| More Information: | Utrecht University, The Netherlands
The Natural Language Processing (NLP) group in the Computing and Information
Sciences department of Utrecht University (UU) is looking for young researchers
who want to jump-start their career in AI / NLP by taking up a PhD position.
Two four-year positions are available now. They are part of the AiNed project
“Dealing with Meaning Variation in NLP”, which will be led by Prof. Massimo
Poesio. Vacancies for 4 further PhD positions on this project will become
available over the coming 1-2 years. The overall aim of the project is to allow
NLP models to make better sense of variations in the ways that different
speakers and readers interpret language. The plan is for each of the 6 PhD
projects to be supervised by one researcher from the NLP group and one from UU's
Institute for Language Sciences.
PhD PROJECT 1: Formal semantics for vagueness in interpretation
This project is concerned with vagueness, a pervasive phenomenon in which the
meanings of words have imprecisely defined boundaries, which are applied
differently in different contexts and by different people (for example when the
air temperature is described as "warm"). This PhD project will study
mathematical and computational models of uncertainty and vagueness. In recent
years, the theoretical literature in this area has shifted away from 2-valued
towards multi-valued models, but these models have rarely been tested with real
data. This PhD project will use existing “big” datasets (which are available
in the weather domain, for example) to find out which models predict and explain
the data best.
The successful candidate will hold a Master’s degree in an area
relevant to this project; this could be Artificial Intelligence, Computational
Cognitive Science, Computing Science, or Linguistics. A good mastery of NLP and
Excellent English communication skills (oral and written) is essential. We would
also like you to take a strong interest in multi-valued and other models of
natural language meaning, and in machine learning.
PhD PROJECT 2: Learning under disagreements between annotators
In NLP, human annotators are frequently needed to tell researchers what a given
expression “means”, by assigning the expression a label. When human judges
disagree about a label (e.g., whether an utterance is offensive or not), it is
important that these disagreements be taken into account, as opposed to simply
aggregating the values e.g., using reconciliation or majority voting. Such
disagreements are now generally recognized to provide information rather than
being noise.
This PhD project will investigate whether the differences between various
sources of disagreement (e.g., noise, ambiguity, and subjective bias) can be
detected using statistical models (e.g. cross-entropy, Kullback-Leibler
divergence). Last but not least, it will investigate to what extent variations
in one person’s verbal behaviour can be understood mathematically in the same
way as variations between different speakers. The proposed research would
ideally be carried out by someone well versed in information theory and the
design and analysis of experiments with human participants.
The successful candidate will hold a Master’s degree in an area relevant
to this project; this area could be Artificial Intelligence, Computational
Cognitive Science, Computing Science, Linguistics, or Statistics. A good mastery
of statistics and deep learning is essential; experience with NLP would be
beneficial. A good mastery of NLP and Excellent English communication skills
(oral and written) is essential. You take a strong interest in at least two of
the three following areas: (1) machine learning, (2) natural language, and (3)
experimental psychology.
Further information about these vacancies can be found at
PhD position in Natural Language Processing: statistical models of disagreement
between annotators (0.8 – 1.0 FTE) - Working at Utrecht University - Utrecht
University (uu.nl) :
https://www.uu.nl/en/organisation/working-at-utrecht-university/jobs/phd-position-in-natural-language-processing-statistical-models-of-disagreement-between-annotators-08
PhD position in Natural Language Processing: verbal expression of quantities
(0.8 - 1.0 FTE) - Working at Utrecht University - Utrecht University (uu.nl) :
https://www.uu.nl/en/organisation/working-at-utrecht-university/jobs/phd-position-in-natural-language-processing-verbal-expression-of-quantities-08-10-fte
Deadline for application is 29 May 2023. We’re looking for someone to start as
soon as possible after the recruitment process is concluded but we understand
that it will normally take a few months before the candidate will be ready to
start.
Applications should be made through the University's site (see links above).
For further information, please contact:
- Prof. Massimo Poesio (m.poesio AT uu.nl).
- Prof. Kees Van Deemter (c.j.vandeemter AT uu.nl). |