The University of Gothenburg tackles society’s challenges with diverse knowledge. 56 000 students and 6 600 employees make the university a large and inspiring place to work and study. Strong research and attractive study programmes attract scientists and students from around the world. With new knowledge and new perspectives, the University contributes to a better future.
The Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science at the Faculty of Humanities has around 100 employees and a teaching volume that includes around 350 full-year students. Many large national and international research projects are underway here. Our education includes philosophy, logic, linguistics, language technology, theory of science and liberal arts. The department also conducts research training and development work in these areas.
The Centre for Linguistic Theory and Studies in Probability (CLASP) is based in FLoV at the University of Gothenburg, and is funded by a 10-year grant from the Swedish Research Council (2015-2025). CLASP is devoted to research and advanced training in the application of probabilistic modeling and machine learning methods to core issues in linguistic theory and cognition. It also addresses topics in dialogue and linguistic interaction. For a description of CLASP, see https://www.gu.se/en/clasp.
Subject area
Computational linguistics
Subject area description
The candidate will carry out their research at CLASP, within a project interested in multimodal coreference resolution.
The overarching goal of the project is to construct a multimodal coreference resolution system (MCRS) that uses text and visual input. We will experiment with crowdsourcing methods to annotate training and test corpora. MCRS will be lightweight in that it will use relatively small amounts of data for supervised learning. It will be trainable in a comparatively short period of time. We will build MCRS on top of existing generic deep learning systems, like multimodal BERT, rather than constructing a large, complex special purpose device. MCRS will be a genuine coreference resolution system. It will seek to determine the specific antecedents, and the graphic object to which an anaphoric expression refers. Its performance will be evaluated on the accuracy with which it performs this task, rather than by its success in returning a ranked class of candidates that includes the ground truth antecedent. The project will explore different ways of integrating visual and linguistic representations in integrated embeddings, and we will determine which ones are most efficient in supporting MCR.
Job assignments
The expected candidate is expected to:
- Collect, compile and process coreference resolution corpora from different genres, domains and methodologies
- Develop and evaluate coreference resolution models
- Carry out evaluations of multimodal systems, i.e., images and text (in particular for reference and discourse phenomena)
- Develop a multimodal coreference resolution system that uses text and visual input The expected duration of the assignment is 2 years, with possibility of 1-year extension.
The research will be conducted in English.
Apart from research, supplementary duties may include mentoring graduate students, course design, and/or teaching-related activities. These duties are not mandatory and will not exceed 20% of the position’s responsibilities.
The holder of the position is expected to carry out her/his research in Gothenburg and to actively participate in the research group's workshops, seminars, and conferences.
Eligibility
Eligible for a postdoctoral position are those with a PhD or other foreign degree that is deemed equivalent to PhD. The subject of the doctoral thesis should be in a research area relevant to the specific subject description above. Since the postdoctoral position is intended to give junior researchers the opportunity to establish themselves in the field, we aim to employ applicants that graduated with PhDs within 3 years of the application deadline.
Please note that qualifications for postdoctoral appointments are described in more detail at: Avtal om tidsbegränsning anställning som postdoktor (arbetsgivarverket.se)
Assessment
Candidates should have experience with machine learning including deep learning and neural networks, preferably with a background in mainstream natural language processing tasks and methods (e.g., language modeling, parsing, coreference, machine translation, discourse parsing, etc). Interest in the cognitive processes/models behind human language processing and understanding is a key advantage for the position. Experience with psycholinguistic methods focused on designing and running traditional sentence processing methodologies (eye-tracking, pace reading, judgement studies and cloze tests, spacebar reaction time, etc.) is also desirable.
Scientific proficiency is the most important criterion for assessment, and special attention will be given to the applicant’s PhD thesis and other publications. Documented good interpersonal skills, good skills in terms of planning and organizing research, and good skills in communicating research results is also meritorious.
The recruitment process may include interviews (possibly by video link) and contacting references.
Employment
Type of employment: Fixed-term employment, 2 years, with the possibility of a third year
Extent: 100%
Location: Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, Gothenburg
First day of employment: By agreement
Contact information:
If you have any questions about the position, please contact Sharid Loáiciga, Associate Senior Lecturer, +46(0) 31-786 59 42, sharid.loaiciga@gu.se
If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Jennifer Stråle, HR officer, jennifer.strale@gu.se
Unions
Union representatives at the University of Gothenburg can be found here: https://www.gu.se/om-universitetet/jobba-hos-oss/hjalp-for-sokande
How to apply
In order to apply for a position at the University of Gothenburg, you have to register an account in our online recruitment system. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the job advertisement, and that it is submitted before the deadline. The selection of candidates is made on the basis of the qualifications registered in the application. Any documents that are not available in electronic format should be mailed to: HR officer, FLoV, Box 200, 405 30 Göteborg.
Please note that the following documents should be attached to the application (in pdf):
- Personal letter of 500 words maximum (approx. 1 page). The letter should consist of four paragraphs in the following order: a) a short presentation of yourself, b) a short presentation of your merits, c) a short account for why the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science is of interest to you.
- PhD certificate
- A CV listing academic degrees, employments, publications, and other relevant merits.
- At most three scientific publications, and the applicant’s PhD thesis.
We welcome applications written in English, since a non-Swedish speaking person may be appointed as external expert in the recruitment process.
Applications must be received by: November 21, 2023
Information for International Applicants
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The University works actively to achieve a working environment with equal conditions, and values the qualities that diversity brings to its operations.
Salaries are set individually at the University.
In accordance with the National Archives of Sweden’s regulations, the University must archive application documents for two years after the appointment is filled. If you request that your documents are returned, they will be returned to you once the two years have passed. Otherwise, they will be destroyed.
In connection to this recruitment, we have already decided which recruitment channels we should use. We therefore decline further contact with vendors, recruitment and staffing companies.