PhD Position on Neural and Cognitive Basis of Computational Models of Language at the University of Sheffield (UK)

Computer Science         ·        Sheffield, United Kingdom         ·        Full time

About the Project

Combining insights from neuroscience, biology, cognitive sciences and related areas, this project aims to develop computational models of language processing inspired by the neural and biological basis of human language.

Advances in the design of computational models that learn directly from data has led to much progress in areas like natural language processing (NLP). We invite applications for a fully-funded PhD studentship on human- inspired computational models of language. This multidisciplinary project, at the intersection of machine learning, NLP and computational neuroscience, aims to develop computational models of language processing inspired by the neural and biological basis of human language.

Supervisor bio:

Prof. Villavicencio is the Chair in Natural Language Processing, in the Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield (UK). She has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and has been a Visiting Scholar at various institutions, including MIT (USA), and the École Normale Supérieure (France). She was a Research Fellow from CNPq-Brazil, and is a member of the editorial board of journals including Computational Linguistics, TACL and JNLE. She was the PC Co-Chair of the 60th Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL 2022), and of CoNLL-2019, and General Co-Chair for PROPOR 2018. She was also a member of the NAACL board, SIGLEX board. Her research interests include representation learning, cognitively motivated models, and multiword expressions and she has co- chaired several *ACL workshops and has co-edited special issues and books dedicated to these topics.

About the Department and Research Group:

The NLP Research Group is one of the largest and most successful NLP groups in the UK with a strong global reputation. 99% of the research in our department is rated in the highest two categories in the REF 2021, being classed as world-leading or internationally excellent, and we are rated as 8th nationally for the quality of our research environment. The Department also has an Athena SWAN Silver Award for our significant efforts and successes in our ongoing mission to improve gender representation and diversity.

Candidate requirements:

Applicants will need to meet general entry requirements, and ideally will have a Bachelor’s degree (or above) in Computer Science, Neuroscience, Physics, Cognitive Science, Psychology or related discipline (preferably a First Class or the equivalent from an overseas university). Experience on statistical machine learning, deep learning, or computational statistics, as well as programming experience would be desirable.

Additional English language requirements can be found here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/english-language.

How to apply:

Applications for the PhD studentship must be made directly to the University of Sheffield using the Postgraduate Online Application Form. Make sure you name Aline Villavicencio as proposed supervisor. Information on what documents are required and a link to the application form can be found here – https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply/applying

Your research proposal should:

• Be no longer than 4 A4 pages, include references
• Outline your reasons for applying for this studentship
• Explain how you would approach the research, including details of your skills and experience in the topic area

Funding Notes

This position is funded by a studentship from the Department of Computer Science, covering the home tuition fee and providing a stipend at the standard UKRI rate. International students are eligible to apply if they can self-fund the difference between the home and overseas fee.

Please click here to apply.