** The Music and Science list is managed by the Institute of Musical Research (www.music.sas.ac.uk) as a bulletin board and discussion forum for researchers working at the shared boundaries of science and music. **
MESSAGE FOLLOWS:
The Centre for Digital Music is pleased to offer a salaried research
position on the OMRAS2 project. It will suit someone with a Masters or
PhD and a strong interest in Music and an excellent background in
technology (Computer Science and/or Electronic Engineering or similar).
The full advert is available at
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/DF429/Research_Assistant_for_EPSRC_OMRAS2_Project/
Further details and an application form can be found on our website: http://www.hr.qmul.ac.uk/vacancies
. Details about the Department can be found on: http://www.elec.qmul.ac.uk/
The closing date for receipt of applications is 23rd May 2008.
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Please note too that the Centre for Digital Music is always looking
for excellent PhD candidates. Check our website
http://www.elec.qmul.ac.uk/digitalmusic
1
Job Description
Job Title Research Assistant
Department: Electronic Engineering
Grade: 4 Research
Salary: £28,647 - £30,225 per annum
Working hours per week: 35
Appointment period: Until 31st January 2010
Reports to: Professor Mark Sandler
Location: Based on the Mile End Campus.
Postholder may be required to carry out duties at other College sites
or sites of project partners.
Job Purpose
The 3 year EPSRC project OMRAS2: A Distributed Research Environment
for Music Informatics and Computational Musicology is a collaboration
between the Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary University of
London and the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths’ College,
University of London, and involves a further 4 academic institutions
in the UK as partners, plus another in the USA. Altogether the project
employs 12 researchers and involves at least as many again.
OMRAS2 builds upon the success of the earlier OMRAS project by
integrating music analysis tools to provide a web-based research
workbench for Music Informatics (MI) specialists, Music Information
Retrieval (MIR) researchers and Computational Musicologists. The
project undertakes research in three different areas: systems
architecture for musical content informatics; advanced component
research for MI and MIR and Computational Musicology. This adventurous
combination of research dimensions has not been tackled before and
promises to revolutionise music research in the UK and beyond.
Crucially the project makes use of Semantic Web technology as well as
Web Services to provide a research environment that is potentially
globally distributed.
This project aims to change the way Music Informatics and
Computational Musicology research is undertaken, by moving beyond the
development of individual components to a fully integrated, but
distributed, heterogeneous system. Designed with users in mind, this
system will provide intuitive user interfaces, offering researchers
access to the full range of resources: data, metadata, processing,
editing, annotating, indexing and retrieval.
To contribute to research investigations in collaboration with and
under the supervision of Professor Mark Sandler, Principal
Investigator in order to realise the objectives and development of the
research programme OMRAS2 as set out in the approved grant.
Main Responsibilities
Specific Duties
1. Contribute positively towards the OMRAS2 Project objectives.
2. Collaborate with other members of the research group on the
research project.
3. Develop, independently, or in collaboration with the Principal
Investigator, or other members of the project, such new techniques as
may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the research.
4. Responsible, under the general guidance of the PI, for
undertaking the programme of work.
5. Any other relevant activities related to the project as
appropriate.
6. Undertake such other duties as may be reasonably expected by the
Director of the Centre for Digital Music or Head of Department.
7. Assist in the supervision of student projects, as necessary.
General Duties
1. Conduct empirical research as required by the research programme.
2. Collect data and undertake any appropriate analysis of data as
requested. Provide and prepare data essential in preparing
publications and grant progress reports and, as appropriate, to
jointly author with the Principal Investigator and others,
publications arising from the grant research.
3. Maintain appropriate databases, keeping accurate written and
computerised records and to ensure that these records are stored in a
secure place and to maintain confidentiality of all electronically
stored personal data in line with the provisions of the Data
Protection Act.
4. Make research contributions to the research programme wherever
possible, and to contribute freely to the team research environment in
a manner conducive to the success of the research project as a whole.
5. Attend regular meetings with the team.
6. Undertake literature and database searches for the research
project, and to be able to interpret and present the findings of the
literature searches and advise the research teams appropriately
regarding potential projects as required by the line manager/
supervisor/PI.
7. Keep up to date with subject related and professional issues, in
particular, developments in the specific subject area.
8. Undertake certain communal responsibilities, the nature of which
will be discussed and agreed by the PI, but which may need to be
changed from time to time during the course of the project.
9. Comply with relevant College policies and regulations with due
regard to financial matters, harassment, equal opportunities, public
interest disclosure, health and safety, intellectual property and
patenting, data protection or any other rules, regulations or codes
binding on the member of staff.
10. Monitor research findings with a view to commercial exploitation,
and to inform the Head of Department (or line manager, as appropriate)
and Head of Innovation & Enterprise of any appropriate novel research
outcomes.
11. Participate in the College Appraisal Scheme (QMPAS) and
demonstrate a commitment to continuing professional development.
Other
1. The duties of the post outlined above are not exhaustive, and
the postholder will be expected to be co-operative and flexible,
undertaking such administrative and other duties as may from time to
time be reasonably expected of a member of research grade staff in a
university.
2. These duties will be subject to review in line with the changing
requirements of the School or College, and with the development needs
of the postholder as identified through regular review/appraisal
processes.
This job description sets out the duties of the post at the time it
was drawn up. Such duties may vary from time to time without changing
the general character of the duties or level of responsibility
entailed. Such variations are a common occurrence and cannot of
themselves justify a reconsideration of the grading of the post.
Decision Making
· Judgements involving complex facts or situations, which require
analysis, interpretation and comparison of data or any other
information.
· To adopt flexible working practices where required.
· Encourage interaction between team members.
Working Relationships & Contacts
Exchange relevant information, relevant to the project both internally
and externally: with staff, students, senior management and peers.
Internal
· Establish and maintain relationships in order to collaborate
with researchers and academics in own team, within the department and
outside the department within the College when necessary.
· Work with students.
External
· Work with industrial or academic collaborators as agreed with
the Supervisors.
Dimensions
· N/A
Organisational Chart
Person Specification
Qualifications
PhD (completed or substantially completed) in Computer Science,
Electronic Engineering, or other relevant subject OR BSc/MSc with
Distinction (or equivalent) and relevant industrial experience.
(Essential)
Experience
Experience in Software Development in C++/Java and 2 or more of the
following: (Essential)
· DSP for Music and Audio
· Semantic Web, Ontologies, Web Services, MPEG7, XML, metadata
· User Interfaces
At least 3 years research experience in Digital Signal Processing and/
or Computer Science for Audio and Music (Desirable)
Knowledge
Knowledge of state-of-the-art in at least 1 of: (Essential)
· Music Information Retrieval,
· Computational Musicology,
· DSP & Computer Science applied to Music/Audio
Expertise in at least 1 of Distributed Databases; Music/Document
Indexing and searching; Knowledge Representations for Music; Large
Collection User Interfaces (Essential)
Understanding of the research process
Skills
Ability to work independently (Essential)
Ability to work with colleagues (Essential)
Ability to organise and prioritise own work and organise research
within the project timetable (Essential)
Willingness to travel to conferences in Europe and worldwide (Essential)
Effective team working (Essential)
Good communication skills, including the ability to write technical
English to a high standard (Essential)
Ability to write and document computer code and have full
understanding of reliable software development (Essential)
Ability to maintain accurate and up to date records (Essential)
Analytical skills
Disposition
Flexible and co-operative
Self-motivated and hardworking
Willingness to learn new skills
Circumstances
General health appropriate to the duties of the post
Willingness to work flexibly in order to achieve project demands.
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