Data is a key asset in modern society. Data Science, which focuses on deriving valuable insight and knowledge from raw data, is indispensable for any economic, governmental, and scientific activity. Data Engineering provides the data ecosystem (i.e., data management pipelines, tools and services) that makes Data Science possible. The European Joint Doctorate in "Data Engineering for Data Science" (DEDS) is designed to develop education, research, and innovation at the intersection of Data Science and Data Engineering. Its core objective is to provide holistic support for the end-to-end management of the full lifecycle of data, from capture to exploitation by data scientists.
DEDS operates under the Horizon 2020 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2020) framework. It is jointly organised by Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain), Aalborg Universitet (Denmark), and the Athena Research and Innovation Centre (Greece). Partner organisations from research, industry and the public sector prominently contribute to the programme by training students and providing secondments in a wide range of domains including Energy, Finance, Health, Transport, and Customer Relationship and Support.
DEDS is a 3-year doctoral programme based on a co-tutelle model. A complementary set of 15 joint, fully funded, doctoral projects focus on the main aspects of holistic management of the full data lifecycle. Each doctoral project is co-supervised by two beneficiaries and includes a secondment in a partner organisation, which grounds the research in practice and validate the proposed solutions. DEDS delivers innovative training comprising technical and transversal courses, four jointly organized summer and winter schools, as well as dissemination activities including open science events and a final conference. Upon graduation, a joint degree from the universities of the co-tutelle will be awarded.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 955895.
Data drives the world. Market analysts state: "Data is now a critical corporate asset. It comes from the web, billions of phones, sensors, payment systems, cameras, and a huge array of other sources, and its value is tied to its ultimate use. While data itself will become increasingly commoditized, value is likely to accrue to the owners of scarce data, to players that aggregate data in unique ways, and especially to providers of valuable analytics".
A typical data value creation chain encompasses multiple disciplines and people with different roles, of which Data Science and Data Engineering are two prominent examples. Data Science (DS) is the scientific interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract knowledge and insights from data in various forms, both structured and unstructured. Data scientists focus on extracting meaning and insight from data through analytics. They are supported in their activities by Data Engineering (DE). Data engineers design and build the data ecosystem that is essential to analytics. Data engineers are responsible for the databases, data pipelines, and data services that are prerequisites to data analysis and data science.
In setting up these pipelines and functionalities that comprise the ecosystem, data engineers are often faced with challenges posed by extreme characteristics of Big Data, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "data of a very large size, typically to the extent that its manipulation and management present significant logistical challenges". Addressing these challenges demand innovative technological solutions for data management, involving new architectures, policies, practices and procedures that properly manage the full data lifecycle needs of an organisation.
The Big Data Value Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda expresses the commitment of the European Commission (EC), industry and academia partners "to build a data-driven economy across Europe, mastering the generation of value from Big Data and creating a significant competitive advantage for European industry, boosting economic growth and jobs." The agenda particularly emphasises "the existence of data assets of homogenous qualities (e.g. geospatial, time series, graphs and imagery), which calls for optimizing the performance of existing core technology (e.g. querying, indexing, feature extraction, predictive analytics and visualization)," as well as "there is a need to create complex and fine-grained predictive models on heterogeneous and massive datasets such as time series or graph data... such models must be applied in real-time on large amounts of streaming data."
Recent years have witnessed the birth of novel data management tools designed to address several of the Big Data challenges, but the problems and opportunities in the data engineering and management domain to unleash the full potential of data are still greatly unexplored. What is missing is a holistic, end-to-end management of the full lifecycle of data, from their identification and capture till their exploitation by end-users, including data scientists.
The Data Engineering for Data Science (DEDS) programme aims at carrying out foundational research within the Big Data value chain to develop new technologies that improve the data management efficiency, and specifically for Data Science. DEDS will be delivered by a consortium composed of four European beneficiaries with a world-leading position in Data Management, Data Engineering, and Data Science. The consortium will be complemented by a network of partner organisations from industry and the public sector active in a wide range of disciplines, including Energy, Health, Finance, Transport, and Customer Relationship and Support. The consortium shares a vision statement:
DEDS brings together world-leading institutions with a long experience in both research and teaching collaboration and define a concrete and realistic common mission statement (MS) as follows:
The programme is designed to provide understanding and competencies (i.e., the combination of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students develop and apply for successful learning, living and working) in the strategic area of data management and engineering for Data Science. It will prepare the graduates for a research and innovation career both in academia and, equally important, in the ICT industry and public services. In this respect, we acknowledge the relevance of the European Research Agenda Report, and commit ourselves to contribute specially to the objectives of removing barriers to the wider use of knowledge, promote wider and faster circulation of scientific ideas, as well as fully utilising gender diversity and equality. More precisely, the consortium has defined the following quantifiable objectives (O):
The originality, added value and innovative aspects of the programme can be summarised as follows:
DEDS is a joint doctoral programme of three-year duration. In case of unforeseen difficulties, up to two additional six-month periods can be granted if (1) it is duly justified, and (2) the Candidate Progress Committee considers the completion of a Doctoral Thesis feasible within the extended period of time.
Each ESR will be enrolled in the PhD programmes at both Home and Host universities and work on an individual research project with a supervisory team consisting of at least two academic supervisors (one from Home, one from Host), complemented by one secondment supervisor from a partner organisation. Note that, for those ESRs (co-)supervised by beneficiary ARC, the doctoral degree will be awarded by academic partner UOA.
The research activity will be carried out in the Home and Host Universities, during alternate successive mobility periods, and also includes at least one secondment in a partner organisation of the consortium. The time spent in the Host University will be no less than 33% of the total duration of the studies.
Differences among ESRs in background knowledge, original skills, and interests are expected. Thus, instead of preparing a generic training programme, ESRs will have a personalised Doctoral Project Plan (DPP) created right at the beginning of their projects. The DPP builds upon their individual background and future career prospects, allowing ESRs to tailor their own research and training activities with respect to their project objectives and individual needs, and complementing core scientific competencies with innovation-related and transferable ones. The DPP will ensure the appropriate synergy and balance between research and training, following a strict timeline to complete the doctorate in three years. The DPP jointly designed by the ESR and his/her co-supervisors, must include:
The research-specific courses will be delivered by the doctoral schools at the beneficiaries, and the other courses by both the beneficiaries and the partner organisations. The DPP also describes the activities of the ESR's secondment, which aims at validating the ESR's specific research in practice and exposing the ESR to the professional world.
DEDS is a joint doctoral programme in which all ESRs will follow a common process, regardless of the institutions involved. The programme fosters a wide range of technical and transferable competencies (i.e., combinations of knowledge, skills, and attitudes) aiming to improve the career prospects of ESRs and to prepare innovative leaders and entrepreneurs. The doctoral programme comprises the following activities:
A jointly designed doctoral process described in the figure below will ensure a continuous monitoring of the ESRs.
Each ESR will be involved in a Joint Doctoral Topic offered by two beneficiaries (i.e., Home and Host) with a secondment in a partner organisation. ESRs will be co-supervised by two experienced researchers using a co-tutelle model, and a third advisor with research experience from the corresponding secondment will provide ESRs an essential knowledge, experience and guidance for their future career.
To ensure a uniform evaluation, a Candidate Progress Committee (CPC) will be assigned to each ESR. The CPC consists of (1) Supervisor from Home institution; (2) Co-supervisor from Host institution; (3) Committee chair, who is a supervisor from a beneficiary distinct from the Home and Host. A secondment supervisor from a partner organisation will be invited to the CPC to provide a non-academic perspective. The CPC chair is responsible for ensuring that the process, milestones, and intermediate evaluations are met; he/she will also act as referee in case of potential disputes.
Each ESR will meet at least once every week the supervisor of the institution where he/she is located, and the other supervisor will join remotely every other week. These meetings allow ESRs to present their results, ask questions, etc. Also, periodic monitoring meetings are planned every 2.5 months between the ESR, all members of the Candidate Progress Committee (CPC), and the WP leader. These meetings should include some slides and produce minutes drafted by the ESR and reviewed by the local supervisor stating: (1) what was done since the last meeting, (2) what will be done for the next meeting, (3) what is slowing down or blocking the project, and (4) what was discovered that would be of interest, or needs to be discussed.
During the secondments, the ESRs will be supervised by an experienced researcher at the secondment partner organisation. Regular meetings with the academic supervisors will still continue during this period to ensure the coordination of the overall project.
During the joint training events, ESRs will have the opportunity to meet both supervisors face to face, allowing further synchronisation and discussion of the monitoring reports (see below) produced by the candidates.
To monitor the ESRs' progress, four milestones are defined, each accompanied by the corresponding document, which will be jointly evaluated.
The DPP, TPR, and RPR will all be accompanied by a Career Development Plan (CDP) that discusses the ESR's envisioned career opportunities and a roadmap to achieve them. After the submission of the Doctoral Thesis, the CDP is updated again to reflect achieved and new goals.
At the end of a secondment, a Secondment Report (SR) is prepared, describing not only the work and achieved goals, but also reflections on the experiences made and their influences on the ESR's future.
The DPP will be presented in a poster session in the first winter school, the TPR and RPR will be defended in front of the CPC and an external evaluator during the summer schools. A common evaluation of these documents was designed and includes the assessment of the potential contribution to innovation. If a report is not satisfactory, the ESR must resubmit within one month a new version that takes the CPC's feedback into account. If this version is not satisfactory, a "get back on track" procedure is activated, whereby the supervisors prepare a detailed action plan for the ESR's performance to become satisfactory after a three-month period. Subsequently, the CPC decides if the progress has been re-established. If the ESR does not accept this procedure or is unable to recover lost ground, he/she will be withdrawn from the programme. This decision does not necessarily entail any consequence with respect to the participation of the Candidate in local Doctorate programmes of the Home and Host universities.
The Doctoral Thesis will be evaluated with a common form in addition to local forms used by the Home and Host universities. It should contain material for at least 3 international peer-reviewed publications in indexed conferences or journals, of which 2 should be accepted for publication at the time of submission. After a unanimous recommendation by the CPC, it is submitted for evaluation by a Thesis Assessment Board (TAB) composed of members from at least four different institutions, containing: (1) at least one member from each of the Home and Host HEIs, and (2) at least one member external to the consortium, (3) the chair of the CPC (if local rules at the beneficiaries prevent this, e.g., due to a recent co-authorship between the supervisor and a potential TAB member, the local rules will be respected). The TAB will first state whether the thesis is satisfactory or not. If it is, a public, oral defence of the thesis will be held at the Home university in front of the TAB. Furthermore, the ESR will also present her/his work at a public seminar at the Host university. If the TAB considers the thesis is not satisfactory (which will occur rarely based on the partners' experience), it shall state whether the thesis may be resubmitted in a revised version within a deadline of at least three months. As stated in the Doctoral Candidate Agreement, ESRs who did not reach minimum criteria in the new version of the thesis will not be awarded the joint doctorate degree.
All other activities of the doctoral programme will also be assessed using a commonly agreed evaluation procedure. Secondments will be assessed using a common evaluation designed by the consortium. The ECTS acquired by an ESR in the programme will be recognised by the two institutions of the co-tutelle, independently of where they were acquired. Furthermore, the ESR's monitoring will be based on deliverables collected in a Candidate's Portfolio (CP) that contains, at least: (1) Doctoral Candidate Agreement, (2) DPP, (3) Transcripts of the courses, (4) Minutes of the periodic monitoring meetings, (5) TPR, (6) RPR, (7) Conference participations and other publications, (8) Secondment Reports. The CP will be at the disposal of the ESR, the CPC, and TAB.
In summary, the quality of the joint supervision results from:
At the end of the DEDS programme, provided that the ESR meets the academic requirements of the two universities of the co-tutelle allowing the Candidate to enter the doctoral procedure and to defend his/her doctorate, and after a successful defence of the Doctoral Thesis, the ESR will be awarded a Joint Doctoral Degree delivered by the two universities of the co-tutelle. The joint diploma is awarded by the academic authorities empowered to do so, on the basis of the conclusions of the appointed Thesis Assessment Board. The four universities awarding the joint doctoral degree under the co-tutelle model, bestowing the grades of:
A Joint Europass Diploma Supplement will also be produced. It includes an overall description of the DEDS programme, a detailed description of the education and training programme followed by the Candidate, the information on the universities where the studies were conducted, the education system in the respective countries, and the partner organisations where the secondments were done.
In addition, the consortium will issue a Joint DEDS Certificate signed by all beneficiaries and a Europass Mobility Certificate for the secondments carried out.
DEDS groups the planned contributions needed to unlock value from raw data into the following four functional modules, each addressing a different subset of research challenges:
The four modules collectively cover essential data engineering functionalities required along the Data Science lifecycle. Each module forms a work package (WP) and is composed of multiple Early Stage Researcher (ESR)) projects as shown in the following figure.
The following ESR positions are available, for details please click at the selected topic:
The ESR will receive a single, three-year employment contract issued by his/her Home Institution. The employment contract will provide by default social security coverage, holiday rights, parental leave rights, pension provision, healthcare insurance, and accident coverage at work. The contract guarantees that the ESR becomes a full member of the institution with the same rights as regular staff with the same position. This concerns, among others, working conditions, professional environment, access to the institutional resources, and participation (also by election) to various decision-making bodies.
During the whole period of enrolment in the DEDS programme, the ESR must not receive any scholarship or subvention by the European Commission within the framework of other Community programmes.
The ESR will receive a Mobility Allowance as a contribution to his/her mobility related expenses and a Family Allowance should he/she have family, regardless of whether the family will move with the Candidate or not. In this context, family is defined as persons linked to the Candidate by (i) marriage, or (ii) a relationship with equivalent status to a marriage recognised by the national or relevant regional legislation of the country where this relationship was formalised; or (iii) dependent children who are actually being maintained by the Candidate. The family status of a Candidate will be determined at the recruitment date and will not evolve during his/her participation in the DEDS programme. For ESRs employed at AAU, the Mobility and Family Allowances will be paid as part of the basic salary; not as a supplement.
Four top-class European institutions co-organize the DEDS programme:
The partner organisations, nine of which have research departments, were selected to bring additional expertise to the consortium to support the beneficiaries in the training of students at the forefront of research and innovation. As domain experts and innovation leaders, they have unique insights into, and experience with, the specific problems of the data value creation lifecycle in their domain. Hence, they provide crucial use cases and datasets in which the proposed research can be grounded or validated. As the figure below illustrates, these use cases collectively cover a wide range of sectors and disciplines, including Energy (CERN, SG), Health (AUH, WHO), Finance (SPR, WOL), Transport (BSC, EUC, FDK, MT), and Customer Relationship and Support (DGT, EUN, ORA, RM). Besides their role of use case providers, as open source platform leaders, CERN and RM will also help on the integration of the research.
A list of the partner organization follows:
To apply for the programme, please fill in the application form at the following URL:
Application form: https://deds.ulb.ac.be/emundus/
Application manual: Before applying please, read carefully the Application Manual that describes in detail the application procedure and requirements. It covers the most frequent questions.
Applications will be accepted until all positions are filled. We encourage excellent candidates to apply early to maximize chances that their first ESR choices will still be available.
Applications must abide by the following minimum eligibility criteria (EC):
(a) Either an internationally recognised test equivalent to level C1 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). These tests include, e.g., Cambridge English First A, IELTS (academic) 7.0, TOEFL (paper based) 590, TOEFL (computer based) 243, TOEFL (Internet based), etc.
(b) Or, a document issued by the university awarding his/her Bachelor or Master's degree certifying that its tuition language was English.
Eligible applications will be scored according to the following selection criteria (SC):
Criteria SC1–SC4 correspond to a score automatically calculated, while criteria SC5 and SC6 will be manually scored by the experts of the Selection and Evaluation Committee (SEC). A final score will be calculated for each applicant, and a first ranking automatically produced, which will help the SEC do a first pre-selection.
Two knockout rounds of interviews will be performed. The first one focusing on transversal skills, and the second on technical background, including the discussion of a research paper.
A main and a reserve list will be produced (with a third interview for borderline candidates) and when approved by the relevant Home and Host universities, the Committee will notify the applicants of the result of the selection process. Non-granted candidates may appeal through a complaint letter.
Selected applicants will receive an official letter of acceptance, the Candidate Agreement and practical information about the programme. After confirmation from the candidate who will return the Candidate Agreement signed, the hiring and registration process will start at the corresponding beneficiaries.
To complement the local training at the Home/Host universities, the consortium will benefit from DEDS's multidisciplinary nature and organise training events specifically targeted at the ESRs' needs as listed below.
Organizer: ARC
School dates: April 4 - April 8, 2022
School website: [url]
Organizer: ULB, month 17
Main contributors: ULB (Spatial data analytics), RM (Data science in industry), CERN (Data Science in research), TUD (Scalable Data Science Systems)
Organizer: AAU, month 24
Main contributors: AAU (IPR, spin-off creation), EUN (Research-driven innovation), BSC (Technology transfer), CERN (Entrepreneurship), EUC (Data Science innovation)
Organizer: UPC, month 29
Main contributors: UPC (Modern statistical tools and methods), MT (Applied Machine Learning), WOL (Timeseries forecasting)
Organizer: ULB, month 41
Main contributors: All
The winter schools are devoted to the development of transferable skills. The first one brings knowledge and skills from the ethical and legal domains, which are crucial for data scientists. The second winter school provides ESRs with knowledge about how to commercialize research results, first focusing on entrepreneurship and exploring how to turn research into innovations and new startups, and then focusing on Intellectual Property Rights and give an understanding of the importance of using patents.
The summer schools are devoted to core scientific skills and explore emerging perspectives in Data Science. The first one provides ESRs with deep understanding of the relationship between data analytics and the management of Big Data. The second one reinforces students with knowledge and experience of applied statistics.
The final conference disseminates the results of the project to both industry and academic sectors.
Both academic and non-academic partners are involved in all schools and the final conference. In addition to offering training opportunities, the winter and summer schools also act as mechanisms for the ESRs to present and discuss their research and training, and get feedback from all members of the consortium (both academic and non-academic) as well as external experts, thus being collectively monitored and externally evaluated.
Under construction...
Promotional material: Documents to advertise DEDS' activities (posters, leaflets, etc.)
Application related questions: For all information about the DEDS programme, eligibility, and the application procedure please refer to the Application Manual. We kindly advise you to carefully follow the instructions from this document, while filling in your application.
For all additional questions regarding the application process, you are welcome to contact us at deds_admissions@cs.ulb.ac.be.
General questions: For information on the programme, mobility, relatioships with companies, and any general question please contact us at deds@cs.ulb.ac.be.