PhD positions in Computational Linguistics

Category: 
Discipline: 
Institution: 
The Institute for German Language (IDS) and the Institute for Computational Linguistics (ICL) at Heidelberg University
Deadline: 
Friday, April 8, 2016
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The Institute for German Language (IDS) and the Institute for Computational Linguistics (ICL) at Heidelberg University aim to fill two positions for doctoral researchers (Reference number: 3/2015)

Salary is based on the German civil servants payscale (TV-L 13, 66%). The positions are offered for an initial period of two years, with a possible extension for a third year.

The doctoral researcher positions are embedded within the Leibniz ScienceCampus "Empirical Linguistics and Computational Language Modeling", a collaborative research project established by the Institute for the German Language (Institut für Deutsche Sprache, IDS) in Mannheim and the Institute for Computational Linguistics (ICL) at Heidelberg University.

The Leibniz ScienceCampus conducts innovative research to support high-quality automatic annotation of large-scale corpus resources of German language through induction of domain-, genre- and variety-adaptive natural language models. The offered positions are embedded in the research areas A and C.

Major research topics in Area A are:

  • sentiment: annotation, linguistic foundations and automatic methods
  • figurative language (idioms, metaphor, irony, ...)
  • annotation methods
  • corpus-based genre analysis and genre classification
  • temporal adaptation of NLP methods

Major research topics in Area C are:

  • semantic relation and concept acquisition; linking to ontologies
  • inferential knowledge acquisition
  • inference, phrase compositionality and paraphrasing
  • application in discourse analysis, esp. relating to argumentation & sentiment analysis

For more details on the Leibniz ScienceCampus, see http://www.wisscamp.de/en

Responsibilities for the doctoral researchers include research within the Leibniz ScienceCampus, publishing in leading conferences within the topics of their respective areas (supported by a supervisor), and preparing a doctoral thesis within the allotted timeframe. Teaching activity in ICL's computational linguistics study program is welcome but not compulsory.

Please provide the following application documents, exclusively in electronic form (pdf):

  • A letter of motivation and areas of interest relating to the research program of the ScienceCampus, in particular, Areas A or C
  • A CV, including information on research interests and scientific experience
  • Degree certificates with a Transcript of Records
  • Your M.A. thesis or a representative term paper or publication

IDS Mannheim and the University of Heidelberg seek to increase the proportion of qualified women in academic staff and strongly encourage women to submit applications. The reconciliation of job and family is especially supported by IDS and Heidelberg University. Handicapped persons with equivalent qualifications will be given preference.

 

Requirements: 
* Master-level degree in computational linguistics or computer science, with a competitive grade * Ability to work independently on scientific topics, as well as the willingness to be part of an open and dynamic team of researchers * Good programming skills in a mainstream programming language (Java, Python or C++) * Good written and spoken communication skills in English * Good knowledge of German is a prerequisite (C1-level or better knowledge of German is required)
Contact: 
Use the following email address when applying: applications_lwc@cl.uni-heidelberg.de For further inquiries regarding the positions, please contact Prof. Markert and Prof. Frank, also at applications_lwc@cl.uni-heidelberg.de The position will be open until filled. Applications received by Friday, April 8th will receive full consideration.