Funded
Doctoral Positions

Logic is a powerful reasoning
tool. Originally invented as an aid for sound argumentation, it reached
maturity in the form of mathematical logic and analytic philosophy in the early
20th century, with significant contributions from
Vienna. We continue this
tradition, using logic as a tool that enables computer programs to reason about
the world. These reasoning tasks allow a natural classification into two broad
areas: In Databases
and Artificial Intelligence, logic is used to model, store,
analyze and predict information about the outside world including the Internet.
In Verification,
logic is used to model, analyze and construct computer programs themselves. The
logical and algorithmic questions which underlie both application areas are
studied in the area of Computational
Logic. In the LogiCS curriculum, all three directions are
prominently represented:

• Databases
  and Artificial Intelligence spans a large number of
  subjects including Answer-Set Programming and Datalog, query languages
  based on logical concepts (such as SQL, current XML-based languages),
  optimization of queries, novel database-theoretical methods (like schema
  mappings, information integration, querying ontologies), logic
  programming, knowledge representation and reasoning (belief change,
  abductive reasoning, multi-context systems, inconsistency handling,
  incomplete knowledge, diagnosis), and AI formalisms (argumentation,
  planning, preferential reasoning, decision support systems).
• Verification is
  concerned with logical methods and automated tools for reasoning about the
  behavior and correctness of complex state-based systems such as software
  and hardware designs as well as hybrid systems. It ranges from model
  checking, program analysis and abstraction to new interdisciplinary areas
  such as fault localization, program repair, program synthesis, and the
  analysis of biological systems.
• Computational
  Logic covers
  theoretical and mathematical foundations such as proof theory (cut
  elimination, proof mining, interpolants), automated deduction (resolution,
  refutation, theorem proving), non-classical logics (multi-valued logics,
  juridical reasoning, deontic logics, modal and temporal logics),
  computational complexity (complexity analysis, parameterized complexity,
  decomposition methods) and constraint satisfaction (SAT, QSAT, CSP).

Why
join the LogiCS program in Austria?

Our commitment
to international
and interdisciplinary collaboration is prerequesite for
today’s challenges: Computer science has reached a state where many of the
basic engineering questions are reasonably well understood. Many of the big open research questions,
however, require computers to perform non-trivial reasoning tasks that permeate
computer science, other sciences such as medicine, sociology, ecnomy, physics
and biology, as well as every-day life. Similar to the role of calculus in
the development of physics and engineering, logic is a key discipline in
this evolving phase of computer science. LogiCS off
ers an international program characterized by the unique combination of
disciplines where logical methods decisively impact
practical computer science.

The LogiCS faculty
comprises 15 renowned researchers with strong
records in research, teaching and advising, complemented by 12 associated members who further
strengthen the research and teaching activities of the college. Our faculty is
complemented by visiting professors as well as frequent guests in both the ARiSE
and VCLA talk and seminar series.

The program is
complemented by our faculty’s participation research initiatives such as the Austrian-wide National Research Network on Rigorous
Systems Engineering (RiSE) funded by the Austrian Science Fund, the Vienna Center for Logic and Algorithms (VCLA),
as well as the previous Doctoral
College on Mathematical Logic for Computer Science funded by TU
Vienna.

Vienna has a prominent
history in mathematics, computer science, and logic research (Kurt
Gödel, Vienna
Circle, …). Additionally, it has repeatedly been ranked number
1 in the Mercer Quality of Living Survey.