29.37, Support: Cognitive Science; Computational Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Text/Corpus Linguistics: PhD, University of Essex, UK

Wed Jan 3 18:24:51 UTC 2018

LINGUIST List: Vol-29-37. Wed Jan 03 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.37, Support:  Cognitive Science; Computational Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Text/Corpus Linguistics: PhD, University of Essex, UK

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Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2018 13:24:45
From: Aline Villavicencio [alinev at gmail.com]
Subject: Cognitive Science; Computational Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Text/Corpus Linguistics: PhD, University of Essex, UK

 Institution/Organization: University of Essex 
Department: Computer Science and Electronic Engineering 
Web Address: https://www1.essex.ac.uk/csee/ 

Level: PhD 

Duties: Research,Project Work

Specialty Areas: Cognitive Science; Computational Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Text/Corpus Linguistics 

Description:

We invite applications for a fully funded PhD studentship at the School of
Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, to work on
the project : ''What do you mean? Automatic identification of language
barriers for effective communication with government organisations”. 

Project Description: There is an ever-increasing amount of information being
generated by organisations and individuals, and a considerable amount is in
the form of texts. Language is one of the rich means of communication that can
be used to understand the needs and desires of individuals, and provide
important information that is relevant for them. However, a crucial challenge
is in providing information in an accessible manner to individuals with a
variety of backgrounds, in rich multicultural and multilingual communities,
with different language profiles of both native and non-native speakers, of
varying ages and levels of language abilities and which may include clinical
conditions. The goal of this project is to use data science and natural
language processing to investigate techniques for building language profiles
of specific groups of speakers. Clustering methods will be employed to define
target clusters of speakers on the basis of information about their age,
socio-economic context, and education, and based on their language profiles
methods for automatic readability assessment will determine whether
information from a given document is optimally written for targeting that
group. This will enable the use of information customisable to the language
abilities of different groups of speakers, and can be used to increase
accessibility to digital content.

The ideal candidate will: 
- Hold a Masters degree in computer science, cognitive science or a related
field and have experience designing, carrying out, and writing up empirical
research studies. At a minimum, the successful applicant will have a good
honours BSc degree (1st class or high 2:1, or equivalent) in computer science
or related subjects. An MSc with Merit or Distinction is desirable (but not
essential for students with a first class degree). 
- Demonstrate strong writing and analytical and mathematical skills, as well
as good programming skills. 
- Knowledge of natural language processing and machine learning are desirable
but not essential. 

The studentship is for three years starting January or April 2018, and covers
fees (UK/EU) and a stipend at £ 14,296 per annum. 

Expressions of interest, together with a CV, transcripts, and contact details
of two referees should be sent to avill at essex.ac.uk and r.amorim at essex.ac.uk.
The position will be open until it is filled.

Application Deadline: 31-Jan-2018 

Mailing Address for Applications:
	Attn: Dr. Renato Amorim 
	University of Essex 
	Wivenhoe Park 
	Colchester CO4 3SQ 
	United Kingdom 

Contact Information: 
	Dr Renato Amorim 
	r.amorim at essex.ac.uk  

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