Logic List Mailing Archive

PhD student position in computational semantics, Utrecht (The Netherlands), Deadline: 17 Jun 2018

PhD position in Data-Driven Computational Semantics and Geographic Information 
Systems (1.0 FTE)

Deadline: 17 June 2018

The Utrecht Institute of Linguistics (UiL OTS) invites applications for a PhD 
position in data-driven computational semantics. The project will use large 
corpora and machine learning methods to acquire meanings of spatially-based 
concepts, which will be used as part of a natural language interface to 
Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The project will enrich an initial model 
of spatial meanings (Kracht 2002, Mani & Pustejovsky 2012, Zwarts & Winter 
2000) with a selected set of semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic parameters. To 
train this model, the project will acquire a large dataset of language use with 
spatial language, including ordinary texts and expert interactions with GIS. 
These data will be employed for training and evaluating the initial model. This 
novel combination of semantic representation, data-driven learning and 
evaluation against a real-life problem is expected to substantially advance the 
ability of users to interact with geographic databases.
The project will be supervised by Dr. Tejaswini Deoskar and Prof. Yoad Winter, 
in collaboration with Dr. Joost Zwarts and NLP researchers from the Language 
and Computation group at the ILLC, University of Amsterdam (Prof. Khalil 
Sima?an, Dr. Jelle Zuidema). The empirical study of elicited user data will be 
carried out in collaboration with Prof. James Hampton (Psychology, City, 
University of London). Work at the UiL OTS will be part of the ROCKY project, 
financed by an ERC Advanced grant to Prof. Yoad Winter.

References
Kracht, M., 2002. On the semantics of locatives. Linguistics and Philosophy, 
25(2), pp.157-232.
Mani, I. and Pustejovsky, J., 2012. Interpreting motion: Grounded 
representations for spatial language. Oxford U.P.
Zwarts, J. and Winter, Y., 2000. Vector space semantics: A model-theoretic 
analysis of locative prepositions. Journal of logic, language and information, 
9(2), pp.169-211.


Qualifications
The successful applicant for this position should have a strong background in 
artificial intelligence, machine-learning and computer science as well as an 
interest in formal semantics. Applicants should ideally hold, or be about to 
complete, an excellent Master's degree in Computational Linguistics or a 
related domain (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and/or Computer 
Science). Good programming skills, proficiency in spoken and written English, 
as well as a keen interest in problem solving and research are essential.


Application details and additional information
Look up the job ad at:
https://www.uu.nl/en/organisation/working-at-utrecht-university/jobs
For more information, please contact the Project Director (Yoad Winter) or the 
Research Coordinator at UiL OTS (Maaike Schoorlemmer).

Apply online through:
https://www.uu.nl/en/organisation/working-at-utrecht-university/jobs

The application deadline is
17/06/2018

Interviews will be held during the week starting June 25, 2018.
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