Logic List Mailing Archive

Researcher position in Linguistics & Argumentation Theory, Dundee (Scotland), Deadline: 14 May 2021 (tomorrow!)

Vacancy for
Researcher in Linguistics & Argumentation Theory
Fixed Term 30 Months
Grade 7 (32,817 ? 40,322)

www.arg.tech

The Centre for Argument Technology at the University of Dundee in Scotland 
is looking to appoint a postdoctoral researcher in linguistics and 
argumentation theory to contribute to work on a new project in partnership 
with the University of Potsdam and the United Nations exploring conflict 
at UN Security Council meetings.

1. Background

This appointment will be in the Centre for Argument Technology 
(www.arg.tech) in Computing within the School of Science and Engineering. 
Centre for Argument Technology ARG-tech is one of the world?s leading 
research groups in the computational application of theories of argument. 
As an interdisciplinary team, we focus on developing foundational theory 
in philosophy, linguistics and cognitive science that facilitates the 
development of practical AI applications. The goal is to help improve, 
teach, track and navigate the discussions and debates that run our 
governments, structure scientific research, underpin the corporate 
boardroom, drive legal process and frame religious beliefs. Our research 
has attracted funding of over 8m, and we have over 200 refereed papers in 
print. Our freely available software tools such as OVA (for performing 
argument analysis) have tens of thousands of users, we have pioneered 
robust new standards such as the AIF and we have the largest freely 
accessible corpus of analysed argumentation anywhere in the world in 
AIFdb. The group also hosted the editorial office for the journal Argument 
and Computation from its inception in 2010 until 2016. Our collaborations 
and consultancy with commercial and government organisations including 
IBM, DSTL and the BBC have driven our focus on end-user impact, and our 
public communication in print and broadcast media has reached over 30 
million people.

The University of Dundee aims to transform lives locally and globally 
through the creation, sharing and application of knowledge. Dundee is 
ranked 4th in the UK (2nd in Scotland) for student satisfaction in 2019, 
20th in the World (4th in the UK) in the 2019 Times Higher Education 
University Impact Rankings, 14th in the World for the highest proportion 
of highly cited publications in the 2019 CWTS Leiden Rankings, and 84th in 
the World for research quality in the Nature Index 2019. The University is 
a diverse community and is committed to equality of opportunity for all by 
providing a supportive, flexible and inclusive working environment. We 
have family-friendly policies (including flexible working and childcare 
vouchers), staff groups for LGBT+ and BME, and prayer room facilities. The 
University and the School of Science and Engineering hold Athena SWAN 
Bronze Awards, which recognise the promotion of gender equality, and have 
made further commitments to advancing an inclusive culture that supports 
and encourages all under-represented groups.

The City of Dundee is a post-industrial city that has worked hard to 
reinvent itself. With a population of 150,000, it is small enough to walk 
round but has all the cultural and leisure activities you would expect in 
a much larger city. Excellent shopping sits side-by-side with a vibrant 
cultural quarter, home to Scotland?s award-winning Dundee Rep Theatre and 
the highly acclaimed Dundee Contemporary Arts, which has become a lively 
social hub and film house as well as a champion of leading-edge arts. 
Dundee is the UK?s only UNESCO City of Design and, with the opening of the 
new V&A Museum of Design ? an iconic building designed by renowned 
architect Kengo Kuma, it has a growing reputation as a creative centre. 
Dundee was placed by the Wall Street Journal among their top ten places to 
visit in 2018, and 1st in Scotland in the Sunday Times 2019 Best Place to 
Live Guide. Salaries in Dundee currently go further on the property ladder 
than almost any other city in the UK. The range of properties within 
commuting distance of the University covers the widest spectrum ? from 
country houses and seaside cottages to handsome town villas and sleek 
city-quay apartments.

2. Role Information

We are seeking to appoint an outstanding researcher in linguistics & 
argumentation theory. We welcome applications from everyone irrespective 
of gender or ethnic group. We particularly encourage applications from 
women and members of ethnic minorities as they are currently 
under-represented in posts at this level. As a global university, we are 
interested in attracting candidates working in all parts of the world and 
can offer relocation support. The Centre for Argument Technology is a 
highly interdisciplinary environment, and candidates should be willing to 
work across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

COVID-19 has introduced new ways of working, and it is expected that the 
post will involve a ?soft start? of working primarily from home, wherever 
in the world that may be. Candidates must expect to be available for 
meetings during working hours in the UK. As restrictions are relaxed, 
candidates would then be expected to relocate to Dundee.

3. Project Summary

Conflict is inherently dynamic. Positions morph, contexts change, factions 
and allegiances realign, and even when everything else appears to be in 
stasis, there is change in the language used to express conflict - in the 
framings and nuances and emotions. Our aim is to understand this dynamism 
and to test that understanding at scale. We will develop novel, 
integrative theory and then apply that theory both to understand ways in 
which conflict is presented linguistically and also how it evolves, not 
just in terms of its underlying positions but also in its presentation. We 
eschew domain- or theme-specific conflict, and instead site our study 
within the foremost venue for conflict of the highest level and greatest 
import: the UN Security Council. Rather than focus on a single issue or 
region or period of the Security Council, our goal is to work with the 
entirety of its activity in which significant conflict is presented: a 
dataset of almost one million words. Across the 25 years of almost daily 
meetings, our techniques will offer insight both to geopolitical analysts 
and to the general public into how conflicts at the Council emerge and 
evolve, combining analysis of local discourse features such as vagueness 
and emotionality with structural features such as justification-giving and 
patterns of reasoning, and finally considering how positions in conflict 
are framed. Across all of these aspects there are interacting dynamics, 
which our theory of conflict trajectories aims to understand so that it 
will become possible for the first time to map the language of conflict 
simultaneously in great detail and at very large scale. This is the first 
time that the techniques of big data have driven the study of the language 
of conflict. Though we will bring such computational techniques to bear, 
our focus is on delivering the foundational theory, the analytical 
techniques and the dataset resources that can subsequently underpin future 
computational research and indeed into applied innovation delivering value 
for scholars of political science, international relations and as well as 
for professionals working in diplomacy and geopolitical analysis and 
ultimately the general public. This research project is funded by AHRC in 
the UK and DFG in Germany, and is a collaboration with the University of 
Potsdam.

4. Key responsibilities
o  To explore the role of linguistic features such as emotionality and vagueness in the discourse of conflict
o  To extend existing theories of language and argument structure to account for phenomena such as reframing
o  To build theoretical models of conflict that capture longitudinal shifts in geopolitical conflict, including shifting positions, increasing consensus and dissensus, resolution and accommodation
o  To work with computational scientists to operationalise these models
o  To communicate the results of the work to academic, professional and public audiences

5. Person specification
Essential knowledge and skills. The following experience is essential:
o  A PhD in the philosophy of argument, in conversation or linguistic analysis, in conflict studies or in a closely related area
o  Experience of analytical techniques for language
o  Understanding of theories of language, argument, debate or conflict

Desirable knowledge and skills. The following experience would be advantageous though not essential:
o  working with models of the structure of argument or debate
o  working with models of dialogue and communicative interaction
o  exposure to computational models for language processing
o  exposure to argument technology

Appointment will be made to Grade 7 (currently 32,817 ? 40,322). Start 
date by negotiation.

Application Requirements

Cover letter to Prof. Chris Reed, Director of the Centre for Argument 
Technology, outlining suitability for the role, plus CV with publication 
list. Apply online at http://arg.tech/2021job02 Contact chris@arg.tech

Closing date 14 May 2021
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