2013-02-05: Job: Three PhD Positions in Text Analytics Project, Sweden

Three Salaried PhD Positions in Text Analytics Project

placed at Linnaeus University, Lund University and Gavagai AB, Sweden

Description

Applications are invited for three PhD positions in Sweden starting in September 2013.

• Position 1: PhD position in computer science with specialization in information visualization / visual analytics located at Linnaeus University, Växjö. Enquiries should be directed to Professor Andreas Kerren (andreas.kerren@lnu.se)

• Position 2: PhD position in computer science with specialization in computational linguistics located at Gavagai AB in Stockholm (with formal affiliation to Linnaeus University, Växjö). Enquiries should be directed to Dr Magnus Sahlgren (mange@gavagai.se)

• Position 3: PhD position in English linguistics, specializing in semantics/pragmatics using computational techniques located at the Centre for Languages and Literature at Lund University. Enquiries should be directed to Professor Carita Paradis (carita.paradis@englund.lu.se)

All three positions are part of the StaViCTA project on advances in the description and explanation of stance in discourse using visual and computational text analytics funded by the framework grant No. 2012-5659 from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). The research team consists of three senior researchers and three doctoral students, whose work will be carried out under the supervision of the three senior researchers.

How to apply

Interested candidates find detailed application information on the web page below

http://cs.lnu.se/stavicta/index.php/jobs

Applications will be received until March 15, 2013 (Positions 1 and 2) and March 1, 2013 (Position 3).

Project partners & aims

• Professor Andreas Kerren (PI of the project), ISOVIS Group, Department of Computer Science, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden
• Professor Carita Paradis, Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, Sweden
• Dr Magnus Sahlgren, Gavagai AB, Stockholm, Sweden

This interdisciplinary project across semantics, computational linguistics and information visualization investigates stance in human communication. Stancetaking, which is crucial for the social construction of meaning, involves expressions of attitudes, feelings, perspectives, judgements, doubts, trust and certainty. Stancetaking is a forceful factor in the communicative dynamics of Web-based social media such as websites, blogs, communities or forums. StaViCTA focuses on analyzing stance in such real-world streaming language data. Our goal is to identify the resources that language offers, how these resources act together and how they evolve in large amounts of digital text over time. This goal is achieved through the development of innovative, computational and interactive information visualization techniques. We propose a visual text analytics approach for the description, explanation and interpretation of stance in digital text media that includes automatic analyses seamlessly interwoven with interactive visualizations. This combination will make it possible for human beings to make sense of large and dynamic text data and allows for exploration, control and final evaluation of the analysis processes and results. Such an approach for analyzing stance is crucial for many application fields, including intelligence and security analytics, early warning and crisis management systems, financial analytics and business intelligence, and social media monitoring.

Requirements & eligibility

Applicants should hold a good Master's degree in a relevant field of study. Good command of English is also required for all positions. The specific requirements for the different PhD positions are listed in the following:

• Position 1: The candidate should hold a good MS degree in Computer Science with an excellent background in information visualization, visual analytics, and/or human-computer interaction. Good programming skills and training in computer graphics are presupposed. Knowledge in visual text analytics, visualization of streaming data, machine learning or natural language processing is an advantage.

• Position 2: The candidate should hold a good MS degree in Computer Science or Computational Linguistics (or the equivalent), with an excellent background in machine learning/data mining and natural language processing. Experience with deep learning algorithms is an additional important qualification. Good programming skills (e.g. Java, Python) and a solid training in mathematics and statistics are required. Knowledge of linguistics and semantics is preferred.

• Position 3: The candidate should hold a good MA degree in English Linguistics (or comparable) with a solid background in semantics/pragmatics. Programming skills (e.g. Java, Python) and statistical training are advantages. Native or near-native command of English is a requirement.

All three PhD students are expected to:

• complete and defend a PhD thesis within the official appointment duration of four years;
• collaborate with the other project members on common research targets;
• regularly present intermediate research results at international conferences and workshops, and publish them in conference proceedings and journals.

All three PhD candidates are employed by the universities with regular salaries (starting salary is about 23,000 SEK before taxes (around 30%)), and the positions include common benefits for social security according to Swedish laws and university regulations.