Research and teaching position at Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

Start date: early 2024
Contract duration: 3 years (can be extended)
Payscale: E13 100% (postdoc)

We are looking to fill a research and teaching position in NLP or 
psycholinguistics at the at the research group of Prof. Vera Demberg. It 
offers great flexibility in developing your own research and teaching 
agenda, and collaborations with other research groups within the 
department of Language Science and Technology and/or at the department 
of Computer Science are encouraged.

The position is flexible with respect to topic, but it should connect 
thematically with current topics of interest to the research group. 
These include neural natural language generation with specific focus on 
data-to-text generation, avoidance of hallucinations and personalized 
language generation, as well as computational models of discourse 
processing and pragmatics. Psycholinguistic experimental work within our 
group revolves around information-theoretic accounts of human language 
processing, as well as discourse processing and experimental pragmatics. 
We are especially interested in individual differences in discourse and 
pragmatic processing (see also our ERC project "Individualized 
Interaction in Discourse"). You should have expertise in neural and/or 
linguistically principled methods in NLP, or experimental methods for 
psycholinguistics.

The position includes a teaching load of up to four hours per week and 
can be given within the BSc or MSc programs in Computational 
Linguistics, Computer Science or Data Science and Artificial 
Intelligence. Our study programs attract excellent and highly motivated 
students; it is not unusual for our students to publish papers at 
peer-reviewed conferences before graduation. The MSc students in 
particular are a very international crowd, with two thirds joining us 
from abroad. You will typically teach one seminar per semester on a 
topic of your choice, which will allow you to motivate students to do 
BSc and MSc theses under your supervision.

This is a position on the German TV-L E13 scale (100% position at the 
postdoc level). The starting salary of a 100% TV-L E13 position is a bit 
over 50,000 Euros per year and increases with experience. The initial 
appointment will be for three years; the position can be extended up to 
the limits of the German law for academic contracts (WissZeitVG). The 
starting date is January 2024 or later; we would be willing to adapt to 
the time requirements of an ideal candidate.


Requirements

We are looking for candidates who have finished, or are about to 
complete, an excellent PhD degree in computational linguistics, computer 
science, psycholinguistics or a related discipline. You must be 
proficient in English (spoken and written). Applicants should have 
demonstrated their research expertise through high-quality publications.


About the research environment

Saarland University is one of the leading centers for computational 
linguistics and computer science in Europe, and offers a dynamic and 
stimulating research environment. The Department of Language Science and 
Technology consists of about 100 research staff in nine research groups 
in the fields of computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, speech 
processing, and corpus linguistics.

The department is a core member of the new Research Training Group 
"Neuroexplicit Models of Language, Vision, and Action", which is on 
track to grow into one of the largest centers for research on 
neurosymbolic models in NLP and other fields of AI in the world. It is 
also the centerpiece of the Collaborative Research Center 1102 
"Information Density and Linguistic Encoding" and part of the Saarland 
Informatics Campus, which brings together computer science research at 
the university with world-class research institutions on campus, such as 
the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, the Max Planck Institute for 
Software Systems, and the German Research Center for Artificial 
Intelligence (DFKI). The Saarland Informatics Campus brings together 900 
researchers and 2100 students from 81 countries; SIC faculty have won 36 
ERC grants.

Saarland University is located in Saarbrücken, a mid-sized city in the 
tri-border area of Germany, France, and Luxembourg. Saarbrücken combines 
a lively culture scene with a relaxed atmosphere, and is quite an 
affordable place to live in. Our department maintains an international 
and diverse work environment. The primary working language is English; 
learning German while you are here will make it easier to connect with 
the local culture, but is not necessary for your work.


How to apply

Please submit your application by email to 
[log in to unmask] Preference will be given to 
applications received by 6 December 2023.

Include a single PDF file with the following information:
• a statement of research interests that motivates why you are applying 
for this position and outlines your research agenda;
• a full CV including your list of publications;
• scans of transcripts and academic degree certificates;
• the names, affiliations, and e-mail addresses of two people who can 
provide letters of reference for you.

Saarland University especially welcomes applications from women and 
people with disabilities.

If you have further questions, please email Vera Demberg 
<[log in to unmask]>.

-- 

Prof. Dr. Vera Demberg
Computer Science and Computational Linguistics
Saarland Informatics Campus
Saarland University
Campus C7.2 Room 3.02
D-66123 Saarbrücken
Phone: +49-681-302-70024
Sekretariat: +49-681-302-70025
Fax: +49-681-302-70026

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