3 Ph.D. POSITIONS IN COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS

In the Computational Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence Unit 
at Tilburg University, Faculty of Arts, three 4-year positions 
are available for pursuing a Ph.D. in Computational Linguistics or 
in Human-Computer Interaction.  

The research to be carried out will form part of the research program
`Information, Language and Knowledge (ITK)' of the CL&AI Unit, which 
investigates the formal and computational aspects of how information
expressed in natural language can be represented, learned, processed,
and communicated. It is situated in the interdisciplinary area where
cognitive science, linguistics, computer science, logic and artificial
intelligence converge. 


1. COMPUTATIONAL SEMANTICS/PRAGMATICS OR HCI ASPECTS OF DIALOGUE

   Associated with this position is a project, referred to as `Project
   CSP/HCI-2000', for investigating semantic and pragmatic aspects of
   natural language or multimodal dialogue, in relation to previous
   and ongoing research on computational semantics and pragmatics and
   on cooperative multimodal communication in the CL & AI Unit.  
   A detailed project plan will be developed during the initial phase
   of the project.  
   Proposals for innovative Ph.D. projects that may not quite fit the
   outline of the CSP/HCI-2000 project, but that do fit within the
   larger ITK program, are also welcome.

   Requirements
   ------------
   Applicants should have a good honours degree (or equivalent) in 
   computational linguistics, cognitive science, or computer science, 
   preferably with a background in semantics/pragmatics and with an
   interest in human-computer interaction.  

   For further information contact Harry Bunt at bunt@kub.nl, or 
   telephone +31-13 466 30 60. 
   
   Applications may be made by email to bunt@kub.nl


The following two positions are both related to joint projects of the
CL & AI Unit at Tilburg University and the Center of Research on
User-System Interaction IPO at Eindhoven University of Technology,  
and are sponsored by the Agency for Tilburg-Eindhoven Inter-University 
Cooperation (SOBU). 


2. SPOKEN DIALOGUE SYSTEM PRAGMATICS

   This position concerns the project `CONTEXT-DRIVEN DIALOGUE 
   MANAGEMENT FOR SPOKEN HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION', which aims at 
   investigating to what extent spoken human-computer communication can
   benefit from the advantages known from spoken human-human 
   communication. Natural spoken dialogue is interlarded with elements
   that serve to create and maintain the conditions for smooth and
   successful communication.  Such elements are called `dialogue
   control acts' and include various types of feedback acts,
   `interaction management acts' that signal, prevent or repair
   misunderstandings and other possible problems in the interaction,
   and `social obligation management acts' that help to make the
   interaction pleasant and cooperative. The project will study the
   desirability and the possibility of using dialogue control acts of the
   various categories, and strategies of using them known from natural
   human communication. The project will combine theoretical analysis
   and experimental study with prototype implementation in a dialogue
   system based on state-of-the-art speech technology and on the DenK
   system for multimodal (text + graphics) dialogue, developed jointly
   at the universities in Tilburg and Eindhoven. At IPO in Eindhoven
   the research is integrated with the `Spoken Dialogue Systems'
   research program.  

   Project leaders are Prof.dr. Harry Bunt (Tilburg University) 
   and Dr. Raymond Veldhuis (Eindhoven University of Technology).

   Requirements
   ------------
   Applicants should have a good honours degree (or equivalent) in 
   computational linguistics, cognitive science, or computer science, 
   preferably with a background in pragmatics and in logic
   programming, and with an interest in human-computer interaction.  

   For further information contact Harry Bunt at bunt@kub.nl, or 
   telephone +31-13 466 30 60. 
   
   Applications may be made by email to bunt@kub.nl



3. LEARNING TO COMMUNICATE: MACHINE LEARNING OF DIALOGUE STRATEGIES

   This position concerns the project `LEARNING TO COMMUNICATE:
   MACHINE LEARNING OF DIALOGUE STRATEGIES', of which the goal is to
   test whether (memory-based) machine learning systems can reach
   accurate decisions in taking turns in dialogues.

   Conducting a dialogue is a complex process that is hard to lay down
   in rules. When the computer is to be a dialogue partner, it is
   nevertheless necessary to have some generic model of the structure
   of dialogues. In this project, the task of finding such a model is
   assigned to machine learning systems, who learn on the basis of
   large amounts of example dialogues. The underlying idea (bias) of
   these systems is that earlier dialogues can be good models for new
   dialogues. In a new dialogue, the next step taken by the computer
   will be the same as the step made at that point in the most similar
   dialogue(s) it has seen before, and which have led to success in
   those cases.

   The Induction of Linguistic Knowledge group (http://ilk.kub.nl)
   within the CL&AI unit has been working since 1992 on the development
   of machine learning methods for natural language processing. It
   has thus far focused its research efforts on morpho-phonology, 
   syntax, and lexical semantics, and is looking forward to meet the 
   dialogue domain -- which has been a long-standing focal point
   of research and expertise of the IPO in Eindhoven.

   Project leaders are Dr. Antal van den Bosch (Tilburg University) 
   and Dr. Emiel Krahmer (Eindhoven University of Technology).

   Requirements
   ------------
   Applicants should have a good honours degree (or equivalent) in 
   computational linguistics, cognitive science, or computer science, 
   preferably with a background in corpus linguistics and/or
   pragmatics.

   For further information contact Antal van den Bosch at
   Antal.vdnBosch@kub.nl, or telephone +31-13 466 3117.
   
   Applications may be made by email to Antal.vdnBosch@kub.nl


General information
-------------------
Tilburg University is a specialized institute of learning  with
emphasis on social sciences and the humanities. Most of the university
is situated in one location, on the perimeter of Tilburg, where it
borders a beautiful, freely accessible forested area. It employs
more than 1600 people and has a student body of around 10.000. There
are 19 colleges and 10 research institutes which provide graduate and
postgraduate tuition and research of outstanding quality, Tilburg
University offers a whole range of modern facilities and services that
support the daily life of employees and students. 

The Computational Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence Unit in the
Faculty of Arts is an active interdisciplinary research group that
specialises in modelling aspects of natural language understanding,
machine learning of natural language, and cooperative multimodal
dialogue. 

All Ph.D. positions have a gross monthly salary of NLG 2398
(approx. 1100 euros) in the first year, increasing to NLG 4077
(approx. 1850 euros) in the fourth year. 

Applications can be made either by email, as indicated for each of the
positions, or by ordinary mail to:

Faculty of Arts
P.O. Box 90153
5000 LE Tilburg
Netherlands.

------------------------------------------------------
 Harry C. Bunt
 Professor of Linguistics and Computer Science
 Tilburg University 
 P.O. Box 90153 
 5000 LE Tilburg, the Netherlands
 Phone: +31 - 13 466.3060 (secretary Anne Andriaensen)
                     2568 (Dean's office)
                     2653 (office, room B 310)
 Fax: +31 - 13 466.3110
 Harry.Bunt@kub.nl
 WWW: http://cwis.kub.nl/~fdl/general/people/bunt/index.stm
-----------------------------------------------------------