dimanche 21 octobre 2018

research position: collective decision making, ISTC-CNR, Rome, Italy

I’m recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to work within the newly founded project "CODE: Collective Decisions in Dynamic Environments" to be carried out the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies of the Italian National Research Council, in Rome. The position is for one year, and is renewable for two more years.

The research program aims to the study of collective decision making in dynamical contexts, where the possible alternatives display time-varying features. The study has a theoretical component based on dynamical systems theory, and an experimental component based on multi-agent and multi-robot systems. Dynamical systems are useful to determine the time evolution of collective decision-making under a given parameterisation, with the goal of identifying optimal conditions to maximise efficiency and decision accuracy. Multi-agent models allow to validate the predictions made by analytical models, and to consider heterogeneous interaction topologies that can emerge, for instance, from a complex and dynamic distribution of agents in space, as resulting from non-random motion patterns. The research also includes the possibility to test the identified collective decision strategies with multi-robot systems, exploiting a swarm of kilobot robots.

The ideal candidate should have knowledge of dynamical systems theory and expertise in using tools for such studies (e.g., Wolfram Mathematica). Good programming skills are also required (Python, C++), as well as abilities in data visualisation.

The deadline to submit an application is November the 9th. PhD students nearing the end of their doctoral program are also welcome to participate.

The interested candidate may place an informal inquiry by contacting me, or read the instructions for the application provided in the notice of selection:
http://www.istc.cnr.it/sites/default/files/vacancies/bandi/notice_of_selection_n._istc-adr-247-2018-rm.doc