[iva] Postdoc position in NLP for robot tutoring at Tilburg University

[E.J. Krahmer]

[ apologies for multiple postings ]

The Tilburg center for Cognition and Communication (TiCC) is looking for a post-doc researcher in Natural Language Processing

The Tilburg center for Cognition and Communication (TiCC) invites applications for an NLP post-doc in a recently awarded H2020 project called L2TOR (website: http://www.l2tor.eu<http://www.l2tor.eu/>). In this project, a robot tutoring system will be developed which interacts with children who learn a second language. The task of the postdoc is to develop the part of the robot system that is responsible for the output of the system. This will involve the automatic production of (multimodal) utterances in various languages, and at various levels of proficiency. In addition, besides the natural language generation, the postdoc is also responsible for generating the non-verbal support (through gestures and facial expressions) of the utterances and their realisation on the robot.

In particular, the L2TOR project will focus on teaching English as a second language to native child speakers of Dutch, German and Turkish, and teaching Dutch and German as L2 to immigrant children speaking Turkish as a native language. The robot will be designed to interact naturally with children aged four to six years old in both the second language and the child’s native language. The system will be developed in an international collaboration between 5 universities (Tilburg University, Plymouth University, Utrecht University, University of Bielefeld and Koç University) and 2 industrial partners (Aldebaran Robotics and QBMT).

The project started in January 2016 and runs until January 2019.

Requirements:

You have a PhD degree in Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computational Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science or a related area. Applicants who have completed but not yet defended their PhD manuscript are also invited to apply. You have substantial research experience in NLP, Natural Language Generation (NLG) or Multimodal Output Generation. In addition, you have excellent programming skills and a strong track record of publications in high-impact journals or top-conferences. Finally, you have excellent English communication and writing skills, and are capable of working in an international, multidisciplinary setting.

Information:

For more information on these positions, please contact prof.dr. Emiel Krahmer (E.J.Krahmer at uvt.nl<mailto:E.J.Krahmer at uvt.nl>, +31134663070) or dr. Paul Vogt (p.a.vogt at uvt.nl<mailto:p.a.vogt at uvt.nl>, +31134662594).

What we offer:

Tilburg University is rated among the top Dutch employers, offering excellent terms of employment. The collective labour agreement of Tilburg University applies.

The post-doc candidate will be ranked in the Dutch university employment system (UFO) as researcher. The salary for the position of Researcher has a maximum of € 3.997,- gross per month (exclusive 8% holiday allowance and 8,3 % end year bonus) and is based on the scale 10 of the Collective Labor Agreement Dutch Universities.

The selected candidate will start with a contract for one year, concluded by an evaluation. Upon a positive outcome of the first-year evaluation, the candidate will be offered an employment contract until January 2019. Researchers from outside the Netherlands may qualify for a tax-free allowance equal to 30% of their taxable salary. The university will apply for such an allowance on their behalf. The Faculty will provide assistance in finding suitable accommodation. The university  offers very good fringe benefits (it is one of the best non-profit employers in the Netherlands), such as a facilities plan and options model for employment conditions and excellent reimbursement of moving expenses.

The project will be carried out within the Tilburg center for Cognition and Communication (TiCC), one of the five centers of excellence at Tilburg University. TiCC combines two strong research programs: Creative Computing (CC), including research in Artificial Intelligence, Computational Linguistics, and Intelligent Systems, and Language, Communication and Cognition (LCC), including research in Cognitive Science, Communication and Discourse Studies. The unique combination of these two research programs enables TiCC to work on research projects in which computer-based techniques of modelling and processing (big) data are combined with experimentally elicited human data.

Applications:

Applications should include:
• A cover letter,
• Curriculum Vitae,
• Names and contact details of two references.

Applications should be sent before the application deadline of 8 February 2016. The only way to apply is online through: https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/about/organization/working-at/.

--

Emiel Krahmer
Tilburg center for Cognition and Communication (TiCC)

--

Emiel Krahmer
Tilburg center for Cognition and Communication (TiCC)


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.uni-bielefeld.de/mailman2/unibi/public/iva-list/attachments/20160112/a6b5d02d/attachment.html>