The University of Sheffield invites applications for a three-year full-time
postdoctoral researcher in Machine Learning applied to Natural Language
Processing. The position is part of the EPSRC project on MIA: Modeling
Idiomaticity in Human and Artificial Language Processing, a collaboration
led by Prof. Aline Villavicencio, Dr. Carolina Scarton, and Prof. Anna
Korhonen.



We are looking to make an appointment as soon as possible with a deadline
for December 2020 (or as soon as possible thereafter). The initial
appointment will be until August 2021, with an extension until the 30th
November 2023. The position is remunerated according to Grade 7 pay scale:
£31,866 - £40,322 per annum (with the potential to progress to £44,045 per
annum, according to experience).

The responsibility of the postdoctoral researcher is to research strategies
for more transparent machine learning models to generate accurate
cross-lingual representations for idiomatic language, as well as to
contribute to the design and development of resources and evaluation of
downstream tasks, like machine translation. The researcher will also be
required to collaborate with the University of Cambridge (UK) and the Aix
Marseille University (France), partners in this project (there is funding
available for short visits to these institutions).



Furthermore,

The ideal candidate will have:

- A PhD in Machine Learning/Natural Language Processing or related field;

- A strong publication record commensurate with career stage;

- Expertise in machine learning (applied to NLP), with experience in the
analysis and development of classical and deep learning models;

- Experience in using libraries for NLP and deep learning, such as
Tensorflow and Keras;

- Experience in data annotation, data collection, and creating new
benchmark datasets for evaluation;

- A willingness to further improve methods skills and to transfer knowledge
to doctoral researchers and student assistants.

Expertise in at least one of the following areas is advantageous but not
required:

- Track record in ML/NLP methods for developing word embedding models;

- Knowledge of machine translation models.



MIA project:

MIA is part of the EPSRC call for Responsible NLP for Intelligent
Interfaces. In MIA, we will develop idiomatically-aware word/phrase
representation models with the ability to process idiomatic (non-literal)
language, by incorporating clues that are linguistically-motivated and
cognitively-inspired by human processing data. Equipping natural language
processing (NLP) models with the ability to process idiomatic expressions
is important for obtaining more accurate representations that can lead to
gains in downstream tasks, such as machine  translation (MT) and text
simplification (TS). MIA targets a crucial limitation in standard NLP
models, as idiomaticity is part of human communication, with potential
benefits to applications that include natural language interfaces, like
conversational agents, question answering and information retrieval systems.



Host institution:

The project is hosted by the Department of Computer Science at the
University of Sheffield, a leading international center for research in the
UK. We are ranked in the top five for research excellence as part of the
2014 Research Excellence Framework, with 92% of our research outputs being
world-leading or internationally-excellent. Our research environment is the
best in the country (as measured by the 4* and 3* REF environment score).

The NLP and Speech and Hearing groups have over 60 academics, maintaining
an active program of seminars, with exceptional facilities for research,
and ample opportunities for collaboration. It is one of the largest and
most successful NLP groups in Europe, with multiple worldwide
collaborations. Sheffield is a vibrant city with a rich cultural life, with
a large number of parks and the Peak District just nearby, perfect for
outdoor activities and a high quality of life.

Applications must be submitted using the University of Sheffield system.
More information can be found here:

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CBW959/research-associate-in-machine-learning-for-natural-language-processing-nlp

The University of Sheffield is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants
from underrepresented minorities are highly encouraged to apply. Remote
working arrangements will be discussed upon request. The Department of
Computer Science holds a Silver Athena SWAN award, in recognition of our
commitment to equality and diversity.


Application Deadline: 05.11.2020

For informal enquiries about this job and the recruiting department,
contact: Professor Aline Villavicencio on a.villavicen...@sheffield.ac.uk.

For administration queries and details on the application process, contact
the lead recruiter: Renata Goddard on
com-researchrecruitm...@sheffield.ac.uk.

For all online application system queries and support, visit:
www.sheffield.ac.uk/jobs/applying

-- 
*Carolina Scarton*
Academic Fellow
Department of Computer Science
University of Sheffield
http://staffwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/C.Scarton/
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