jobs: lab director at U. Zurich

[Balthasar Bickel]

The newly-established University Research Priority Program (URPP) on Language and Space at the University of Zurich invites applications for the position of

	Director of the CorpusLab (post-doc, 75%-100% FTE)

The URPP explores the interface between language and space with regard to (a) the distribution of languages and linguistic structures in geographical and social space; and (b) the embedding of speech in the spatial environment as shaped by cognition, motion and action. The URPP combines insights from dialectology, typology and interactional linguistics. A key goal of the URPP is the foundation of three new linguistic laboratories starting in July 2013: one for corpus linguistics (CorpusLab), one for GIS-based linguistics (GISLab), and one for video-based linguistics (VideoLab). The laboratories are expected to develop and apply advanced methods and technologies in data collection, data processing, and data analysis.

In close collabaration with the URPP board, the prospective director will build up the CorpusLab as a center for the development and application of corpus-linguistic methods that support research in the URPP. The director will develop his or her own profile and research agenda, and will conduct research on the language and space interface in collabaration with members of the URPP (e.g. on questions of language contact and areal diffusion or on questions of multi-modality in face-to-face-interaction). In addition, the prospective director is expected to apply for third-party funding. The position includes teaching responsibilities (a minimum of 2h/week). The director will also coordinate services and support for corpus-linguistic issues that arise in the URPP (corpus develop- ment, analysis and archiving). In this task, s/he will be supported by student assistants and (as of 2014) a PhD student.

Applicants must have a PhD in linguistics or computational linguistics as well as publications in the area of quantitative corpus analysis (ideally including visualization techniques). Applicants are expected to have demonstrated skills in programming. The successful candidate is keen to collaborate with linguists of very diverse backgrounds (including, but not limited to, dialectology, areal typology, interactional linguistics, computational linguistics, general linguistics, English linguistics, Romance linguistics, Sinology). The candidate is also expected to have an interest in interdisciplinary research. Apart from English, applicants must have a good command of German or be ready to acquire this during the first six months after taking up the position.

Applications should include a letter of motivation, an outline of the research agenda they would propose for the CorpusLab, a CV including a list of publications, a copy of their PhD certificate, and the names and addresses of two references. Applications should be sent as a single PDF file to beatrice.fleiner at ds.uzh.ch, with the subject “Bewerbung WM KorpusLab”. Applications must be submitted by May 20, 2013. The position is available from August 1, 2013, but might be filled later. The position is initially limited until December 31, 2016 but an extension is possible subject to budgetary developments and performance.

For further information, please contact Dr. Agnes Kolmer <agnes.kolmer at uzh.ch>, phone +41 44 634 57 47.