EVALUATION COMMITTEE REPORT

PhD research fellow positions in Model-driven Software Engineering

and Software Architecture at Western Norway University of Applied
Sciences (formerly Bergen University College) (16/04165)

INTRODUCTION

Thirty candidates had applied for the positions “PhD Research Fellows in Model-driven
Software Engineering and Software Architecture” within the advertised deadline of November
20, 2016. In response, Bergen University College (now Western Norway University of
Applied Sciences) appointed an evaluation committee consisting of:

• Associate Professor Patrizio Pelliccione, University of Göteborg,

• Associate Professor Ingrid Chieh Yu, University of Oslo (committee coordinator).
• Professor Lars M. Kristensen, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

The task of the committee has been to evaluate the qualifications of the applicants in relation
to the advertised position, and to rank the applicants that were found to be qualified for the
positions.

The evaluation of applications has been performed in accordance with the guidelines for
evaluation from Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and the Norwegian Ministry
of Education and Research, and the material submitted by the applicants. The following
criteria from the description of the positions have been used as a basis for the evaluation and
ranking:

• The successful applicant must have earned a master’s degree, or equivalent, in

informatics/computer science (or a closely related field), or have submitted a master’s
thesis before the application deadline.
• Educational background and competences (including master’s level course work and
associated grades) in software engineering, software and systems architecture,
domain-specific modeling, model-driven software engineering and software
engineering for robotics.
• Practical software development skills and experience, quality of the master’s thesis,
publications, research and teaching experience.
• The successful candidate must have sufficient qualifications to be accepted into a
PhD programme.

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EVALUATION OF APPLICANTS

An evaluation of each applicant is provided below applying the criteria outlined above.

1. Leyla Safarova (1986)

Safarova has a bachelor degree (2007) from Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry
with specialisation in automation and management of robotic systems. She completed a
master’s degree (2010) at Azerbaijan Technical University with specialisation in automation
and management and a master’s thesis on industrial robots. She has professional work
experience having worked as an engineer in instrumentation and automation, and in a short
period as a web application developer.

The application letter of Safarova does not give a motivation as to why she wants to become
a PhD research fellow, and does not explain how her competences match the advertised
positions. Safarova has received good grades on her bachelor and master’s course work,
distinction on the master’s thesis, but the course work undertaken at the master’s level is not
strongly related to the research topics of the positions. Due to a missing motivation in the
application letter and a weak formal software engineering background at the master’s level,
the committee find the applicant not qualified for this position.

2. Vandad Imani (1985)

Imani obtained a B.Eng. in Computer Software Engineering at Islamic Azad University (2010)
Iran. His bachelor thesis addressed “Designing Hardware and Software of Navigation Robot
By Using AVR Microcontroller”. He received his master’s degree in the field of artificial
intelligence in 2014, from the University of Hyderabad (UOH), with first division result. His
master’s thesis was on “Detecting Suspicious Movement By Using Surveillance Cameras”. In
addition, he has some professional work experience having worked as a software designer
industry. For some (unknown) reason, Imani has included an application letter also to a
position at NTNU.

Imani has good grades on this master’s course work, obtained a B+ on this master’s thesis,
but his master’s course work is all in AI, algorithms and mathematical modelling, and does
not contain any software engineering topics. The committee finds Imani is not qualified for
the position as he has a too weak background in software engineering, and do explain in his
application how his competences, (e.g., obtained while working as a software designer) may
be used in the thematic areas of the positions.

3. Naseer Muhammad (1986)

Muhammad has a master’s degree in applied mathematics from Chalmers University of
Technology/Goteborg University, and a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from the
International Islamic University of Islamabad (Pakistan). The course work on the master’s
degree does not include any computer science or software engineering courses, and the
topic of the master’s thesis is not related to the topics of the advertised positions. The
committee therefore concludes that Muhammad is not qualified for the position as he lacks
advanced formal education in software engineering, software architecture, and robotics.

4. Shohreh Monshizadeh (1989)

Monshizadeh completed her undergraduate study (B.Sc. Electrical Engineering) at the

Islamic Azad University (2010) which involved the application of simulation tools. She
completed a master’s degree in power electronic engineering on methodology for design of
wind farms based on Markov methods. She currently works as a researcher teaching
MATLAB programming and simulation, and she has previously worked as a lecturer teaching
machine learning and the bachelor and master’s level.

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Monshizadeh has published four papers, two of them are published in international journals,
but none of these are directly related to the topic of the advertised positions. Her application
letter does not specifically link her educational background and competences to the topic of
model-driven software engineering, robotics, and software architecture. The transcripts
provided on course work show only a few bachelor-level courses related to computer science
(programming, and computer architecture). The committee therefore concludes that
Monshizadeh is not qualified as she has a too weak formal educational background in the
foundations of software engineering/software architecture/robotics at the master’s level.

5. Hasan Raji (1992)

Raji will graduate with an M.Sc. in Mechatronics engineering from University of Tehran in
2017, and he obtained a B.Sc. in electrical power engineering (2014) from Isfahan University
of Technology (IUT). He has published some national research papers in the areas related to
his master’s thesis indicating that he is familiar with the process of conducting research. Raji
also has some teaching experience having worked as a tutor at university level. From the CV
and transcripts provided it is evident that Raji has a strong background in mechatronic and
electrical engineering, but not in software engineering nor in software architecture or
robotics. At the master’s level, the course work of Raji is only very weakly connected to the
topics of the advertised positions. In his application letter he does not motivate why his
background is suitable for the announced positions. The committee finds Raji not qualified
for the positions.

6. Aarthi Rajagopalan (1985)

Rajagopalan has a masters’s degree in systems engineering from Høgskolen i Buskerud og
Vestfold (2009), and a bachelor degree in information technology (2006) from Pondicherry
University, India. Rajagopalan has professional work experience having worked as a
system/software engineer and project leader in several system development projects. She
obtained good grades (A and B) on her master’s thesis course work. However, the master’s
course work is only weakly connected to the topics of the advertised positions, and do not
have strong emphasis on software engineering topics.

The short application letter of Rajagopalan does not attempt to link her master’s course /
thesis work or professional work experience to the topics of the advertised positions. The
committee therefore finds Rajagopalan not qualified due to a too weak educational
background at the master’s level on software engineering/computer science topics.

7. Mudassar Ali Khan (1987)

Khan has a master’s of philosopy in computer science from Quaid-e-Azam University,
Islamabad (2013), and a bachelor degree in computer science from the Institute of
Management Sciences, Peshawar (2009). He has worked, for one year, at the Security
Engineering Research Group (SERG) focusing on web applications, and is currently working
at University of Haripur as a lecturer. He has supervised five undergraduate final year
projects. He has published some scientific papers in the areas of web services, meta-data,
and security.

His has submitted a research proposal showing intention to work with security and usability
not related to the topics software architecture, modeling, or robotics of the announced
positions. The course work on the master’s level is only weakly related to the topics of the
present position, and a translation of the percentage scores into the Norwegian grading
system would give an average of C on the course work and a C grade on the master’s thesis.
The committee finds Khan not qualified as his research proposal is not linked to the topics
of the present position, a weak linkage between his master’s course work and the topics of
the advertised position, and due to too weak grades for enrollment into a PhD programme in
Norway.

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8. Sidra Iftikhar (1991)
Iftikhar has a master’s degree in computer science at National University of Computer and
Emerging Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan (2015), and a bachelor degree in computer and
emerging sciences from the same university. She has also been working as a research
fellow at Software Quality Engineering & Testing Research Laboratory (QUEST), FAST- NU,
Islamabad, Pakistan (June 2013 to 2015). Iftikhar does not report on any previous teaching
experience.

Her area of research expertise include model driven software engineering, model-based
testing, unified modeling language (UML) and empirical software engineering which fits well
with the advertised position. She has published a paper in the ACM/IEEE 18th International
Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS), 2015. She
has also co-reviewed a number of papers with her supervisors, and her application letter
clearly links her competences to the advertised position. Her master’s course work is
relevant for the positions and she has received good grades on her master’s course work on
the thesis. The committee therefore finds Iftikhar qualified for the positions.

9. Muhammad Tanveer (1982)

Tanveer has worked as a PhD student at Luleå University of Technology. He has defended
his Licentiate thesis successfully. Tanveer’s research focus was on the design of solid-state
image sensor for 3D time-of-flight camera. He has been involved in both analog and digital
parts of the design. He has a M.Sc (Master of Science, System-on-chip Design) from
Linköping University. The transcripts form Linköping and Luleå show that his
competence/strengths at the master’s level is not related to software engineering topics, and
his generic application letter does not attempt to link his competences to the topics of the
advertised positions.

He is familiar with research since he has completed a Licentiate thesis. However, it is not
clear from the application why he does not continue to undertake a PhD at Luleå University
of Technology; since a Licentiate thesis is often consider a halfway test, successful Licentiate
theses normally lead to permission to continue studies for a PhD. The committee finds
Tanveer not qualified for the announced positions as he has a too weak educational
background at the master’s level in the topic of the announced positions.

10. Shivshankar Ghuge (1983)

Ghuge has a bachelor degree in electronics and telecommunication (2005) affiliated to
College of Engineering, India. He worked for Honeywell Automation India ltd. as a Project
Engineer for a year, followed by work for Honeywell AS Asker Norway from June 2007 to
April 2009. He obtained a master's degree (2011) with specialization in sensors and
actuators at Vestfold University College, Tønsberg, Norway. His application letter focuses on
micro and nano technology and not on the themes of the advertised positions. Furthermore,
Ghuge does not have any master’s level course that are closely related to the topics of the
advertised positions. The committee therefore finds Ghuge not qualified for the announced
positions due to a too weak educational background in software engineering at the master’s
level.

11. Mahmoud Zarebidoki (1985)

Zarebidoki obtained a master’s degree in mechanical engineering / mechatronics from Shiraz
University of Technology, Iran (2011), and a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from
Yazd University (2007). He worked as an engineer in hydraulic systems, and has studied
areas such as advanced control, nonlinear control, solid dynamics, fluid dynamics, statics
and vibrations. He has also a course in Robotics and Modern Control. He has conducted

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research into dynamic modeling and control of cable-suspended robots as part of his master
thesis, and he has published several papers in conferences in the area of robotics. He has
received strong grades on his master’s thesis course work, but he has no courses on topics
related software engineering/computer science, and lists only MATLAB and Fortran as
computer programming skills. The committee finds that Zarebidoki is not qualified since he
has a too weak educational background in software engineering for the positions.

12. Davood Dadkhah (1989)

Dadkhah is currently undertaking a master of science degree in electrical engineering, and
has a bachelor degree in electrical engineering from Shahrekord University (2013). He has a
research interest in the robotics field, he has worked on inertial navigation and positioning
system that is of relevance for robotics, and has published some national conference papers
in this area. He has teaching experience from some courses involving C++ programming.
The transcript provided on the master’s degree shows no course work related to software
engineering / computer science. He has not provided a master’s degree certificate and it
cannot be inferred from the master’s degree transcript whether the master’s project has been
completed. The committee finds Dadkhah not qualified for the position due to a too weak
background in software engineering/computer science and lack of documentation for
completion of the master’s degree.

13. Agnes Mafra (1988)

Mafra has a bachelor and master’s degree in chemical engineering and is currently pursuing
a PhD degree in chemical engineering. This means that she does not have a master’s
degree in computer science/informatics (or closely related field), on the basis of which the
committee concludes that she is not qualified for the positions.

14. Mahmudul Hasan (1985)

Hasan is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science
and Engineering (CSE) at Comilla University, Bangladesh. He has a Master of Science
degree in computer science and engineering from University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
(2010), and a bachelor degree in from University of Rajshahi (2009). He has published
several papers mainly in the area of signal processing. His bachelor and master course work
included several computer science related topics. His application letter does not in detail
argue how his research interests fits with the advertised positions, and for unknown reasons
he has included a letter where he applying for PhD research fellowship in WISENET Lab at
University of Agder. According to the provided transcript, he received 73% (145 out of 200)
on his master’s thesis project which would not be sufficient for enrollment in a PhD
programme in Norway where normally the equivalent of at least B (above 80 %) is required.
The committee therefore concludes that Hasan is not qualified for the positions.

15. Hariom Dhungana (1983)

Dhungana has completed a bachelor degree (2006) in electronics and communication
engineering in 2006 and a master of science (2011) in information and communication
engineering from Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University. He
currently works as a telecom engineering and has in addition worked as a researcher in
communication systems in Austria. He has teaching experience lecturing on topics such as
digital logic, microprocessor, electromagnetic and networking. He has been co-author of
several research papers published at Asian conferences and have earlier started on a PhD
study (Austral) that was not completed.

The transcript provided shows that he received good grades on both the master’s course
work and thesis, but the core educational background of Dhungana is in communication
systems/networking. In addition, his professional work experience is in system and network
administration, and does not seem to include an element of software

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engineering/development. The committee therefore finds that Dhungana is not qualified for
the position.

16. Chaoqun Cheng (1989)

Cheng has a master of engineering Electronic Science and Technology at Taiyuan university
of technology (2015), and a bachelor degree from the same university (2012) in automation.
He has also held some short time research positions. His undergraduate coursework laid a
foundation in control theories and technologies, and his master’s thesis explored a novel
sensor system integral methodology for monitoring thruway subgrade structure. He has co-
authored conference and journal papers, but the quality of the publication venues cannot be
assessed based on the information provided in the application.

According to his CV, Cheng is currently a doctoral student in micro and nano systems
technology at University of Southeast Norway. His motivation for switching PhD project is not
clear from the application. The transcript for the master’s education shows only a single
course on programming, and the professional work experience of Cheng is also in micro-
electronics and mico-nano system and does not seem to involve a strong element of
software engineering. He has an average grade of C (78 / 100) on the master’s course work,
but the grade of the master’s thesis is not clearly specified on the transcript prohibiting the
committee to assess the possibility of enrollment into the PhD programme. The committee
concludes that Cheng is not qualified for the position.

17. Ángela Barriga Rodríguez (1993)

Rodriguez has a bachelor degree in software engineering from the University of Extremadura
and is currently finishing her master’s thesis at the same university. The topic of her thesis is
the design and proposal of a software architecture for distributed and context-aware
systems. Her master’s thesis “Smart System of Behavior Detection” has lead to a paper this
year in the Special Issue “Sensing Technology for Healthcare System” of Sensors Journal.
She has written a good application letter, and the topic of her thesis is within software
engineering (software architecture). Rodriguez does not report on any professional work
experience beyond her bachelor and master’s education.

Rodriguez has a formal software engineering background with good grades (8.8/10, and
10/10 on the master’s thesis), and has been working with one of the domains indicated in the
job announcement: healthcare. She has published two papers on which she is the main
author. The committee finds that Rodríguez is qualified.

18. Alejandro Rodriguez Tena (1993)

Tena has a bachelor degree in software engineering from the University of Extremadura and
is currently finishing his master’s thesis at the same university. He has written a good
application letter. The topic of his thesis is relation to automation in the context of innovation
and startup companies. He has been conducting research in the quercus software
engineering group specifically on IoT and context-awareness, and he has participated in the
publication of a beacons paper “Using Beacons for Creating Comprehensive Virtual Profiles”
presented in 10th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient
Intelligence UCAmI 2016. He currently works as a web application developer.
Tena has a good formal background in software engineering at the master’s level and with
good grades (average grade 8.3/10, and master’s thesis grade of 9/10). The committee finds
that Tena is qualified.

19. Hasanain Al-saadi (1983)

Al-saadi has graduated with a master’s degree majoring in electrical engineering at the
University of New Haven, Connecticut USA. His research area is electrical engineering. The
topic of his Master thesis is “Voltage Stability Evaluation by Using Modal Analysis with

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Dynamic Internal Impedance of Synchronous Generators”. He studied the voltage stability
problems and its solutions and the ways to evaluate the voltage instability in the power
systems. Al-saadi does not have any course work at the master’s level in software
engineering/computer science and in his application letter he states that he wants to pursue
studies in the electrical engineering, and not in the software engineering domain of the
advertised positions. The committee finds Al-saadi not qualified due to a too weak
education background in software engineering/computer science of relevance for the
position.

20. Andre Alander (1967)

Alander obtained a master’s in computer engineering (Civilingenjör innen datateknikk) from
Royal Institute of Technology in 2004. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science
(2001) from Mid Sweden University. He has substantial practical work experience having
worked as a system developer and architect, and he has written a good application letter
linking his competences to the area of model-driven software engineering.

Alander has attached a research proposal based on planned enrollment for a public sector
PhD. He has sufficiently good grades on the master’s thesis course work for enrollment in a
PhD programme, but indicates that he is stronger on the practical aspects of software
engineering than on the conceptual and theoretical aspects. He has written a thesis that is
closely related to the topic of the advertised positions. The thesis was graded pass on a
pass/fail scale. It is confusing that on the master thesis the name Larsson Andreas occur, but
the application is from Andre Alander. This needs to be clarified if interviewed. The
committee concludes that Alander is qualified.

21. Pradeep Singh (1990)

Singh have a MBA (2014) in Management Information Systems from the University of
Petroleum & Energy Studies, India and graduated with distinction (78.4%). He holds a
bachelor degree in computer science and engineering (2009) from Uttar Predash Technical
University. He is currently working as a research analyst in a private company. In the
application letter, Singh states that he has a degree in the exact title of the position “System
and Software architecture/ Software Engineering for Robotic”, but the master’s thesis
submitted as an attachment concerns the energy domain where he has also published some
papers.

Singh has provided some reports as part of the application, but they are mostly concerning
with analysis from the point of view of information systems and does not contain any
technical depth in the research areas relevant for the position. The transcript from the
master’s degree does not list any computer science of software engineering courses on the
basis of which the committee concludes that Singh is not qualified for the positions.

22. Debarpita Santra (1987)

Santra obtained in 2011 a M.Sc degree in Computer Science from Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi, and another master’s degree (Master of Technology) in Computer Science &
Engineering from University of Calcutta in the year 2013. Debarpita´s M.Tech thesis is on
Colored Petri Net modeling for concurrent systems which is within the field of model-driven
engineering. Her focus was on modeling and analysis of behavioural specifications of two
application problems namely analysis of packet drop scenarios in MANET and QoS driven
Web Service Composition problem, prior to deployment of the proposed models in reality.
She has written a good application letter, has published papers some related to the domain
of software modeling, and has also some teaching experience.

From September 2013 to February 2014, she was Senior Research Fellow at Department of
Computer Science and Engineering, University of Calcutta. From March 2014 to June 2016,

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she was in a Govt. funded project on remote healthcare. Her research work included
identification, designing and modeling of low-cost healthcare services for the Cloud SaaS
layer intended for remote India where there is no proper healthcare infrastructure. Given that
she has worked in a research environment from the past years, more publications could have
been expected. She has sufficiently good marks on her master’s course work for enrollment
in a PhD programme in particular her master’s degree in computer science includes software
engineering topics. Her master’s thesis (dissertation) in computer science was graded B. It is
not clear whether the “Project” entries (graded 85% and 90%) on her second master’s
transcripts refer to the master’s project done for the master of technology degree. The
committee concludes that Santra is qualified.

23. Mohammad Javad Fazel Ashrafi (1986)

Ashrafi has a Master of Science IT (2013) - Computer Networks, from Urmia University at
Urmia, Iran and a bachelor degree in computer science (2009). He has practical work
experience having worked as a software engineering and web developer in the areas of
enterprise applications. He has written a reasonable application letter, but it does not link his
interest and skills directly to the advertised positions. He has some teaching experience
having served as an instructor/teaching assistant. In addition, he has some publications
(mostly in national conferences) related to the topic of his master’s thesis entitled Impact of
Inter-Vehicular Communications on Vehicle Chain Collision Avoidance (CCA) on Highways.

The transcript on the master’s course work shows that Ashrafi has a weak background in
software engineering/software architecture, and the transcript does not show any courses
related to the domain of robotics. The transcript for the master’s education does not specify a
grade on the thesis component prohibiting the committee to properly assess the possibility
for enrollment into a PhD programme. The committee concludes that Ashrafi is not qualified
for the position due to a very weak background in software engineering topics, and as he has
not linked his professional work experience to the topic of the positions.

24. Majid Ansari-Asl (1987)

Ansari-Asl holds a master’s degree in electronics engineering from Shahed University,
Tehran, Iran. His master project was focused on Skin Imaging, Color Correction and Skin
Color Classification using SVM. He has submitted 3 research papers and published one at a
national conference. He has practical work experience having worked as a consultant in
software engineering.

During his graduate studies he was lecturer on Microprocessors Lab at Shahed University,
where he taught simulation and built projects on AVR microcontrollers using Proteus,
CodeVision, C-Programming, and extended equipment. He has more than 3 years of hands-
on experience in high technology industries. The transcript of Ansari shows only a basic
course in software engineering. At the master’s level, his background is clearly in electronic
engineering and not in software engineering. The committee concludes that he is not
qualified due to a too weak educational background in software engineering at the master’s
level.

25. Khaled Alnawasreh (1987)

Alnawasreh has a master in Software Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology,
Sweden (2015). He has taken several relevant courses at Chalmers, such as advanced
software architectures and model-driven engineering. Alnawasreh also sketches a good
proposal for his future research and shows enthusiasm. He has three years of experience in
industry as a software developer, and a publication based on his master project. Hence, he
already hence has some experience with research work. He holds a bachelor degree in
computer engineering from the German Jordanian University (2012). He also has some

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robotics background. His course work grades in combination with a publication are sufficient
(but not very strong) for enrollment in a PhD programme. The master’s thesis was graded
pass on a pass/fail scale. The committee finds that Alnawasrehis is qualified for the position.

26. Arvin Jalali (1980)

Jalali has a master’s degree in information technology (2016) from Tampere University of
Technology, Finland specializing in software systems. He graduated with distinction with the
GPA of 4,48 (out of 5) in May 2016 with a master's thesis at the Department of Pervasive
Computing which focused on an automated interactive tool that assists project managers in
planning global software development projects. Among others, Arvin has experience with
literature study on interesting topics like global software development, automated software
planning, search-based software engineering.

Arvin has chosen to prioritise the position on software architecture, and he has written a
good application letter making his intentions and background relevant for the position. He
has good marks at the master’s level (with the exception of one course), and a good master
thesis with some teaching and software development background. He has not reported on
professional work activities upon completion of his master’s thesis. The committee finds that
Jalali is qualified.

27. Nnamdi Ezeora (1987)

Nnamdi Ezeora holds a master’s degree (2016) in software engineering from Bergen
University College, with a thesis titled “Simulation of Intelligent Control for Autonomous
Vehicles”. In his research, he used JADE and SUMO to develop an intelligent multi-agents
system that coordinates traffic for autonomous vehicles. The topic of the thesis is not directly
related to the topics of the positons. Nnamdi has some teaching experience as he has been
teaching assistant for a master course at HiB. He holds a bachelor degree in computer
science from the University of Nigeria (2011).

Ezeora has some good marks (B) in most master’s level courses and also received a B on
the master’s thesis. However, there are also some weak marks in important topics such as
algorithms and modern software engineering methods. The committee finds that Ezeora is
qualified for the position.

28. Frikk H Fossdal (1990)

Fossdal has a BSc (2012) in Automation & Control systems from HiB and an MSc in
Automation & Control systems with distinction from Newcastle University in the UK (2012).
He worked for the operations department at the ABB Bergen office before starting his own
company, FRES, that concentrates on software engineering for robotics including 3D printers
and CNC machines that he use in his work. Frikk has written a good application letter where
he sketches (based on his professional work experience) how simulation, development of
new software tools within algorithmic and computational design, and the use of industrial
robotics in rapid prototyping schemes can be applied to multi-axis CNC milling.

Among the candidates Frikk is the one with the strongest domain knowledge in robotics, and
he has a clear statement of what he wants to achieve. He has above C average on the
course work grades and received 83 % on his master’s thesis. The committee finds Fossdal
qualified due to his strong background in automation and robotics in combination with
practical software engineering skills and experience in this domain.

29. Raymond Selvik (1991)

Selvik has a MSc in Engineering Cybernetics from NTNU (2015), where his specialization
was in Embedded Systems. During his final year of study, he had a focus on Wireless
Technologies, Sensor Networks and Internet of Things. Selvik has written a good application

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letter arguing that technologies face a high degree of complexity when developing solutions,
and that a model-driven approach can be used in order to make the different standards and
systems seamlessly working together. In his master’s thesis, he was working on software
implementation in relation to combining Bluetooth and IEEE 802.15.4 on a single-chip
solution. Selvik has also completed an internship at Bern University of Applied Science in
Switzerland. The project was about the development of software allowing Bluetooth-devices
to communicate using a REST-protocol called CoAP in the context of Internet-of-things. He
has a temporary position in a startup company developing their architecture for beacon and
geolocation solutions.

Selvik lists substantial programming and software development skills, has an average course
work grade of C on the master’s degree, and received a B on the master’s thesis thereby
fulfilling the requirement for enrollment in a PhD programme. The committee finds that
Selvik is qualified as he has demonstrated also his practical software engineering skills and
experience via the project that he has been involved in.

Emanuel Neto (1977)

Neto holds an MSc in Electric and Computer Engineering on Signal Processing from
University of Coimbra (2010). From his work as a research assistant, he has some scientific
publications but these are in areas unrelated to the present positions. Neto lists practical
experience in software development and he has been a research fellow at Helse Bergen, but
does not report on completion of the PhD degree. His main expertise is in image processing,
signal and data processing. The application does not contain any transcript of master’s
course work nor thesis grades. The committee concludes that Neto is not qualified for the
positions as the committee has not received sufficient information to evaluate whether Neto
has sufficiently good grades to enroll in a PhD programme in computer science.

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Conclusion

The committee has concluded that 10 candidates were qualified for the advertised positions.
Some qualified candidates have indicated a preference for one of the positions (software
architecture / software engineering for robotics) whereas some candidates have indicated no
preferences. The committee recommends using the interviews to focus and assess the
profiles of the candidates in relation to the two positions.

The committee finds that among the qualified candidate, Rodríguez, Tena, Iftikhar, Fossdal,
and Selvik have the best overall background for the positions taking into account educational
background, grades, prior publications, and the quality of the application letter. We therefore
rank them in the first group before Alnawasreh, Alandar, Santra, Jalali, and Ezeora. We do
not internally rank the candidates within each group as it would depend on the specific
criteria.

This results in the following ranking of the qualified candidates:

Ranking group 1: Rodríguez, Tena, Iftikhar, Fossdal, and Selvik

Ranking group 2: Alnawasreh, Alandar, Santra, Jalali, and Ezeora

Ranking group 1 includes candidates for both positions and the committee therefore
recommends conducting interviews with all candidates in group 1. Based on the outcomes,
selected candidates from group 2 can then be interviewed if required to fill the positions.

Patrizio Pelliccione

Ingrid Chieh Yu

Lars M. Kristensen

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