PhD Research Fellow in Language Technology - University of Oslo, Norway

PhD Research Fellow in Language Technology - University of Oslo, Norway
The Department of Informatics (IFI) is one of nine departments belonging to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo. IFI is Norway’s largest university department for broad education and research in Computer Science and related topics. You can read more about the Department here: http://www.ifi.uio.no. The Department has near 800 students on bachelor level, 300 master students, and over 200 PhD students. The overall staff of the Department is close to 250 employees, about 150 of these are full time scientific positions: about 60 Full/Associate Professors and about 90 PhD Fellows/Post Doctoral Fellows.

The fellowship is for a period of up to 4 years, with 25 % compulsory work. Starting date no later than 1 October, 2010.

Job description

The position is part of the Focal Research Area in Language Technology (LT), hosted at the IFI Research Group in Logic and Natural Languages (LNS). For background on the research environment, please see:

http://www.ifi.uio.no/research/groups/lns/lt.html

The LT research area has its specialization in hybrid approaches to Natural Language Processing, with emphasis on the interplay of grammar and semantics. The ideal candidate would have some knowledge of both formal, rule-based as well as of data-driven, statistical methods within Computational Linguistics―with an understanding of the use of these methods in core tasks like parsing, lexical acquisition, information extraction, or others. Such a background and a corresponding, hybrid research interest for the PhD project would be a plus, though is anything but a requirement. The group pursues a predominantly applied research agenda, hence at least a minimal level of implementation experience is desirable for this position. Finally, the research group is an active member of the international Deep Linguistic Processing with HPSG Initiative (DELPH-IN; http://www.delph-in.net). Prior exposure to some of the theories, formalisms, or tools used within DELPH-IN would be welcome, but we fully encourage applicants with other backgrounds or areas of interest.

Applicants may submit a project outline for the qualifying work during the PhD program. The project proposal should include a proposed research topic, main scientific issues, as well as the anticipated choice of theory and method.

Requirements

Applicants must hold a Masters degree or equivalent in Computational Linguistics or Computer Science (with a specialization relevant to Language Technology).

The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree.

The fellowship requires admission to the research training programme at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. An approved plan for the research training, including a project outline, must be submitteed no later than two months after taking up the position, and the admission must be approved within three months. For more information see: http://www.uio.no/admhb/reglhb/personal/tilsettingvitenskapelig/regulationstermcondition.xml

A good command of English is required of all students attending the University of Oslo.
http://www.matnat.uio.no/english/research/education/proficiency_in_English.html

Salary:

PhD Research Fellow (SKO 1017), pay grade: 45-51 (NOK 355 400 – 394 200 per year, depending on seniority/qualifications)

The application must include:

Application letter
CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications)
Copies of educational certificates, transcript of records and letters of recommendation
List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)
Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University’s grading system. Please remember that all documents should be in English or a Scandinavian language.

Closing date for applications: 15 May, 2010

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results a.o.

The University of Oslo has a goal of recruiting more women in academic positions.
Women are encouraged to apply.

The University of Oslo also has a goal of recruiting ethnic minorities to Norway in academic positions. Ethnic minorities are encouraged to apply.