30 November: fyi -- computational linguistics, London
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The Interaction, Media and Communication group (IMC), part of the
Department of Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London is
seeking a full time researcher to work for one year starting 1 January
2008 or as soon as possible thereafter on a new ESRC interdisciplinary
project involving formal development, implementation, and
psycholinguistic testing of a dialogue model based on the Dynamic
Syntax framework. "Dynamics of Conversational Dialogue" is a joint
project between King's College London Philosophy Department and Queen
Mary Computer Science Department. The principal investigator is
Kempson (King's College); Healey (Queen Mary) and Meyer-Viol (King's
College) are co-investigators.
The primary focus of the 3-year project is on ellipsis, in particular
on the way in which, in conversation, turns are routinely fragmented
and distributed across interlocutors. The goal of the project is to
develop, implement and test a model of dialogue which reflects as
closely as possible the incremental nature of human language
processing. Further information about the project can be found at:
www.kcl.ac.uk/research/groups/ds/projects.html
The ideal candidate will be a Computational Linguist or Cognitive
Scientist with an interest in computational semantics and pragmatics
of dialogue and experience in Prolog-based linguistic parsing and
psycholinguistic experimentation. The position requires a postgraduate
qualification in computational linguistics, cognitive science, natural
language processing, or equivalent. Applicants should have a
demonstrated capacity to define and implement a Prolog-based
parser/generator and to conduct individual and collaborative research
consonant with an interest in developing implemented, incremental
computational models of conversational dialogue.
Applicants will be required to:
- Contribute to annotating two already available corpora, to provide
- data about when people make use of what someone else has said Extend
- existing proto-type Dynamic-Syntax dialogue model, with
- incorporation of split-utterances and question-answer fragments
- Contribute to developing and running new chat-tool experimental
- techniques to test hypotheses about when speaker-role switch is
- possible, and the concept of context on which it depends.
Salary will be in the range of £27,813 - £32,690 per annum depending
on qualifications and experience. Please note that this post is
subject to approval and that in accordance with all other roles
affected by the National Pay Framework, the grade and salary are
subject to confirmation following the job evaluation exercise and the
overall refinement of the Queen Mary grading structure.
Candidates must be able to demonstrate their eligibility to work in
the UK in accordance with the Asylum and Immigration Act 1999
More information about the IMC group at Queen Mary can be found at
www.dcs.qmul.ac.uk/researchgp/imc and the Dynamic Syntax group in the
Philosophy Department at Kings College at
http://semantics.dcs.kcl.ac.uk/ldsnl/
Informal inquiries to Pat Healey: ph@dcs.qmul.ac.uk
Further details and a application form can be obtained from the Human
Resources website on: www.hr.qmul.ac.uk/vacancies/
Completed application forms with full CV and three independent
references should be returned preferably by e-mail to
suew@dcs.qmul.ac.uk or by post to Sue White, Research Co-ordinator,
Department Computer Science, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile
End Road, London, E1 4NS.
The closing date for applications is midday 14th of December 2007.
We intend to interview short-listed applicants on Thursday 20th of
December. Please notify us in your covering letter if you could not
attend interview on this date.
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