Career Opportunities at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the Advanced Internet of Things (IoT) Research Group within the Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions Cluster. The incumbent will be responsible for conducting research and development in Security and/or Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) applications for the Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems (CPS) technologies. This position is based in Pretoria.

Research areas:

Possible research areas include (but not limited to):

• Smart and/or rural microgrids;
• Secure Fog/Edge computing;
• IoT security;
• Digital Forensic Investigation;
• Penetration Testing and Incident Response for IoT/CPS networks;
• Secure communication systems for Smart Grid networks;
• Distributed Ledger Technology for transactive energy.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead projects, research and investigations in security for IoT and CPS and/or DLT applications for IoT-enabled microgrids;
• Provide leadership in formulating research, development and innovation (RD&I) strategies and road maps;
• Provide research direction to the Research Group on the long-term development of IoT;
• Conduct advanced IoT and CPS DLT and/or security research and generate high quality papers and publish them in prestigious journals with good impact factor;
• Remain current on new IoT/CPS security and/or DLT techniques, methodologies and protocols, to understand latest technical details on new products and updates/revisions to existing products/services;
• Provide training on IoT/CPS security and/or DLT applications or related topics to all stakeholders (internal and external) when required;
• Formulate and contribute to research and development (R&D) funding proposals and develop relationships with collaborators in R&D around IoT/CPS security and related topics;
• Supervise/mentor junior colleagues, researchers, students and interns in the areas of expertise;
• Generate and contribute towards science, engineering and technology activity outputs e.g. reports, guidelines, system requirements;
• Initiate and supervise technical reports, expert studies and investigations, and presentations aimed at the relevant industries and research institutions and academia, locally and internationally.

Qualifications, skills, and experience:

• A Doctoral degree in electronic/computer engineering, computer science or a related field;
• Demonstrated experience in conducting quality research in IoT/CPS security and/or IoT/CPS DLT applications;
• Experience in IoT/CPS security and/or DLT energy trading technologies and its applications, including related programming languages and software tools; 
• Experience in conducting and supervising studies related to IoT/CPS security technologies or related fields;
• Experience in project management and funds acquisition will be advantageous;
• Experience in presenting and communicating research approaches, concepts and outcomes at conferences or industry forums; 
• Good record of accomplishment and recognition for quality research outputs and advanced concept implementation;
• Familiar with several aspects of the software development lifecycle, including architecture, design, implementation, and testing;
• Knowledge of modern development, integration, testing and deployment environments would be advantageous; 
• Ability to create clear and accurate technical and analytical reports;
• Ability to analyse data obtained from different sources;
• Ability to work as part of a team, as a key member, influencing decisions and reacting positively to challenges;
• Strong organization and analytical skills;  
• Demonstrated skills in: analytical thinking, flexibility and adaptability, investigative orientation, planning and organising, problem solving, verbal and written communication, teamwork, self-management (planning, prioritising and time management – includes the ability to work independently), systems level thinking, multi-disciplinary knowledge.

Closing date: 10 July 2023

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About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Computational Linguist in the Voice Computing Research Group within the Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions Cluster. The incumbent will be responsible to  undertake research in computational linguistics (CL) with a focus on human-computer interaction (HCI) with systems, products, services and tools relating to human language technology (HLT) in a Research and Development (R&D) environment; covering the end-to-end HCI workflow of requirements elicitation and analysis, solution design and testing, user evaluation and feedback, with the aim to support the commercialisation of voice computing (VC) products and services. This position is based in Pretoria.

Key responsibilities:

• Manage research on Computational Linguist and Human-Computer Interaction;
• Analyse, design, develop, implement and evaluate new and/or legacy user experience and usability methodologies to ensure new solutions address user needs and to inform business decisions pertaining to VC products and services, following an agile (iterative) approach;
• Lead the elicitation of detailed requirement specifications, business requirement specifications, functional and non-functional requirements, and the development of use cases, personas, and user stories;
• Guide research and development projects relating to CL and HCI with the VC domain, guides troubleshooting of problems, and directs the implementation of projects, according to best practice;
• Direct the integration of various areas of CL and HCI-related research to develop new tools and technology and improve existing tools and technology;
• Conduct various forms of both qualitative and quantitative research, including questionnaires/surveys, interviews, focus groups, concept/prototype testing, A/B testing, and others, with both users and clients/stakeholders. Identifies and recruits’ participants for research. Builds and manages user panels as required. Analyses and presents research findings;
• Collaborate with HCI and natural language processing (NLP) team members, product owners, development teams, and other stakeholders to design and deliver on research needs and influence the user experience, maximize technology capabilities, and deliver on business goals;
• Work with HCI and NLP team members and supports project team members through input on technical aspects, advice, guidance, and coaching;
• Support new avenues of knowledge application in VC. Contributes to proposals for internal/external clients which source research funding;
• Liaise with clients and other stakeholders to ensure that the outcomes of projects meet the needs of the stakeholders;
• Understand and respond to the needs and requirements of clients;
• Manage a portfolio of R&D projects, often integrating approaches across several fields of research or disciplines. Assist in developing a human-computer interaction (HCI) research strategy for the research group.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Bachelor’s degree in computational linguistics, linguistics, computer science, human-computer interaction (HCI), human-centered design (HCD) or related fields with at least one year experience in designing and executing research and/or projects, CL/HCI experience will be advantageous.
• Experience in the following will be advantageous:
• Research on CL systems, voice systems, machine learning or artificial intelligence-driven systems;
• Specialised HCI software tools, including prototyping tools.
• Experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative user research.
• Knowledge of the following is required/will be advantageous:
• Wireframing and prototyping software (such as Balsamiq);
• Scripting language such as Python;
• African language linguistics;
• Desktop and/or mobile user interface design processes and methodologies;
• Information architecture and/or user experience design;
• User testing processes;
• Evidence of successful and impactful research in the field of CL/HCI by the applicant.
• Evidence of ongoing application of new/improved CL/HCI-related methodologies or tools.
• Familiarity with NLP toolkits such as NLTK.
• Working in a CL/HCI team.
• Demonstrated knowledge of research ethics.
• Good written and verbal communication skills and ability to interact efficiently with diverse teams of people (end-users, clients, researchers, developers and engineers).
• Strong analytical skills
• All international qualifications require an evaluation report / certificate issued by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

Closing date: 30 June 2023