14.3571, Jobs: Computational Ling: Researcher, U/Essex

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-14-3571. Mon Dec 22 2003. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 14.3571, Jobs: Computational Ling: Researcher, U/Essex

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1)
Date:  Mon, 22 Dec 2003 08:02:14 -0500 (EST)
From:  poesio at essex.ac.uk
Subject:  Computational Ling: Researcher, University of Essex, UK

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Mon, 22 Dec 2003 08:02:14 -0500 (EST)
From:  poesio at essex.ac.uk
Subject:  Computational Ling: Researcher, University of Essex, UK



University or Organization: University of Essex
Department: Computer Science
Rank of Job: Researcher
Specialty Areas: Computational Linguistics, Underspecification
		 Anaphora Semantics Corpus Ling


Description:

RESEARCH POSITION IN UNDERSPECIFICATION AND ANAPHORA

Applications are invited for a three year Senior Research Officer
(RAIA) position at the Department of Computer Science, University of
Essex.  The successful applicant will participate to ARRAU (AnaphoRa
Resolution And Underspecification), a joint project directed by
Massimo Poesio (University of Essex, Computer Science and Cognitive
Science), and Tony Sanford and Patrick Sturt (University of Glasgow,
Psychology) and funded by the EPSRC.

The goal of the project is to study ''difficult'' cases of anaphora
resolution - reference to plurals, events, and other abstract objects
- using a combination of corpus annotation, computational modeling,
and psychological experimentation. One of the project's goals will be
to carry out an investigation of cases of anaphoric reference in which
the anaphoric expression does not have a clear antecedent, trying also
to determine whether the identification of such an antecedent is
necessary for understanding. These questions are related to an issue
of more general theoretical interest, the role of underspecification
in semantics; we expect the project to contribute to our understanding
of this more general issue, as well. A second goal of the project will
be to produce an annotated corpus that can be used to develop and
evaluate algorithms for resolving such 'difficult' anaphoric
references. A third goal is to take advantage of the results of the
empirical analysis to modify an anaphora resolution system under
development at the University of Essex.

The participants in the project are an interdisciplinary team of
psycholinguists and computational linguists. Both universities offer
excellent environments for this kind of research; information about
current projects and other activities at the two locations can be
found at the websites http://www.cs.essex.ac.uk/LAC and
http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/.

The researcher in Essex will be responsible for the corpus annotation
activity, including adapting existing annotation tools for the
purpose, and for incorporating the findings of the project into an
anaphora resolution system. The ideal candidate would have an
excellent background in computational linguistics (a PhD from a
Computer Science or Linguistics department would be desirable, but
candidates with equivalent experience in one of the relevant areas
will be considered).  The candidate should be familiar with formal
semantics, have experience with directing corpus annotation projects
and with corpus annotation tools, and would have been involved in the
development of robust NLP systems.  Experience with anaphora
resolution, underspecification, and collaboration with psycholinguists
would be advantages, as would be a good working knowledge of Java.
The successful candidate should also be creative, have good
problem-solving skills, and be willing to get involved in the
activities of our research group.

Appointment to this fixed-term post will commence on April 1st 2004 or
as soon as possible thereafter, for a period of three years (36
months).  The starting salary will be in the range of 20311 - 22191
GBP per annum (at Dec 22nd's rate, this translates to between Euro
28786 / US $ 35788 and Euro 31450 / US $ 39101 - we cannot of course
predict the value at the time of taking the post). Informal enquiries
for the position in Essex can be made to Massimo Poesio (telephone:
+44-1206 872686, e-mail poesio at essex.ac.uk). For further details of
these posts and information on how to apply, see:

http://www.essex.ac.uk/personnel/Jobs/ads/R504W.htm

Closing date: 27 February 2004.

We expect the interviews to take place in the week beginning with
March 15th.

When making your application, please quote job reference no.  R/504.



Address for Applications:

	Attn: Personnel Section
	University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park
	Colchester, CO4 3SQ
	United Kingdom

	Applications are due by 27-Feb-2004

Contact Information:
	Massimo Poesio
	Email: poesio at essex.ac.uk
	Tel: +44 1206 872686
	Website: http://www.cs.essex.ac.uk/staff/poesio

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