Postdoctoral Researcher In Computational Linguistics With Specialisation In Language Grounding To Vision, Robotics, And Beyond

The University of Gothenburg tackles society's challenges with diverse knowledge. 56 000 students and 6 600 employees make the university a large and inspiring place to work and study. Strong research and attractive study programmes attract researchers and students from around the world. With new knowledge and new perspectives, the University contributes to a better future.

The Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science at the Faculty of Humanities has around 100 employees and a teaching volume that includes around 350 full-year students. Many large national and international research projects are underway here. Our education includes philosophy, logic, linguistics, language technology, theory of science and liberal arts. The department also conducts research training and development work in these areas.

The Centre for Linguistic Theory and Studies in Probability (CLASP) is based in FLoV at the University of Gothenburg, and is funded by a 10-year grant from the Swedish Research Council (2015-2025). CLASP is devoted to research and advanced training in the application of probabilistic modeling and machine learning methods to core issues in linguistic theory and cognition. It also addresses topics in dialogue and linguistic interaction. For a description of CLASP, see https: // www. gu.se/en/clasp.

Subject area

Computational linguistics

Subject area description

The cognitive systems group is a research group within CLASP lead by Simon Dobnik, Professor in Computational Linguistics, which addresses core questions in computational linguistics and language technology from the perspective of relation of language to other modalities. It consists of members of CLASP who work on (i) computational models and machine learning of meaning representations for language, action and perception, (ii) semantic models of language and perception, (iii) referring in visual dialogue, (iv) representation learning in language models, (v) interactive learning with small data, and (vi) multi-modal dialogue, robotics and related topics.

Job assignments

The position gives the candidate the opportunity to consolidate and further develop their scientific skills by conducting research in collaboration with the research group by connecting ideas from several of the following research areas:

Computational semantics,

Grounding language in action and perception,

Generation and understanding of spatial language,

Generation of image descriptions, visual question answering, visual dialogue,

Referring in situated dialogue,

Situated agents / robots and instruction generation and following,

Machine learning with neural networks,

Cross-domain model transfer,

Learning from small data,

Combining top-down (expert-driven) and bottom-up (dataset-driven) models,

Reasoning and inference including Bayesian inference,

Model interpretation, testing and evaluation of unwanted social bias,

Crowd-sourcing for collection and evaluation of research data.

Up to 20% of the position may include duties other than research, such as teaching, supervision of doctoral students and pedagogical development work.

The work must be carried out on site at the University of Gothenburg. The postdoctoral fellow is expected to participate actively in the research group and the subject area's activities, seminars, workshops, and conferences.

The purpose of the position is to give the employee an opportunity to consolidate and develop her/his scientific skills by conducting research in CLASP's core areas of research in cooperation with the research group.

Eligibility

Eligible for a postdoctoral position are those with a PhD or other foreign degree that is deemed equivalent to PhD. The subject of the doctoral thesis should be in a research area relevant to the specific subject description above. Since the postdoctoral position is intended to give junior researchers the opportunity to establish themselves in the field, we aim to employ applicants that graduated with PhDs within 3 years of the application deadline.

Please note that qualifications for postdoctoral appointments are described in more detail at: Avtal om tidsbegränsning anställning som postdoktor (arbetsgivarverket.se)

Assessment

Scientific proficiency is the most important criterion for assessment, and special attention will be given to the applicant's PhD thesis and other publications. Documented good interpersonal skills, good skills in terms of planning and organizing research, and good skills in communicating research results is also meritorious. Documented experience in more than one of the job assignment areas described above is particularly merited.

The recruitment process may include interviews (possibly by video link) and contacting references.

Employment

Type of employment: Fixed-term employment, 2 years, with the possibility of a third year

Extent: 100%

Location: Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, Gothenburg

First day of employment: By agreement

Contact information

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Sharid Loáiciga, Associate Senior Lecturer, +46(0) 31-786 59 42, [email protected]

If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Cecilia Groglopo, HR officer, [email protected]

Unions

Union representatives at the University of Gothenburg can be found here: https: // www. gu.se/om-universitetet/jobba-hos-oss/hjalp-for-sokande

How to apply

In order to apply for a position at the University of Gothenburg, you have to register an account in our online recruitment system. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the job advertisement, and that it is submitted before the deadline. The selection of candidates is made on the basis of the qualifications registered in the application. Any documents that are not available in electronic format should be mailed to: HR officer, FLoV, Box 200, 405 30 Göteborg.

Please note that the following documents should be attached to the application (in pdf):

Personal letter of 500 words maximum (approx. 1 page). The letter should consist of four paragraphs in the following order: a) a short presentation of yourself, b) a short presentation of your merits, c) a short account for why the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science is of interest to you.

PhD certificate

A CV listing academic degrees, employments, publications, and other relevant merits.

At most three scientific publications, and the applicant's PhD thesis.

We welcome applications written in English, since a non-Swedish speaking person may be appointed as external expert in the recruitment process.

Applications must be received by: November 21, 2023

Information for International Applicants

Choosing a career in a foreign country is a big step. Thus, to give you a general idea of what we and Gothenburg have to offer in terms of benefits and life in general for you and your family/spouse/partner please visit:

https: // www. gu.se/en/about-the-university/welcome-services https: // www. movetogothenburg.com/

The University works actively to achieve a working environment with equal conditions, and values the qualities that diversity brings to its operations.

Salaries are set individually at the University.

In accordance with the National Archives of Sweden's regulations, the University must archive application documents for two years after the appointment is filled. If you request that your documents are returned, they will be returned to you once the two years have passed. Otherwise, they will be destroyed.

In connection to this recruitment, we have already decided which recruitment channels we should use. We therefore decline further contact with vendors, recruitment and staffing companies.