Postdoctoral Researcher

Department of Computational Linguistics, Digital Linguistics Group Postdoctoral Researcher
100 %The Digital Linguistics Group focusses on research at the interface between computational linguistics, machine learning and cognitive science. The advertised position will be part of an interdisciplinary SNSF Sinergia project that brings together researchers from theoretical linguistics, neurolinguistics, computational linguistics and data science. The collaborative project is co-hosted by the Department of Psychology (UZH), the Department of Computational Linguistics (UZH), the Zurich Center for Linguistics (UZH) as well as the Institute of Linguistics of the University of Bern.

The aim of this project is to develop mathematical and computational methods on the one hand, and neurolinguistic methods on the other hand to tackle long-standing research questions of fundamental relevance for theoretical linguistics. The project duration is 4 years, starting from February 1st, 2023.

Your responsibilities

You will be responsible for the development of computational and mathematical methods for the analysis of large-scale linguistic corpora (English, Basque and Chinese) using state-of-the-art deep neural language models. In particular, you will explore and develop Topological Data Analysis (TDA) methods for the linguistic analysis of neural word embedding spaces. You will discuss your ideas and findings with your collaborators from neurolinguistics and theoretical linguistics.

Your profile

You hold a PhD in Computational Linguistics/NLP, Mathematics, Data Science, Computer Science, or a related field, are fluent in Python programming, and have a proactive, autonomous approach to research. You are curious to understand how machines, in comparison to humans, represent language. You have excellent practical and theoretical knowledge of deep learning methods, in particular of neural language models including transformers. You furthermore have a very solid mathematical background; experience with Topology or Topological Data Analysis (TDA) is a plus. Excellent command of English is mandatory.

What we offer

We offer an inspiring research environment in an enthusiastic team, the opportunity to carry out your own research within the scope of the project at one of Europe’s leading (LERU) universities in one of the top ten most liveable cities world-wide.

Place of work

Andreasstrasse 15, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland

Start of employment

Desired start to employment: 01 February 2023.

Applications, with the reference "PostdocCL", including your CV, list of publications (if applicable), motivation letter, names of two referees should be sent as a single integrated PDF. The position is open until filled (first review on 10 October 2022).