9 October: FYI -- PhD & PostDoctoral positions, NL
Index of October 2015 | Index of year: 2015 | Full index
[Apologies for multiple postings.]
TiCC invites applications for:
• One PhD position in Modelling Child-Robot Interaction, and
• One Post-doc position in Multimodal Output Generation
The Tilburg center for Cognition and Communication (TiCC), a Center of Excellence at Tilburg University (TiU), is a multidisciplinary research center at the forefront of research on cognition, communication and computation.
Both positions are part of a new project funded by the European Commission: Second Language Tutoring using Social Robots (L2TOR). The L2TOR (pronounced ‘el tutor’) project aims to design a child-friendly tutor robot that can be used to support teaching preschool children a second language (L2) by interacting with children in their social and referential world. In particular, the project will focus on teaching English as L2 to native speakers of Dutch, German and Turkish, and teaching Dutch and German as L2 to immigrant children speaking Turkish as a native language. The L2TOR robot will be designed to interact naturally with children aged four years old in both the second language and the child’s native language. TiCC will hire one PhD student and a post-doc to develop interactions between the robot and children, and evaluate these. The project will start in January 2016 and runs for 3 years.
The L2TOR project is 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 two subprojects to be carried out by Tilburg University are:
• PhD candidate developing specifications for the robot-child interactions based on observations of human tutoring, and
• post-doc developing and implementing modules for output behavior of the robot (multilingual spoken natural language generation and non-verbal cues).
Both candidates are also expected to contribute in evaluating the L2TOR platform.
Requirements
The successful PhD candidate:
• holds a (Research) Master’s degree in Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Computational Linguistics or another related area (or will obtain such a degree before January 2016).
• has good programming skills,
• has experience in modelling human-robot interaction (or a related technique), and
• has experience or proven interest in carrying out experimental studies (on HRI).
The successful post-doc candidate:
• holds a PhD degree in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics or another relevant area (or will obtain such a degree before January 2016),
• has substantial expertise in Computational Linguistics / Natural Language Processing, preferably in the area of Natural Language Generation (NLG),
• has excellent programming skills,
• has an excellent track record of publications in high-impact journals or top-conferences.
In addition, both candidates are expected to:
• have excellent English communication and writing skills,
• be capable of working in an international, multidisciplinary setting.
For both positions, experience in operating the NAO robot is considered an advantage.
Information
For more information on these positions, please contact dr. Paul Vogt (p.a.vogt@uvt.nl, +31134662594) or prof.dr. Emiel Krahmer (E.J.Krahmer@uvt.nl, +31134663070).
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 PhD projects will be carried 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.
The PhD candidates will be ranked in the Dutch university job ranking system (UFO) as a PhD-student (promovendus) with a starting salary of € 2.125.-- gross per month in the first year, up to € 2.593,-- in the third year (amounts fulltime and exclusive 8% holiday allowance and 8,3 % end year bonus). The selected candidate is expected to have written a PhD thesis by the end of the contract (which may be based on articles).
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 € 3.908,- 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 candidates for both positions 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 for the remaining two years. 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.
Applications
Applications should include:
• A cover letter,
• Curriculum Vitae,
• copy of the university marks (grade list, for the PhD candidate only),
• names and contact details of two references.
Applications should be sent before the application deadline of 1 November 2015. Interviews are expected to be held in mid November. Starting dates: 1 January 2016.
The only way to apply is online by following this link: http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/about-tilburg-university/working-at/wp/
--
Emiel Krahmer
Tilburg center for Cognition and Communication (TiCC)
http://www.emielkrahmer.nl/
http://bridging.uvt.nl/
Index of October 2015 | Index of year: 2015 | Full index