"Research Associate in Learning to do Math with Vampires and Spiders"

The University of Manchester - Science and Engineering - Department of Computer Science - School of Engineering

Location: Manchester

Salary: £37,694 to £46,049 per annum according to relevant experience

Hours: Full Time

Contract Type: Fixed-Term/Contract

Job reference: SAE-030433

Salary: £37,694 - £46,049 per annum according to relevant experience

Faculty/Organisational Unit: Science and Engineering

Location: Oxford Road

Employment type: Fixed Term

Division/Team: Department of Computer Science

Hours Per Week: 35

Closing date: 07/01/2026

Contract Duration: 18 months

School/Directorate: School of Engineering

We are seeking three highly motivated and experienced Research Associates to join an established research group. These positions are part of the new project “Learning to do Math with Vampires and Spiders” awarded to the Computer Science Department of the University of Manchester, see www.renaissancephilanthropy.org/learning-to-do-math-with-vampires-and-spiders

The formal methods group conducts research in automated reasoning, with recent emphasis on solving problems in mathematics. We build the world leading automatic theorem prover Vampire, based on our research in theory, implementation and applications of theorem proving. Vampire won over 70 world championship titles in first-order and higher-order theorem proving.

Overall Purpose of the Job

There are three available positions. The main research directions are:

• Improving theory reasoning in Vampire, with the aim of enhancing its reasoning capabilities in math, including analysis, non-linear math and trigonometric functions.
• Machine learning for first-order theorem proving for creating strategy schedulers and other ways of configuring theorem provers
• Creation of a public web service for first-order and higher-order theorem provers, using machine learning

Manchester has a long and distinguished track record in the research and teaching of core Computer Science, and across interfaces to adjacent disciplines. Founded upon the pioneering work of Williams, Kilburn and Turing, we were the first academic Department of Computer Science in the UK and one of the first to run an undergraduate programme. Our research strength is reflected in consistently strong returns in UK research assessment exercises (5* in RAE 2000, 2nd in Research Power in RAE 2008, and ranked equal 1st for research environment in REF2014 and REF2021).

The Department is strongly committed to promoting equality and diversity, including the Athena SWAN charter for gender equality in higher education. The Department holds a Bronze Award for good practice in relation to gender including flexible working arrangements, family-friendly policies, and support to allow staff to achieve a good work-life balance. We positively welcome applications from women for this post. For further information, please visit: www.manchester.ac.uk/connect/jobs/equality-diversity/awards/athena-swan

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Name: Andrei Voronkov

Email: andrei.voronkov@manchester.ac.uk

General enquiries:

Email: People.recruitment@manchester.ac.uk

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.