Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics

Applications are invited for an 18 month Research Assistant/ Research Associate post on a project that focuses on multilingual conversational AI. The project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and will demonstrate how task-oriented conversational AI can be extended to benefit a larger population of users worldwide.

The project builds on state-of-the-art Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques, especially on those based on deep neural networks, integrating discrete linguistic information (i.e., external knowledge graphs, typological databases) in statistical and ML-based NLP.

Responsibilities of the successful candidate include research into novel techniques for improving the Natural Language Understanding (NLU) component of spoken dialogue systems with more effective semantic specialisation and via development of larger datasets covering a diverse set of languages. The post holder will also take part in performance evaluation in terms of practical applications, and dissemination of research findings.

The successful candidate must have either completed or being close to completing their PhD in NLP before starting their appointment. If they have not yet been awarded their PhD, they will initially be appointed as a Research Assistant and be promoted to Research Associate on award of the PhD. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate an excellent track record of independent research and strong publication.

Essential skills include: excellent programming skills, statistical NLP and machine learning techniques, as well as proven collaborative/communication/networking skills. Previous experience in multilingual NLP and development of datasets will be considered an advantage.

http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/27004/