[Corpora-List] 2 PhD studentships in NLP/Human-Agent Interaction/Psycholinguistics

Tue Jul 16 07:54:47 UTC 2013

*2 PhD Studentships available at Saarland University, Saarbruecken, 
Germany**
*
The Embodied Spoken Interaction (ESI) group at the Saarland University, 
headed by Dr. Maria Staudte, invites applications for a PhD studentship, 
available from September 1st, 2013 (75% TV-L E13) :

1. "Joint Attention in Human-Agent-Interaction" in 
Psycholinguistics/Human-Agent-Interaction

People interact using speech as well as other non-verbal cues. Gaze, for 
instance, ubiquitously accompanies utterances in face-to-face 
interaction and may provide additional referential information from the 
speaker or may reveal whether the listener has understood. Following the 
partner's gaze and interpreting her posture and gestures can not only 
enrich but even be essential for successful and efficient communication. 
Understanding and modeling the dynamic interplay of speech and 
non-verbal cues such as gaze and how they combine to encode a particular 
message is a complex enterprise. The use of virtual agents as 
interaction partners provides one way to approach this problem: The 
artificial partner introduces a precise, controllable, and yet dynamic 
component to the interaction with humans. Using them as test beds 
enables us to observe, model and test complex multi-modal behaviors.

The proposed PhD project will develop interactive behaviors of a virtual 
character using state-of-the-art virtual agent software and modern eye- 
and motion-tracking systems. Besides the developing component, this 
research is also empirical and will involve the design of user studies 
and data analysis in order to tackle questions such as how joint 
attention and/or certain gestures or facial expressions are employed and 
affect spoken content.

Applicants should hold a Master degree in computational linguistics, 
computer science, cognitive science, psychology or psycholinguistics (or 
equivalent) and should have an interest in modeling and understanding 
the dynamics of human interaction. Basic programming skills are 
necessary. Experience with experiment design and statistics are an 
advantage but not required. Most importantly, the successful applicant 
should be enthusiastic about the general research questions and be 
prepared to learn new methods.

***

2. "Interpreting Listener Behavior to Inform Navigational Guidance" in 
NLP/Psycholinguistics

People look at what is being talked about. By following referring 
expressions (RE) to their referent, a person can ground that expression 
in the environment and fully understand and validate the utterance that 
contains it. In turn, fixating the intended referent signals to the 
speaker that the listener has understood. Thus, listener eye-movements 
fulfill several roles: While (privately) seeking visual information 
linked to the utterance content, they also (publicly) reflect 
(un-)successful reference resolution or, more generally, belief states 
of the listener to the speaker. In a dynamic and complex environment, 
such as the GIVE challenge, in which other tasks are involved as well, 
it becomes increasingly difficult to infer *what* precisely listeners 
understand and intend to do next and *how* e.g. their eye-movements help 
to infer this. Understanding listener behavior and how an artificial 
speaker (e.g. a dialog system) can exploit this information most 
efficiently, will be a major concern of this research project.

One possible PhD project would thus consist in developing strategies and 
algorithms for a system that is informed about the user's visual 
attention at any given time by modern remote eye-tracking technology. 
Besides the developing component, this line of research is also 
empirical and will involve the design of user studies and data analysis 
to develop and test these strategies. Alternative settings, such as 
in-car tracking along with navigational instructions, are also 
conceivable in order to explore effective ways of using listener gaze 
for giving efficient and safe instructions.

Applicants should hold a Master degree in computational linguistics, 
computer science, cognitive science or equivalent, and should have an 
interest in modeling and understanding the dynamics of spoken 
interaction. Good programming skills are necessary. Experience with 
experiment design and statistics are an advantage but not required. Most 
importantly, the successful applicant should be enthusiastic about the 
general research questions and be prepared to learn new methods.

***

The Embodied Spoken Interaction (ESI) group is part of the "Multi-Modal 
Computing and Interaction" Cluster of Excellence 
<http://www.mmci.uni-saarland.de/> at Saarland University which provides 
a very fruitful and constructive research environment with excellent 
opportunities for exchange and cooperation. The group has access to 
numerous state-of-the-art eye-tracking laboratories, a 64 channel 
EEG/ERP lab, and modern computing infrastructure, and conducts research 
at the level of international excellence.

The candidate will be expected to contribute to the high standards of 
the group and to be actively involved in the preparation and publication 
of new results. Further information about the group can be found at: 
http://www.mmci.uni-saarland.de/en/independent_research_groups/esi 
<http://www.mmci.uni-saarland.de/en/independent_research_groups/esi>

Applicants should submit their research statement, a CV, a copy of their 
school and university degrees, a representative reprint (thesis or paper 
if applicable), and names and contact information of two references. The 
position remains open until filled, but preference will be given to 
applications received by *1 August*. All documents should be e-mailed as 
a single PDF to: masta AT coli DOT uni-saarland DOT de

Thanks and Best Regards,
Maria Staudte

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