The Netherlands: PhD Position in History and Philosophy of Logic, Semantics and Axiomatics, VU University Amsterdam

PhD position in History and Philosophy of Logic, Semantics and Axiomatics
Full-time, 4 years
Vacancy number 1.2008.00340

The Faculty of Philosophy, VU University Amsterdam, has a vacancy for a PhD position in the research project “Tarski’s Revolution: A New History – Semantics and Axiomatics from Bolzano to Tarski against the background of the Classical Model of Science” (TRANH). The project is funded by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC) and led by Dr. Arianna Betti (Principal Investigator).

More information on the project:
http://www.surfgroepen.nl/sites/cmsone/TRANH/index.html

Tasks
The PhD student is expected to:

• carry out the subproject “Semantics and Axiomatics in Bolzano against the background of the Classical Model of Science”
• take part in the activities of the research team, including (co-)organizing and participating in international meetings, joint editorial projects and grant applications;
• take on a small amount of teaching as part of the PhD training (=<10%);
• present papers at international meetings, submit articles to international peer-reviewed top scientific media and write a dissertation in English.

Starting date: March 2009

Deadline for application: 8 December 2008

Requirements:
The candidate must have a two-year master’s degree or equivalent (e.g. a one-year master’s degree and academic training and skills demonstrably comparable to a two-year master’s degree) in Philosophy, knowledge of German, a background in logic and its history, have demonstrated aptitude for combining theoretical and historical research and have good ICT skills. The candidate must also be highly motivated, ready and able to work in a team and possess excellent social and communicative skills. Having worked previously on Bolzano’s thought, a history-of-ideas-approach or a background in mathematics are advantages, but not pre-requisites. Candidates who are about to receive their MA degree are also welcome to apply. As part of an equal opportunity scheme, women are particularly encouraged to apply for this position.

Salary:
€ 2.042,- gross per month in the first year to € 2.612,- in the fourth year based on a full-time employment.

Application:
Written applications should include:

• a curriculum vitae;
• names of two academic references;
• list of courses followed and a copy of the MA diploma;
• translations of these documents in English where appropriate (a certified translation might be requested at a later stage in the procedure);
• a copy of the MA thesis (or, should the latter not be available yet, a writing sample);
• an extended letter of motivation explaining why the candidates consider themselves qualified for conducting this research (max. 1500 words); or a short letter of motivation accompanied by a separate research proposal containing a first attempt to specify in more detail how they intend to carry out Project I (research topic, objectives and approach, max. 1500 words, not including bibliographic references).

Please mention the vacancy number in the e-mail header or at the top of your letter and on the envelope. Send your application before December 8, 2008 to the VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Philosophy, attn. Mrs. M.G.H.M. Dijcker, Director of Operations, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It is also possible to apply by email to: secretaresse@ph.vu.nl by sending all documents in pdf-format.

Contact:
Drs. Pam Rossel, Faculty of Philosophy (phone: +31 20 59 86644, e-mail: p.rossel@ph.vu.nl)
Dr. Arianna Betti, Faculty of Philosophy (phone: +31 20 59 86681, e-mail: ariannabetti@gmail.com).

Full description:
http://www.vu.nl/nl/werken-bij-de-vu/vacatures/1-2008-00340.asp

Spain: Scholarships for the Graduate Program in Economics : CEMFI

Scholarships for the Graduate Program in Economics and Finance, CEMFI, Madrid, Spain

At CEMFI we train students for careers as professional or academic economists. Our graduates acquire the quantitative tools and research skills to work as economists in business, finance, government, and academia.

The basic graduate offering at CEMFI is its highly prestigious Master in Economics and Finance. Unlike many Master programs in the US and elsewhere, ours is self-contained and offers a well respected qualification.

CEMFI grants a subset of its Master students exemptions from the tuition fee and/or scholarships for living expenses amounting up to EUR 10,000 per year. They are granted according to academic merit. In previous years, the Fundación Carolina, in cooperation with the Fundación BBVA, has endowed several scholarships for Latin American students of the Master. If new grants are endowed, they will be announced on CEMFI’s web page.

An important distinguishing feature of our Master is that it lasts for two years, the second being essential for shaping the skills of our graduates. The first year consists of basic graduate coursework and some optional subjects. The second year includes specialized courses and research training through a Master thesis. Our ratio of students to faculty is between four and five. Thus we can devote a lot of attention to each student. This is particularly important for the Master thesis, where the faculty provides guidance to a unique degree.

Members of CEMFI’s faculty publish in top journals and are research leaders in their fields. They are also editors of prestigious journals and are key players at leading learned societies such as the European
Economic Association and the Econometric Society.

Our Master students get very good jobs as economists. For example, in positions dealing with portfolio and risk management, macroeconomic forecasting, policy evaluation, or microeconomic consultancy. CEMFI has been building a reputation for more than 20 years and a degree from CEMFI provides a strong signal of quality, regularly confirmed by the market. Moreover, we run an experienced and efficient job placement service.

Students interested in furthering their research training, either because they aim for a professional career with a stronger research content or because they aim for an academic position, will continue to
develop their research skills for another three years and complete the PhD program. Graduates from CEMFI’s PhD program have published papers from their dissertation in top journals and we have an excellent record in the PhD job market.

Admission to the PhD program at CEMFI is through the Master. All students admitted to the PhD program obtain a scholarship, either from an external source or from CEMFI. For more information on admission and scholarship applications, please visit: http://www.cemfi.es

For any queries, feel free to contact: admissions@cemfi.es

Application has to be received by 6. April 2009.

UK: MPhil / PhD Studentships in the History of Medicine

MPhil / PhD Studentships in the History of Medicine, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, London, UK

Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London

M.Phil./ Ph.D. Studentships in the History of Medicine, 2009
Roy Porter Memorial Ph.D. Studentship in the History of Medicine, 2009

The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL invites applications for entry to the Centre’s M.Phil./Ph.D. programme and for 3 years scholarships commencing in September 2009.

The Centre anticipates being able to offer two or three research studentships worth c. £ 20,000 pa plus the payment of “home” fees. In addition, the Roy Porter Memorial Ph.D. Studentship will be offered this
year for an outstanding young scholar. This award commemorates the life and work of the prolific historian, Roy Porter who died in 2002. The award is made available through the generosity of the Wellcome Trust and will be tenable for 3 years from September 2009. In addition to fees at the Home/EU
rate the studentship is valued at c. £ 20,000 per annum.

Students from outside the EU are encouraged to apply but should arrange to discuss the possible impact of “overseas” student fees being charged. Applications to study without a scholarship are also welcome.

Applicants should be registered for, or already hold a Master’s Degree in an appropriate discipline and intend to pursue research to gain a Ph.D. in the field of the History of Medicine.

Informal enquiries may be made until 19 December 2008 to the Centre’s Graduate Tutor, Dr. Helga Satzinger, h.satzinger@ucl.ac.uk

For further information please contact Adam Wilkinson, a.wilkinson@ucl.ac.uk

Please use the Centre’s website for information on our fields of study and members of staff who can act as supervisors: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/

Information on UCL Graduate School can be found at http://www.grad.ucl.ac.uk/

Applications forms have to be submitted online with the UCL Graduate School at this page.

In addition to the standardised form the application has to contain one A4 page presenting your research proposal plus one A4 page elaborating on what sources you want to use, where you situate your Ph.D. project within the History of Medicine, and the secondary literature on which you base your
approach.

Please print out your complete application and send it by post or as pdf file to:

Adam Wilkinson
Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL
183 Euston Rd.
London NW1 2BE
UK

Email: a.wilkinson@ucl.ac.uk

The application must arrive by 12 January 2009 at the latest. Shortlisted candidates will be informed end of January and invited for an interview in early February. Applicants from abroad will be interviewed by telephone. Students will be notified of the outcome of their application for places
and/or funding within ten days of interview.

PhD Studentship University of Central Lancashire : UK

PhD Studentship in The Impact of Sustainable Technology On Office Building Energy Use, Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), University of Central Lancashire, UK

School of Built and Natural Environment, Reference No RS/08/14

Applications are invited for a full-time studentship available in the School of Built and Natural Environment in the Faculty of Science and Technology. The studentship is tenable for up to 3 years for the MPhil/PhD (subject to satisfactory progress). The studentship will cover the cost of tuition fees at UK/EU rates plus a stipend of £12,940 per annum. International applicants may apply but will be required to pay the difference between UK/EU and international fees. The successful applicant will start on 1st January 2009.

LCA is a tool for assessing sustainability by investigating the environmental impact of a product or service in quantitative way throughout its life cycle. The concept life cycle to be used in this research incorporates an expansion both temporal (from cradle to grave) and spatial compared to the product or services (ISO 14000 series). Initially, the LCA has been used extensively for short life cycle products such as packaging to assess the environmental impact of these products. However, recently its usefulness has been extended and successfully applied to long life products such as those in building materials (Erlandson, 1995; Jonsson, 1995). Existing research on LCA has been applied to assess the impact of eco building materials to the environment (Junnila & Horvard, 2003; Poulsen & Borg, 2000), however less research focus on the use of sustainable technology in buildings and its contribution for reducing energy demand and potential for cost saving in the long term. This is somewhat surprising given that the importance of sustainable technology in reducing environmental burden is undoubtedly well known.

The statistics indicates that in the EU, buildings contribute to over 40% of the total energy use (CIB, 1999). Furthermore the construction sector has been estimated to be responsible for roughly 40% of the overall environmental burden (U.S. DOE 2002, Sjöström 2000, UNEP 1999). This studentship proposal will focus on office buildings as there is some clear evidence that energy reduction attached to office buildings are already appearing. For example, in the UK, some 25% of the new office buildings acquire an environmental assessment and energy certificate (Hasegawa 2002). Similarly, many international companies have stated that the major parts of the environmental impact they generate are connected to the use of office buildings (Swiss Re 2002, Kesko 2002, and Royal & SunAlliance 2001).

Many studies have revealed that proper use of sustainable technology in office buildings such as passive design, heat loss reduction with different thermal admittance (U-Value) materials, day lighting harvesting technology and controls, energy efficient lamps in office; have a strong contribution to make in reducing energy demand, (Kim S.Y., Mistrick. R., 2001). The potential impact of BS products in the office in reducing the environmental burden and to cost saving is often substantial (Rosenblum et al. 2000; BSRIA, 1996). This studentship will use LCA to investigate the impact of Sustainable Technology on office building energy use using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

Applicants should have, or expect to receive, a second class (upper division) honours degree or above (or equivalent qualification) in a related discipline.

Informal queries about the project may be directed to Dr Rusdy Hartungi (+44 1772 893741, or email rhartungi@uclan.ac.uk).

Requests for an application pack (quoting the reference number RS/08/14) should be directed to the Graduate Research Office. Tel +44 (0)1772 895082 or e-mail researchdegrees@uclan.ac.uk

Interviews will be held on 24th November 2008.

Closing Date: Friday 17th November 2008.

Sweden: PhD Studentships in Biology, Karolinska Institutet

PhD Studentships in Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

A new National Graduate Dental Research School has been established at four Institutions in Sweden, funded by the Swedish Research Council, with approximately 2.5 MSEK per year for five years. Dental research will be supported within the Graduate School to create a network between the four Institutions, and research from medical and other faculties. A key aim is that graduate students will gain insight into both biomedical and clinical research, which will contribute to the establishment of a translational research environment.

Within this framework 2 PhD studentships are available at the Center for Oral Biology, to investigate;
Nerve-target interactions in teeth and bone. Neural growth factors and mineralization

Project 1: Nerve growth factors and mineralization
This project will test the hypothesis that neurotrophic factors, in addition to their roles in innervation, influence mineralization during dentinogenesis and osteogenesis. If so, malfunctions associated with these factors could cause disturbances both in sensory nerve functions and in hard tissue formation

Project 2: Cellular and biomolecular interactions of osteoadherin with neurotrophic factors
Mineralizing tissue cells are reported to synthesize and secrete neurotrophic factors, and it has been hypothesized that in addition to their role in neural development, these factors may influence hard tissue formation. Candidate molecules for such an interaction include the small leucine-rich family of proteoglycans (SLRPs), which are recognized as not only having a part to play in maintaining shape and providing biomechanical strength to organs and tissues, but also exhibit direct and indirect cell signaling properties. In turn this can affect cell recruitment, proliferation, migration and differentiation. This project will investigate in detail the cellular and biomolecular interactions of nerve growth factors with the only recognized hard tissue-specific SLRP reported to date, osteoadherin (OSAD).

For more detailed information on the projects www.ki.se/odont

Contact:

Professor Kaj Fried
+46 8 524 878 53
Kaj.Fried@ki.se

Dr Rachael Sugars
+ 46 8 746 02 35
Rachael.Sugars@ki.se

Last date of application: 15th December 2008

Applications to be sent to:

c/o Lena Jarsman
Karolinska Institutet
Institute of Odontology
Box 4064
14104 Huddinge, Sweden

Email: Lena.Jarsman@ki.se

Quote reference: 4117/2008 Project 1, 4119/2008 Project 2