Academic Staff in Natural Language Processing

University of Antwerp Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Department: Department of Linguistics
Regime Full-time

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The Department of Linguistics in the Faculty of Arts has the following full-time vacancy: academic staff (rank open) in the field of Natural Language Processing.

Position

You will contribute to the University of Antwerp’s three core tasks: education, research and services. Your role also includes organisational and managerial aspects.

Education

  • You will provide high-quality education in the domains of the MA on Digital Text Analysis. You will contribute the equivalent of 18 ECTS to the following courses (in co-teaching or as sole course leader)
    • Humanities Data Analysis (3 ECTS)
    • Machine Learning (6 ECTS)
    • Natural Language Processing (6 ECTS)
    • Bootcamp (introduction to programming in Python) (6 ECTS)
    • Text mining (6 ECTS)

The precise nature of your contribution to teaching is open to negotiation.

  • You will play a role in developing activating, student-centred and competence-driven programme components and study programmes.
  • You will supervise students and their Bachelor and Master dissertations.

Research

  • You will develop high-quality scientific research in Natural Language Processing. You will join CLiPS, a research center targeting top research in computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. Your research will address the computational modelling of natural language processing in the context of Artificial Intelligence (including state of the art methods from Machine Learning such as Deep Neural Networks). Welcome research specialisations include computational psycholinguistics, computational social sciences, and language technology.
  • You will initiate new lines of research and coordinate the progress of scientific research projects. You will also participate in ongoing research programmes.
  • You will acquire and manage national and international research funding.
  • You will publish in international journals.
  • You will develop an international scientific network.
  • You will supervise PhD students and postdoctoral researchers.

Services

  • You will play a role in the provision of both academic services and service to society, within the institution and externally.

Organisation and leadership

  • You will accept coordinating responsibilities in the areas of education, research and/or service provision and you will contribute to policy.
  • Your leadership style will be motivating and coaching. You will be attentive to your employees’ growth and development processes.

Profile

  • You hold a PhD in Natural Language Processing or a related area (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning of Language, Computational (Psycho-)Linguistics).
  • You can demonstrate several years of postdoctoral experience (or equivalent).
  • Your research qualities are in line with the faculty and university research policies. You have established an excellent research portfolio including publications in high-profile international journals.
  • Your teaching competences are in line with the University of Antwerp’s educational vision. You are motivated to develop your teaching skills further through the professionalisation opportunities available.
  • If you do not speak Dutch, the administrative language of the university, you should be willing to obtain a CEFR B2 level of proficiency in Dutch. As soon as you take on teaching duties as a programme component coordinator, you should be able to demonstrate a CEFR C1 level of proficiency in the language of instruction (the MA on Digital Text Analysis is taught in English). The University of Antwerp supports international staff members through an integration trajectory and offers tailor-made language coaching in compliance with Flanders’ statutory language regulations.
  • You demonstrate leadership potential and organisational skills.
  • You act with attention to quality, integrity, creativity and cooperation.

What we offer

  • We offer a full-time appointment as a member of the Senior Academic Staff (Dutch: Zelfstandig Academisch Personeel, ZAP). The level of your appointment (assistant professor, associate professor, professor or full professor) is determined on the basis of your professional experience and academic qualifications. Junior ZAP members are usually offered temporary appointment as a tenure track assistant professor for five years, which is then followed by permanent appointment as an associate professor. Appointment as an associate professor or higher leads to permanent appointment (tenure) after a maximum of three years. A favourable performance appraisal is always required for permanent appointment.
  • Your gross monthly salary is calculated according to the pay scales for Senior Academic Staff.        
  • You will receive ecocheques, Internet-connectivity allowance and a bicycle allowance or a full reimbursement of public transport costs for commuting.     
  • The planned start date is September 15, 2023, or as soon as possible after that date.
  • You will do most of your work at the City Campus in a dynamic and stimulating working environment (the CLiPS research center: https://www.uantwerpen.be/clips ).
  • Find out more about working at the University of Antwerp here and discover all the other benefits.

Want to apply?

  • You can apply for this vacancy through the University of Antwerp’s online job application platform up to and including 28 March 2023 (by midnight Brussels time). Click on 'apply', complete the online application form and don’t forget to include the following documents: (1) your motivation letter, (2) the completed job application appendix for ZAP, (3) your academic CV, (4) three publications that you consider representative of your research.
  • The selection committee will review all of the applications as soon as possible after the application deadline. As soon as a decision has been made, we will inform you about the next steps in the selection procedure. Please make a note of the following dates: 8 May 2023 (interview/sample lesson, which may be accessible to public, etc.)>.
  • If you have any questions about the online application form, please check the frequently asked questions or send an email to jobs@uantwerpen.be. If you have any questions about the job itself, please contact professor Walter Daelemans (walter.daelemans@uantwerpen.be) .

The University of Antwerp received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award for its HR policy. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organisation which invests in its employees’ growth. We encourage diversity and attach great importance to an inclusive working environment and equal opportunities, regardless of gender identity, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse characteristics to apply.

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