Hi all, i'm looking for a candidate for a PhD position in computer science between France and Vietnam related to disaster management (a very important topic for Vietnam). The description of the subject is below. If you are interested by this position, send me a message ASAP.
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IRIT laboratory of Université of Toulouse and UMMISCO research team invite applicants for a PhD. position related to disaster management and computer science.
PhD Thesis title: Models/Forms of coordination for crisis resolution: analysis, discovery and efficiency
Supervisors' names: Pr. Chihab Hanachi (Université de Toulouse), Dr. Ho Tuong and Dr. Serge Stinckwich (UMMISCO, Vietnam)
Scientific domain : crisis management, computer science.
Subject In a crisis context (natural or industrial disasters, violence explosion, ...), different actors (e.g. the police, firefighters, NGO) are called to reduce the crisis and stabilize its impact on the real world. Their interventions take the form of operational processes by each actor according to its responsibilities, tasks and resources, each of them exploiting its own information system. The coordination of these actors and their interventions is crucial in order to ease an efficient control and resolution of the crisis. Usually, this coordination may take two different forms:
- An explicit coordination provided by a central crisis command center, steering the crisis, which in the French context, for example, may be composed of a prefet (state's representative in a departement) and representatives of institutions involved in resolving the crisis. In this case, coordination is supported by a collaborative process (supported by a set of official plans) to orchestrate the different partners operations, while respecting the autonomy of their actions, according to their expertises and responsibilities. This process is most often adapted to cope with a dynamic, unstable and unpredictable environment, due to the impact and evolution of the crisis, but also to the heterogeneity and multiplicity of stakeholders and their possible geographical dispersion.
- Sometimes, especially during major natural disasters, coordination may be implicit (no preset plans, ineffective authorities, ...). Interactions can emerge between several institutions and voluntary organizations, involved in resolving the crisis. In this case, coordination is partly governed by the different actors strategies or personal interests . There is no more a centralized schema.
These two forms of coordination may also co-exist and the question of their interaction and coherence is raised. How to take into account emerging social events in predefined formal procedures which did not plan these phenomena ? How to deal with the entrance and departure of uncontrolled actors during the crisis management ? In this thesis proposal, we are interested (research project) by distributed information gathering (testimonies of people, pictures taken by phone, data from sensors, ...) which can be seen as a form of distributed problem solving where coordinated sources of information have to cooperate to form a whole picture of the crisis at given time. The scientific aims of the thesis are the design and implementation of models and algorithms enabling :
1) The analysis of relationships between information collected in the field: facilitation, interference, aggregation, independence (or interdependence), uncertainties, ... It is also necessary to take into account the temporal aspect of information.
2) The identification of formal coordination models dedicated to the crisis resolution (coordination processes, organizational structures and networks of actors, interaction protocols). This step, based on an analysis of the nature of information flows between actors, should allow to identify generic structures that can be formalized into models.
3) The analysis of coordination efficiency. By analyzing actors effectiveness in terms of ressources management and accuracy to represent the reality, we would like to compare the different coordination models. This analysis aims at suggesting process improvements and good practices in terms of coordination. This can be done through simulations using individual-centered approaches.
References for the PhD thesis
- Benaben, C. Hanachi, M. Lauras, P. Couget, V. Chapurlat, "A Metamodel and Its Ontology Guide to Crisis and Its Characterization Collaborative Management", Proceedings of the 5th International Conference ISCRAM, 2008. - Issam Bouslimi, Chihab Hanachi, Hassan Tout, Khaled Ghedira. Coordination Framework for Cooperative Information Gathering. In: International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms, Inderscience Publishers, V. 1 N. 1, p. 60-79, 2008.
This PhD thesis will be conducted in the framework of a sandwich PhD Programme between France and Vietnam and under the supervision of Pr. Chihab Hanachi (Université de Toulouse I-Capitole, IRIT, France) as well as Dr. Ho Tuong Vinh and Dr. Serge Stinckwich from UMMISCO (IRD, Vietnam).
Requirements The candidates must have a strong background in Software Engineering and Computer Science, and hold an MSc or equivalent diploma. Some experience with research is a plus, especially for engineers. English writing fluency is a must. English speaking fluency is necessary, especially if the applicant does not speak French. Applicants should send ASAP their application, the curriculum vitae, statement of research interests as a PDF attachment, to Dr. Ho Tuong Vinh (tuong.vinh.ho@gmail.com). A recommendation letter from a professor is a plus.