Research Fellowship in Spatial Reasoning and AI Planning

[M.Garagnani@open.ac.uk]

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( Please forward to anyone who could be interested )

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Computing Department
Faculty of Mathematics and Computing
The Open University, United Kingdom
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RESEARCH FELLOW IN SPATIAL REASONING AND AI PLANNING

The AI (Artificial Intelligence) group of the Computing Department 
at the Open University is looking for a Research Fellow to work 
on a new project to investigate the use of spatial reasoning and 
pattern-matching techniques in AI planning. The project, funded by 
the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), is 
due to start in November 2001.  The post is for 16 months.

The overall aim of the project will be to demonstrate the viability of 
an entirely new approach to AI planning, based on multi-dimensional
spatial representations of domains and problems. If successful, the
results of this project are expected to mark the beginning of a new,
interdisciplinary, area of research.

Candidates should hold a PhD in Computing (or be close to completion) 
and have experience in the field of Spatial Reasoning. Knowledge of 
connectionist systems and/or AI planning would be an advantage. 
The main deliverable of the project will be a new planning system
prototype which will make use of pattern-matching and spatial
reasoning techniques to represent and reason about actions and
states of the world.  

The successful candidate will take up the post as soon as possible and 
will be based in the Computing Department of the Faculty of Mathematics
and Computing, the Open University, Milton Keynes (United Kingdom). 
By joining the AI Research Group, a node of the European Network of 
Excellence in AI Planning (see http://www.planet-noe.org/index.html), 
the postholder will become part of a dynamic and stimulating research 
team and will be able to contribute actively to the shaping of this 
rapidly expanding group. To learn more about the general context of the
research, please look at the web site http://computing.open.ac.uk/
or telephone Prof Pat Hall on +44 (0)1825 71 2661 or +44 (0)1908 652694,
email p.a.v.hall at open.ac.uk.

Appointment will be made on the Research Fellow 1A salary scale in the 
range 17,451-21,290. For further particulars, an application pack and 
access details for disabled applicants, please contact the Recruitment 
Secretary (mcs-recruitment at open.ac.uk), or telephone  +44 (0)1908 654161.
Please quote ref. 7561.  The closing date for applications is Friday
28th September 2001. Interviews will be on 10th October 2001.

Disabled applicants whose skills and experience meet the
requirements of the job will be interviewed.  Please let us know if you
need your copy of the further particulars in large print, on computer
disk, or on audio cassette tape.  Hearing impaired persons may make
enquiries on Milton Keynes +44 (0)1908 654901 (Minicom answerphone).

The University offers a wide range of jobs with excellent training and
career development opportunities.  We actively promote equal
opportunities in education and employment and welcome applications
from all sections of the community.

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Dr. Max Garagnani	
Visiting Scholar
International Computer Science Institute
1947 Center St.
Berkeley, CA 94704-1198		
Tel. +1 510 666 2926
Fax. +1 510 666 2956