Australia: Software Engineering Research Scholarship (Probabilistic Failure Mode and Effect Analysis for Medical Processes)@

Swinburne University of Australia (Melbourne, Australia)

 

Project title:

Probabilistic Failure Mode and Effect Analysis for Medical Processes

 

Research topic:

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a technique to reason about possible system hazards that result from system or system component failures. Probabilistic FMEA (pFMEA) automates FMEA with fault injection experiments and probabilistic model checking. However it is currently only applied to systems and not to processes. The proposed project shall investigate the applicability of pFMEA to processes with formal process descriptions. The aim of this research project is to create a theoretical basis and validate the theory with real world medical processes (e.g. blood transfusion processes, patient registration). To get a detailed introduction into this research project please have a look at the following background literature:

- Safety Analysis of an Airbag System using Probabilistic FMEA and Probabilistic Counter Examples

- Probabilistic Model-Checking Support for FMEA

- Using software engineering technology to improve the quality of medical processes.

 

Your Benefits:

Basically, the benefits can be summarised as follows:

- You will work on real-world research problems. (There will always be opportunities to cooperate with major software and systems engineering companies.)

- You will be trained in all skills that are required to successfully finish you research project. Our goal is to help you develop the skills, connections, and opportunities required, that ensure a successful postgraduate career.

- You will create research outputs at the highest standards. In today’s world, it is not only enough to be good, students must be great and competitive compared to other graduate students. Please have a look at our own research outputs.

- You will get optimal and continuous supervision. My goal is to give you strong support on your research from a technical side. However, we also try to help my students to develop their personal skills. If you like to know more about my supervision style, we can provide contact details of recently graduated students as reference.

- You study in a friendly and cooperative environment. Australia is known for its friendliness.

 

We require:

We are interested in a PhD student who has a good academic record (first class honours or equivalent with marks above 80%) with background in one or more of the following areas:

- probabilistic logics and probabilistic verification

- probabilistic model checking

- quality attributes such as performance, reliability, availability, safety, and security

- software engineering (in the areas of embedded systems, robotics, etc. )

- software architectures and architecture evaluation

- formal methods in system design

- statistics

Since this project involves working with other PhD students and industrial partner, communication skills and the ability to work in a team environment are especially required.

 

The scholarship carries a value of AUS$20,000+ p.a., with tuition fee exemption for both Australian and international students. The selection process will be competitive. If you are interested in the research project, please provide the following information via email to lgrunske [at] swin.edu.au (please use the following header for you email "PostGradApplication_YourName"):

- detailed curriculum vitae

- short statement about you skills related to the area of research

- an (electronic) copy of undergraduate and postgraduate transcripts (first class honours or equivalent with marks above 80% or GPA 3.50/4)

For the final application also the following documents are required:

- filled out application form for post graduated education at the Swinburne University of Technology

- evidence of English proficiency for non-native English speaker (officially required is an IELTS of 6.5 with no band below 6.0, practically scores above 7.0 are preferred).

For more information about the research and the environment please have look at the research projects page and the main page.

For general information for prospective students please have a look this page.