PhD Studentship in Natural Language Processing

Computational Learning and Computational Linguistics group

University of Geneva



Applications are invited for a PhD position in the Computational Learning and Computational Linguistics (CLCL) group of the University of Geneva. The successful candidate will pursue research in connection with a project on statistical machine translation funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, in collaboration with researchers in Geneva's Linguistics Department and the IDIAP Research Institute.

Candidates should have a solid background in computer science or computational linguistics. They should have excellent programming skills as well as communication skills in English (and ideally in French as well). Preference will be given to candidates with a strong interest and/or experience in machine learning or statistical methods, and in computational linguistics or natural language processing. A strong academic record, excellent analytical skills, and a clear aptitude for autonomous, creative research will be priority selection criteria.

Funding is guaranteed for 3 years through a Swiss National Science Foundation PhD studentship, with a possible extension for a fourth year. Starting salary will be around the range 3300-4400 CHF/month (gross) depending on the conditions of employment (1 CHF = 0.66 EUR).

The position is available starting 1 March 2010 or soon thereafter. We will begin considering applications immediately, and will give priority to applications received before 30 November 2009.


How to apply

Applicants should send their curriculum vitae, academic transcripts indicating their degrees and all their courses with grades, a statement of purpose, and names and addresses (with e-mail and telephone number) of at least two references to the address below. Electronic applications are strongly preferred.


Contact information

James Henderson                      
CUI - University of Geneva         
Battelle bātiment A         
7 route de Drize        
CH-1227 Carouge, Switzerland 
E-mail: James.Henderson@unige.ch

Informal inquiries should be directed to Dr. James Henderson at James.Henderson@unige.ch or Dr. Paola Merlo at Paola.Merlo@unige.ch.


About the institution

CLCL is an interdisciplinary group between the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Computer Science Department and the Laboratory for the Analysis and Technology of Language of the Linguistics Department. Further information on related research activities of the CLCL group can be found on the CLCL group's website and on the home pages of Dr. James Henderson and Dr. Paola Merlo.

The University of Geneva is one of the leading research universities in Europe and offers excellent working conditions, as well as a stimulating scientific environment. The University of Geneva wishes to increase the proportion of female academic staff and, for this reason, especially welcomes applications from women.


Keywords: natural language processing, machine learning, machine translation