JOB OPENING

PhD Position in Computer Science

What are we searching for?

PhD Position in Computer Science

We are looking for a student to work towards his/her doctoral degree focused on blockchain technologies to facilitate the work of Collaborative Economy communities.

What is P2P Models?

P2P Models is a research project to build decentralized, democratic & sustainable Collaborative Economy organizations. The project is 5 year long (2018-2022), EU-funded (ERC grant of 1.5M€), based at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), with Principal Investigator and advisors from the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University.

The project follows a practial approach, aiming to maximize our social impact through both our socio-technical research and the building of free/open source software codesigned with communities. Thus, this is an interdisciplinary research project integrated by computer scientists, social scientists, digital designers and communication specialists. We hold a critical stance towards blockchain while exploring its potential for commons-oriented communities. You can see more info on our values in the About page, on the project approach in this tweet thread, and more on our research questions in this other tweet thread.

Expectations

As a PhD student you will:

  • Develop and deploy software using cutting-edge technologies both for blockchain (Ethereum’s Solidity, IPFS, Aragon) and the web (React JS, Node.js) in an agile and free/open source context
  • Participate in research activities and experimentation within a multidisciplinary team (social researchers, data scientists, designers, computer scientists)
  • Collaborate with our case-study communities to build pilots and experiments. Our case-studies are currently the largest European co-op and the largest subtitle creation community
  • Present your work in international conferences, and publish in leading research journals

What we offer

Flexible working-hours

  • You may work remotely, with regular face to face meetings
  • We work with a goal oriented approach
  • We believe in a family life & work balance, placing life in the centre

 

Opportunities to 

  • visibilize your work internationally
  • collaborate with our international network of leading researchers and developers in the field (e.g. Harvard, MIT, Aragon, Protocol Labs)
  • compete for prestigious academic scholarships

 

Joining a team that 

  • values diversity and nice interpersonal relationships
  • strives to have flat, inclusive and feminist processes

 

Training & Education

  • We provide funding for visiting fellowships, conferences,  hackathons and training to improve professional skills

Minimum requirements

  • Master degree in Computer Science (or related area), in progress or completed, since it is an official requirement to start a PhD. Other paths are possible, like a 5-year CS degree, or 300 ECTS degrees (https://edoctorado.ucm.es/acceso)
  • Strong interest in some of these areas: blockchain, peer-to-peer systems, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), free/open source software, online communities, social movements, collaborative economy 
  • Fluency in English
  • Be based in Madrid (Spain) and/or available for face to face meetings once a week, when the current pandemic allows
  • Ability to work in multidisciplinary teams, autonomy, critical thinking

Bonus points for any combination of these

  • Experience contributing to free/open source projects
  • Experience in social movements, activism, commons-oriented initiatives, co-ops, and/or open collaborative communities
  • Knowledge of decentralized technologies (e.g. Ethereum, IPFS, federated systems) or JavaScript frameworks (e.g. Vue, Angular, React).
  • Research experience
  • Fluency in Spanish
  • Experience with agile methodologies
  • Teamwork and interpersonal skills, including collaboration, empathy and adaptation
  • Underrepresented demographics in the blockchain field to increase the team diversity

Salary Range

23.000 € (gross annual salary) for a recent Masters graduate. For more experienced profiles, salary may surpass the mentioned range.

Application Instructions

Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, maximum by 16 November 2020, in order to start in early January 2021. The position is renewable yearly, and it is expected to end with the completion of a PhD thesis. Interested candidates should submit (1) a CV including 2-3 named references, and (2) a brief cover letter explaining their motivation to apply, prior experience and future plans to phd-cs@p2pmodels.odoo.com. Informal enquiries are welcome and should be made to p2pmodels@ucm.es including in the subject “Open position: PhD”.

If you didn’t, please check out more on our Culture, Perks  and Work conditions.