DFKI's Language Technology Lab is seeking one or two researchers to strengthen its team in the area of cognitive systems and human-robot interaction (HRI). The research will be carried out in a new EU project on HRI focusing on long-term interaction with children (EU FP7 ALIZ-E, [ http://www.aliz-e.org]). The research concerns robust adaptive processing of spoken situated dialogue in social-affective HRI. The position will be located in Saarbrücken.
We are looking either for two PhD candidates to work on spoken language comprehension and dialogue management, respectively, or for one senior researcher to cover both themes. The contract should start from January 2011 and will be limited to the duration of the ALIZ-E project (September 2014). Extension of the contract will depend on the acquisition of follow-up funding. The position(s) are open until filled.
Ideal candidates will have background in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, or Computational
Linguistics, and have experience with practical system development. They should have very good programming skills in Java and/or C/C++, and feel confident using UNIX-based platforms. A thorough background in software engineering would be desirable. A broader interest in issues related to cognitive aspects of language comprehension and production, embodied agents, verbal and non-verbal communication, (probabilistic) robotics, machine learning, and the relation between communication and other cognitive processes would be welcome.
PhD candidates must have a completed MSc degree in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, or a related discipline. Senior candidates must have a completed PhD degree in one of these areas, with excellent knowledge in the area of robust natural language processing and/or dialogue management and/or machine learning; they must have the ability to write excellent scientific papers and technical documents and are also expected to supervise student assistants and master theses.
Highly valued personal qualities include creativity, open-mindedness, high motivation, initiative, team spirit, willingness to address novel challenges in unknown scientific territory, as well as an interest to collaborate closely within a distributed, multidisciplinary, international team.
The candidates must be fluent in oral and written English, as it is the project language, and the language used in our group. Some knowledge of Italian would be welcome, as it is the target language of the system developed in the project. Oral command of German, as the language of the
surroundings, is optional, but definitely an advantage. DFKI GmbH [http://www.dfki.de] is located on the campus of the Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany. The university's research groups and curricula in the fields of Computational Linguistics and Computer Science are internationally renowned. The DFKI LT-Lab [http://www.dfki.de/lt/] offers excellent working conditions in a well-established research group. The position provides opportunities to collaborate in a variety of international projects.
For more about research on human-robot interaction at DFKI, see [http://talkingrobots.dfki.de]. For more information on ALIZ-E, see [http://www.aliz-e.org/]. Please send your electronic application (preferably in PDF format) to lt-jobs@dfki.de, referring to the job opening number 45-10/HU at your earliest convenience, preferably before October 31 2010. A meaningful application should include a cover letter, a CV with a photograph, a brief summary of research interests, a statement of interest in the position(s) offered, salary requirements, the date of earliest availability, and contact information for three referees.
Contact for questions:
* Dr.Ing. Ivana Kruijff-Korbayova, ivana.kruijff@ dfki.de -- or –
* Dr. Stephan Busemann, stephan.busemann@ dfki.de
Please quote 10 Academic Resources Daily in your application to this opportunity!
