[DL] Open PhD positioin

[Thomas Studer]

The research group for Theoretical Computer Science and Logic of the 
University of Bern has an open position for a PhD student in the project

* Logics for Privacy *

see below for a project description.

We are looking for an enthusiastic student with a strong background in 
logic.

The PhD project is granted by the Swiss National Science Foundation over 
a period of three years. Salary and employment conditions are 
attractive. We offer a stimulating and enjoyable working environment in 
a internationally oriented research group. The city of Bern features 
modern culture surrounded by old world ambiance. It provides all year 
round recreational activities in a breathtaking environment.

University regulations require doctoral students to hold a Master's or 
equivalent degree (e.g. Diplom). Applications should include a 
curriculum vitae together with a transcript of records.

To apply or for further information please contact Thomas Studer by 
email (tstuder at iam.unibe.ch).


Project description:
The problem of data privacy is to verify that confidential information 
stored in an information system is not provided to unauthorized users 
and, therefore, personal and other sensitive data remain private. The 
main challenge in such a context is to share some data while protecting 
other personally identifiable information. The aim of our project is to 
develop formal methods and the corresponding algorithms to enable 
automated reasoning about data privacy.

In particular we are interested in the following questions:
1. What can a user infer from the information to which he has access?
2. How can we guarantee that an unauthorized user cannot obtain any 
knowledge about private information?

We will address those question not in their full generality, but we 
intend to study the case of ontological knowledge base systems. That 
means we will mainly use techniques from modal logic in general and 
description logic in particular.