EWADA Summer Student Internship

EWADA Research Internship

The Human Centred Computing (HCC) Research Group (http://hcc.cs.ox.ac.uk) in Oxford Computer Science Department is very excited to announce 3 summer internships in 2022!!!

Please come to join us if you want to create an AUTONOMOUS Web with a group of world-leading computer scientists!

Detailed job description

You will be working with researchers from HCC to develop new web applications that enable web users to take back the control of their personal online data and decide how an application may make use of their data in a privacy-preserving way.

You will be working with the Solid (Social Linked Data) architecture from MIT[1], which is a standards-based approach that provides practical solutions to web decentralisation and empowers people to take back control of their data and regain their self-autonomy.

Background of the project

You will be working as part of the Oxford Martin School programme EWADA (Ethical Web and Data Infrastructure in the Age of AI)[2] Project, which is an ambitious 3-year programme that aims to reform the concentration of power on the Web by developing and deploying new forms of technical and legal infrastructure. The project is led by Prof. Sir. Nigel Shadbolt and Prof. Sir. Tim Berner-Lee and aims to investigate novel re-decentralisation architectures and develop critical privacy-preserving AI methods to re-establish citizens’ self-autonomy on the Web.

Selection criteria

Ideally, you are expected to have experience with full-stack web development and be interested and willing to learn about EWADA research and Solid ecosystems (in Javascript or Python). Moreover, you will need to be able to work well with others, as these roles will be highly collaborative.

We have a range of application choices for this year’s summer internship, including:

• Creating a solid-based decentralise social media platform so that we do not have to be confined by existing proprietary solutions
• Creating a solid-based worker platform that enables gig workers (such as Amazon workers or Uber drivers) to take better control of their data
• Implementing a privacy-preserving computational protocol for users to share their data in a solid-based decentralised architecture

Application

The post is expected to be full-time (36.5 hours) for 12 weeks, starting mid-July 2022 and ending in September 2022, £12.74-14.29 (Grade 3.8-4.7) per hour, depending on experience. If you are a student holding a Tier 4 visa, then you are permitted to work full-time for 8 weeks and 4 weeks part-time (max 20 hrs per week).

The post does not have to be based in Oxford but will be subject to the right to work in the UK. We CAN NOT sponsor visa applications due to the short duration of the project.

Applications should be submitted to Dr Jun Zhao (jun.zhao@cs.ox.ac.uk ), including a 2-page resume, an indication of the application of interest, and a short paragraph of background and interests.

The closing date for applications is noon on Friday 1 July.  Candidates will be shortlisted and invited for an interview by 8 July.

Selection criteria

Essential

• The ability to communicate information clearly, including technical content
• The ability and desire to learn about Solid-related research, to quickly acquire domain expertise needed for effectively developing new web applications
• The ability and desire to work with research staff to elicit information about how information should be organised
• Substantial experience developing web-based applications
• The ability to effectively manage time, to complete projects efficiently
• The ability to work independently and think creatively

Desirable

• Expertise with base Web platform languages & technologies including HTML, CSS and Javascript
• Expertise with Python and Linux-based Operating Systems
• Graphic and interaction design experience and expertise

[1] https://solidproject.org

[2] https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/ethical-web-and-data-architectures/