Open Research Associate Positions at Semantic Computing Group, Bielefeld University / CITEC

The Semantic Computing Group [1] at the Excellence Center Cognitive
Interaction Technology [2] (CITEC) at Bielefeld University [3] is
seeking to fill two full-time positions as research fellow at level TV-L
13 (100%) of the German university payscale. 

Currently, the group is working on argumentation technology. In
particular, we are investigating how machines can be endowed with
sufficient world knowledge so that they can understand argumentative
structures expressed in natural language or generate coherent
argumentative structures on their own, for instance in the context of
transparent recommender systems based on interpretable machine learning.
The group coordinates the priority program "RATIO: Robust Argumentation
Machines" [4] that is currently funded by the German Science Foundation
(SPP 1999). 

In the context of the RATIO Program, the following two positions will be
filled: 

Position 1: suitable for a student looking to work towards a PhD or a
postdoc. The candidate will work on developing information extraction
algorithms that can extract information from biomedical publications in
order to represent the content of articles in a structured fashion as a
basis to synthesize arguments. 

Position 2: is suitable for a postdoc or an advanced PhD student. The
candidate will work on developing annotated datasets and shared tasks to
support the benchmarking and evaluation of approaches developed in the
context of the RATIO program. Beyond that, candidates are expected to
pursue an own scientific agenda within the broader area of argumentation
technologies focusing in particular on argumentation mining and/or
synthesis. 

Both positions require a Master degree or equivalent in computer
science, computational linguistics or information science. 

In addition, the following skills are expected: 
- Practical experience with machine learning methods, especially
supervised methods (deep learning, prob. graphical models, etc.),
applied to information extraction problems 
- strong programming skills (preferably Python or Java) 
- strong analytical skills 
- willingness to work in an interdisciplinary research environment 
- strong communicative skills and willingness to work in a team 

The following assets will be considered a plus: 
- experience with argumentation technology 
- experience with deep learning or probabilistic graphical models 
- experience with information extraction from text, discourse analysis
or semantic parsing 
- demonstrable ability to perform research work (e.g., by a first
scientific publication) 
- knowledge of the German language 

A doctoral degree is not required. We actively encourage and support
working towards a doctoral degree as qualification goal. 

The salary is based on Germany's academic salary level TV-L 13 (100%).
The entry level salary amounts to approx. 3.500 EUR per month (gross
income) and may increase depending on experience and other factors such
as marital or familial status. 

The positions will be filled for three years. 

Applications including a CV, university degree certificates and letter
of motivation should be sent to per email to
cimiano@cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de. Indicate in the application the
position that is of interest. 

[1] http://www.sc.cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de/ 

[2] https://www.cit-ec.de/ 

[3] http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/ 

[4] http://www.dfg.de/foerderung/info_wissenschaft/2016/info_wissenschaft_16_38/index.html


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Prof. Dr. Philipp Cimiano
AG Semantic Computing
Exzellenzcluster für Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC)
Universität Bielefeld

Tel: +49 521 106 12249
Fax: +49 521 106 6560
Mail: cimiano@cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de

Office CITEC-2.307
Universitätsstr. 21-25
33615 Bielefeld, NRW
Germany