项目介绍

2026年5月9日

We have the power of over 50,000 students and co-workers. Students who provide hope for the future. Co-workers who contribute to Linköping University meeting challenges of today. Our fundamental values rest on credibility, trust and security. By having the courage to think freely and innovate, our actions together, large and small, contribute to a better world. We look forward to receiving your application!

We are looking for a PhD student in AI-Assisted Software Engineering

Your work assignments

As a PhD student in AI-Assisted Software Engineering, your primary duty will be to conduct cutting-edge software engineering research in the context of cyber-physical systems and AI agents.

Mission: This project is funded by the ELLIIT Call G, the Excellence Center at Linköping – Lund in Information Technology. The project aims to systematically detect and reduce software development waste (SDW) in the context of large-scale AI-assisted development and operations (DevOps) for complex software systems. We take a broad, sustainability-driven perspective on SDW to identify development practices that consume excessive amounts of energy, developer time, or computational costs. Novel techniques will be developed for SDW detection and reduction in the context of cyber-physical systems.

Context: The large-scale development of cyber-physical systems (CPS) increasingly relies on automation to simultaneously improve productivity and quality. AI assistants based on large language models (LLMs) are actively used to partially automate tasks such as coding (e.g., Co-pilot, ChatGPT, Claude Code) and testing. Moreover, such AI assistants are integrated into the DevOps pipelines of software-intensive systems to continuously harness data collected during the entire lifecycle. In critical CPS, DevOps includes long-running simulations to analyze a design candidate, while surrogate models can be trained to provide an approximate analysis. Feedback cycles vary from seconds to weeks, and the computation is spread between different tools.

However, developers currently lack support to obtain precise and useful results from automated tools at the right time with sustainable use of resources, leading to software development waste in terms of developer time, computation time, energy consumption. For example, if a course-grained analysis quickly refutes a release candidate, then running a more precise but computationally expensive analysis is a waste of developer time and computational resources. Similarly, using larger AI models than necessary or running unnecessary simulation may waste developer time and energy consumption.

Tasks: Your project aims to address the overarching research question of how to detect and reduce software development waste in AI-assisted DevOps of complex software-intensive CPSs. Your research will first identify software development waste in the context of CPSs, and then develop novel techniques for waste detection and reduction. The developed techniques will be evaluated on open benchmarks and assessed in an industrial context with our collaborators.

As a PhD student, you devote most of your time to doctoral studies and the research projects of which you are part. Your work may also include teaching or other departmental duties, up to a maximum of 20 per cent of full-time.

Your qualifications

You have graduated at Master’s level in Computer Science / Software Engineering / Artificial Intelligence or completed courses with a minimum of 240 credits, at least 60 of which must be in advanced courses in Software Engineering / Artificial Intelligence. Alternatively, you have gained essentially corresponding knowledge in another way.

We are looking for an enthusiastic person to join our research group. You should enjoy working as part of a leading international research group in software engineering and be willing to learn from your co-workers and to share your knowledge and experience with them in return.

Independent thinking and scientific curiosity are essential personal qualities in a candidate. You will be expected to engage with colleagues and cooperate in supporting the activities of the research group. You must have excellent oral and written communication skills in English. Oral and written communication skills in Swedish is a merit. You must also demonstrate programming skills, and preferably, some expertise in working with advanced AI techniques.  Publications of international caliber in leading conferences and journals of software engineering is a merit.  International recognition and proofs of research excellence are also meritorious.

Your workplace

The Department of Computer and Information Science was founded in 1983 but its roots go back to the early 1970s. It is one of the largest computer science departments in northern Europe. Our research covers a broad spectrum of fields, from core to applied computer sciences. Its vast scope also benefits our undergraduate and graduate programmes, and we now teach courses in several engineering programmes at bachelor’s and master’s levels, as well as the programmes in statistics, cognitive science and innovative programming. Read more at https://liu.se/en/organisation/liu/ida

As part of the Department of Computer and Information Science (IDA), the Division of Software and Systems (SaS) conducts research, undergraduate and postgraduate education in areas such as software technology, programming environments, system software, embedded software and hardware systems, computer system technology, cyber security, real-time systems and theoretical computer science. The Programming Environment Laboratory (PELAB) focuses on tools and methods for the development and quality assurance of software-intensive systems. Our research group has been involved in various European project, and it is also affiliated with the largest basic research program in Sweden Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP). Moreover, it is member of Software Center, a strategic partnership with 17 partner companies and 5 universities to significantly accelerate industrial digitalization and the adoption of novel approaches to software engineering.

Thanks to the ELLIIT center, you will be jointly supervised by Prof. Dániel Varró (Linköping University, https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4Ya6dVoAAAAJ) and Assoc. Prof. Emma Söderberg (Lund University, https://emso.gitlab.io/). Your main location will be in Linköping with regular research visits to Lund.

The employment

When taking up the post, you will be admitted to the program for doctoral studies.  More information about the doctoral studies at each faculty is available at Doctoral studies at Linköping University

The employment has a duration of normally four years’ full-time equivalent. Extension of employment up to five years is based on the degree of teaching and institutional assignment. Further extensions may be granted in exceptional circumstances. You will initially be employed for one year, after which your employment will be renewed for a maximum of two years at a time, depending on your progress through the study plan. 

The exact starting date for this position is by agreement, preferably, before September 1^st, 2026.

Salary and employment benefits

The salary of PhD students is determined according to a locally negotiated salary progression.

More information about employment benefits at Linköping University is available here.

Union representatives

Information about union representatives, see Help for applicants.

Application procedure

Apply for the position by clicking the “Apply” button below. Your application must reach Linköping University no later than June 1st, 2026.

Applications and documents received after the date above will not be considered.

We welcome applicants with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives – diversity enriches our work and helps us grow. Preserving everybody’s equal value, rights and opportunities is a natural part of who we are. Read more about our work with: Equal opportunities.

We look forward to receiving your application!