36.1448, Support: Computational Linguistics, Text/Corpus Linguistics: MA / MSc, University of Tartu

Tue May 6 12:05:02 UTC 2025

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-1448. Tue May 06 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.1448, Support: Computational Linguistics, Text/Corpus Linguistics: MA / MSc, University of Tartu

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Date: 05-May-2025
From: Margit Meiesaar [margit.meiesaar at ut.ee]
Subject: Computational Linguistics, Text/Corpus Linguistics: MA / MSc, University of Tartu

Institution/Organization: University of Tartu
Web Address:
https://estonia.dreamapply.com/en_GB/courses/course/186-phd-social-sciences-specialisation-media-and-communication-sociology

Level: MA / MSc

Duties: Research

Specialty Areas: Computational Linguistics; Text/Corpus Linguistics

Description:

The ERC Consolidator project “Rise and Demise of Industrial Modernity”
(RiDe) at the University of Tartu (Estonia) is looking to fill a fully
funded PhD position, broadly in environmental studies/social science,
particularly in sustainability transitions studies.
The project is based on the Deep Transitions framework from the
sustainability transitions field. It seeks to develop a new theory
about the acceleration, crisis and possible transformation of
industrial modernity: a set of ideas, institutions and practices
related to the natural environment and technoscience currently
blocking the deep sustainability turn. The project is led by Laur
Kanger, Professor of Sustainability Transitions and co-author of the
Deep Transitions framework.
PhD position: “Ideational continuities and ruptures of industrial
modernity in G20 countries”
Expected starting date: 1 September 2025
Duration of employment: 48 months (until 30.08.2029)
Working time: 100% (40 hours per week)
Application submission deadline: 15 May 2025
The purpose of the PhD project is to map the long-term evolution of
different ideas about environment and technoscience (e.g. belief in
societal progress through science and technology, rising environmental
awareness) in G20 countries from 1900 to 2025 based on digitized
newspaper corpora and using state of the art machine learning methods,
including large language models.
What we expect
The applicant must have a Master’s degree or equivalent qualification.
Preference is given to candidates with a background and prerequisite
skills in one of the following fields: digital humanities,
computational social science, data science, sustainability transitions
studies, science and technology studies, innovation studies, sociology
(e.g. economic, political, environmental, historical), political
science, economics (e.g. economics of innovation, ecological
economics), political science, history (e.g. economic, environmental,
intellectual, science and technology), sustainability science (or a
related field).  Alternatively, a Master’s degree in another field
combined with a strong and proven interest in sustainability issues
also constitutes a good fit.
The ideal candidate will also have:
 * At least a basic familiarity with writing code and working with
textual data;
 * Willingness to expand the skill set as required during the first
year of their studies (the Estonian PhD system has space for
completing about one year’s worth of coursework during the four-year
programme);
 * Excellent written and spoken English proficiency;
* A solid background in any two of the following:
  - Working with, handling and wrangling large digital corpora,
especially complex historical data;
  - Natural language processing (e.g., topic models, sentiment
analysis, OCR, taggers);
  - Working with generative Large Language Models (e.g. GPT, Gemini,
Llama, Deepseek), especially for zero-shot text annotation and
analysis;
  - Experience with cloud computing, HPC clusters, and APIs;
  - Advanced programming experience (e.g. scientific computing,
research software development, or applied work in industry).
Supervisors: Laur Kanger, Andres Karjus
What we offer
 * Full-time employment (100% research, up to 48 months) at the
Institute of Social Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of
Tartu with a competitive salary of EUR 1,950 gross/month (PhD);
 * 42 paid vacation days per year and generous annual travel support
for conferences;
 * A supportive and international research environment within a
diverse interdisciplinary team working at the frontier of
sustainability transitions studies;
 * Located in Tartu (Estonia), a university town with excellent
quality of life.
Please contact Maiu Reinhold (Specialist for International Relations,
Institute of Social Studies (maiu.reinhold at ut.ee) for any practical
matters regarding the application process. Since this is a
project-funded PhD position, the prospective candidates are strongly
encouraged to get in touch with Laur Kanger (laur.kanger at ut.ee) with
any substantive questions about the PhD topic and project proposal.
How to apply
This is a PhD position situated within an already funded research
project, and therefore the prospective student is expected to work on
topics closely aligned to the project and its work packages. However,
a formal proposal is still required as per university regulations, and
will be useful in assessing candidates’ motivation, suitability and
match with the project goals. International applicants should complete
the application form in DreamApply between 1 and 15 May, including all
requested documents.
Estonian citizens and international applicants with a master's degree
from Estonia can apply on 1-15 June in SAIS.
Requested documents:
1. PhD project proposal with the recommended length of 2000-3000 words
(excluding the reference list), including the following information:
1.1 Topic of the thesis, incl. a short summary of the research problem
and the most important related research;
1.2 Purpose and problems of the work;
1.3 Description of the methodology to be used;
1.4 Expectations for the results, incl. their novelty and importance;
1.5 Self-assessment of the applicant regarding their readiness to
research this topic: knowledge of the relevant materials and
relatedness with earlier research or work in the field.
2. A copy of a document (including its annexes) which shows the
candidate to hold the required qualification (with authorized
translation into Estonian, English or Russian if the credential is not
in Estonian, English, Russian, Finnish, Swedish, French, Italian,
Ukrainian and Belarussian languages). A candidate can be required to
submit the original or a certified copy of the document (including its
annexes) showing the candidate to hold the required qualification. If
the candidate has acquired the higher education in question abroad, he
or she may be required to submit an assessment issued by the Academic
Recognition Information Centre (the Estonian ENIC/NARIC) of his or her
qualification in respect of the qualification requirements for the
position.
3. Proof of English language proficiency
(https://ut.ee/en/sisu/phd-language-requirements);
4. Copy of passport page;
5. Academic CV (see example form for more details)
6. Although not mandatory, the applicant is strongly encouraged to add
any published research publications or preprints to the application
(if applicable).
Applicants passing the first stage of evaluation based on written
materials will be invited to an interview (either in person or
virtual).

Application Deadline: 15-May-2025

Mailing Address for Applications:
        Estonia
Web Address for Applications:
https://estonia.dreamapply.com/en_GB/courses/course/186-phd-social-sciences-specialisation-media-and-communication-sociology

Contact Information:
professor Laur Kanger

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