PhD Position in Computational Linguistics / NLP

Faculty/Services: Faculty of Science

Educational level: Master

Function type: PhD position

Closing date: 27 March 2022

Vacancy number: 8410

Are you looking for a PhD position at the crossroads of linguistics, machine/deep learning, and cognitive science? If you are excited about doing this kind of research in an interdisciplinary and international environment, with smart and friendly colleagues, then you may want to join us.

We are looking for a PhD candidate with knowledge of Natural Language Processing to join us at the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC), University of Amsterdam. At ILLC, you will be part of the NLP-DH unit and the Dialogue Modelling Group.

These are some of the topics we work on: computational semantics and pragmatics, visually-grounded language understanding and generation, computational psycholinguistics, dialogue and conversational agents, evaluation and interpretability of NLU and NLG models.

If you are passionate about any of these research areas and have an interest in theoretically motivated research or in developing AI systems that are useful for society, we would be happy to have you on board.

What are you going to do

You will be expected to:

• complete and defend a PhD thesis within the official appointment duration of four years;

• present research results regularly at international workshops and conferences, and to publish them in conference proceedings and journals;

• participate in and to contribute to the organisation of research activities and events at the Institute, such as workshops and colloquia;

• make a small contribution to the ILLC’s educational mission, by working as a teaching assistant for courses in your area of expertise and by assisting with the supervision of student research projects.

What do we require

• a Master’s degree in a relevant discipline, such as computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, computer science, or cognitive science (note that holding a Master’s degree is not required at the time of the application, but will be a requirement for employment);

• an excellent academic track record;

• a serious interest in pursuing fundamental research;

• good programming skills and experience with deep learning methods for NLP;

• good writing and presentation skills;

• good social and organisational skills;

• full professional proficiency in spoken and written English.

Please note that knowledge of the Dutch language is not required for this position, nor is it required for being able to live in Amsterdam. However, PhD candidates at the ILLC have the opportunity to attend Dutch language classes if they wish.

Our offer

A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of four years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of four years). This should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and Master’s students.

Your salary, depending on your relevant experience on commencement of the employment contract, will range between €2,434 to €3,111 gross per month on the basis of a full working week of 38 hours. This sum does not include the 8% holiday allowance and the 8.3% year-end allowance. The Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU) is applicable.

About us

The University of Amsterdam is the largest university in the Netherlands, with the broadest spectrum of degree programmes. It is an intellectual hub with 39,000 students, 6,000 employees and 3,000 doctoral students who are all committed to a culture of inquiring minds.

Want to know more about our organisation? Read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.

About the Faculty of Science

The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 7,000, as well as 1,600 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

About the ILLC

The Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) is a research institute at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) in which researchers from the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Humanities collaborate. Its central research area is the study of fundamental principles of encoding, transmission and comprehension of information. Research at ILLC is interdisciplinary, and aims at bringing together insights from various disciplines concerned with information and information processing, such as logic, mathematics, computer science, linguistics, natural language processing, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, music cognition, and philosophy.

Questions

If you have any questions about the position, please contact:

• Sandro Pezzelle at s.pezzelle@uva.nl

Job application

If you feel the profile fits you, and you are interested in the job, we look forward to receiving your letter and CV. You can apply online via the link below. We will accept applications until 27 March 2022.

We will invite potential candidates for interviews shortly after the vacancy is closed. The date and time will be indicated to the shortlisted candidates by email.

The UvA is an equal-opportunity employer. We prioritize diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for everyone. We value a spirit of enquiry and perseverance, provide the space to keep asking questions, and promote a culture of curiosity and creativity.