical. However, there is a risk of the process becoming less trustworthy. The deployed technology tends to be complex and therefore prone to programming error and vulnerable to malicious attacks. These problems have an adverse effect on the very foundations of democracy. Voters are less likely to trust the electoral process, which inevitably leads to lower voter participation and cynicism.

The hypothesis of this research project is the following: Is it possible to modernize the electoral process while balancing the trust of the people on the trustworthiness of the deployed technology? In order to provide evidence in support of this hypothesis, we propose first to design a rigorous software engineering principle, which we call trust by design that reproduces the trust-instilling elements of the conventional process in an electronic infrastructure. Second, together with our industry partners, we develop electronic election technology based on the trust by design principle. Third, together with the Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, and Aarhus Kommuner, we empirically evaluate the technology in order to analyze the social, political and cultural implications inherent in digitally transforming the democratic process. The results of this project will provide decision makers important and invaluable insights into how to modernize the democratic process without jeopardizing the fundamental principles upon which democracies rest.


Postdoctoral Researchers

Postdoctoral candidates should have a Ph.D. in Computer Science or Mathematics and an established research record in one or more of the following fields:

  • applied formal methods
  • electronic voting systems (of primary importance)
  • rigorous software engineering
  • trust and trustworthiness
  • logic and semantics
  • proof theory and higher-order theorem proving
  • program verification

Ph.D. Students

We are seeking very well qualified graduates, or students expecting to graduate in the near future, to undertake selected projects in the broad area of Applied Formal Methods. These students will play a pivotal role in developing our research profile and will be involved in every aspect of the foundation of the research group.

Our ideal candidates will be able to demonstrate an ability to both undertake basic research in Computer Science and Mathematics and be able to build prototype systems to demonstrate their research.

Applicants for Ph.D. positions should have achieved at a first (or equivalent) in Computer Science or Mathematics (Logic) and have a keen interest in research.

Applicants must complete an application for a PhD studentship via ITU's standard PhD student application procedure. Informal inquiries prior a full application are welcomed.

The application form is available via the Research Degrees section of the School website.

Candidates will be expected to work in collaboration with a number of internationally known existing groups at other top institutions including: ETH Zurich the University of Luxembourg, and with companies and organizations like Siemens and Aion, and public partners like KL, Copenhagen Kommune, Frederiksberg Kommune, and Aarhus Kommune. Our group also collaborates with a number of other top-notch universities and companies in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia including MIT, Caltech, the University of Washington, Kansas State University, Concordia University, SRI, Microsoft Research, and many others.


Contact Information

Please contact Dr. Joe Kiniry for further details of the above posts.


This work is funded under the DemTech grant.