funded PhD positions

Dear all, 

I apologise for cross-posting,  

The Institute of Computer Science III at the University of Bonn, Germany, is searching for:

 

Three full time PhD students

 

in the field of Semantic Web / Linked Data.

 

On top of a generous basic salary we offer a mobility allowance and, if applicable, a family allowance. Initial appointment will be for one year with a possible extension to 3 years. The position starts as soon as possible. Initial appointment will be for one year with a possible extension to 3 years.

 

The successful candidates will work in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie International Training Network WDAqua (Answering Questions using Web Data), undertaking advanced fundamental and applied research into models, methods, and tools for data-driven question answering on the Web, spanning a diverse range of areas and disciplines (data analytics, social computing, Linked Data, and Web science).

They will carry out research towards a PhD on one of the following topics: (1) Effectively and efficiently supporting dataset maintainers in semi-automatically cleaning and enriching datasets to make them fit for question answering. (2) Discovering and retrieving datasets of a high quality for QA with a high precision and recall; automating dataset quality assessment. (3) Efficient and precise translation of natural language questions into structured queries against a federated knowledge base.

They will participate in the network’s training schedule and perform internships with other project partners. There will be no teaching obligation but teaching can be arranged, if desired.

 

We offer:

●      Two or more academic supervisors from the WDAqua network (the PhD student working on topic (1) will obtain a dual PhD degree with Université Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne, France)

●      A support grant to attend conferences, summer schools, and other events related to your research.

●      The possibility to obtain a discounted public transport ticket

 

Requirements:

●      A Master degree in a relevant field (Computer Science or equivalent)

●      Not having resided/worked in Germany for more than 12 months in the 3 years before starting the work (Marie Skłodowska-Curie mobility rule)

●      Proficiency in spoken and written English. Proficiency in German is a plus.

●      Proficiency in Programming languages like Java/Scala or JavaScript, and modern software engineering methodology.

●      Familiarity with Semantic Web, Natural Language Processing, Indexing and Data Analytics is an asset.

To apply, please send to eis-leaders@lists.iai.uni-bonn.de <mailto:eis-leaders@lists.iai.uni-bonn.de> a CV, a master certificate or university transcripts, a motivation letter including a short research plan targeted to one of the topics listed above, two letters of recommendation, and an English writing sample (e.g. prior publication or master thesis excerpt). Applications arriving before 6 February 2015 will be given full consideration.

 

Please direct informal enquiries to the same address, or see http://www.iai.uni-bonn.de/~langec/wdaqua/ <http://www.iai.uni-bonn.de/~langec/wdaqua/>. On 21 January we will hold an information event to inform about the project partners and their PhD projects.

 

The University of Bonn is an equal opportunities employer. Preference will be given to suitably qualified women or persons with disabilities, all other considerations being equal.