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Research Fellow - Future Leader Fellowship Project (Computer Science) - School of English, Drama and

Employer
University of Birmingham
Location
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Salary
£30,942.00 - £32,817.00
Closing date
Aug 2, 2021
Position Details

School of English, Drama and Creative Studies

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,942 to £32,817. As the position is externally funded the maximum salary that can be offered is £32,817.

Grade 7

Full Time

Fixed Term Contract from 1 January 2022 to 1 January 2024

Closing date - 2 August 2021

The Department of English Language and Linguistics seeks to appoint a Post-doctoral Research Fellow to work on the UKRI-funded Future Leader Fellowship project 'Making Numbers Meaningful' led by Dr Bodo Winter. The project focuses on key aspects of numerical communication in (1) data visualization, (2) co-speech gesture, and (3) numerical language, including exact numerals, rounded numbers, vague quantifiers, and numerical metaphors. The project has two strands. One strand is focused on using methods from computational linguistics (computer vision, knowledge extraction, NLP) and corpus linguistics to study naturally occurring numerical communication in multimodal contexts, such as newspapers, TV news, and corporate annual reports. The other strand is focused on performing experiments on the effects of different numerical communication strategies on comprehension and audience impressions, especially vis-à-vis the accessibility of numerical information to people with innumeracy and math phobia.

Each strand will require different skill sets. We are looking to recruit an experienced research fellow for strand one, who will have a PhD in computer science or related fields, with high level skills in performing computer vision tasks, knowledge extraction from multimodal documents, and/or natural language processing.

The Department of English Language and Linguistics has an outstanding international reputation, with particular strengths in relevant areas such as corpus linguistics, quantitative sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, and a growing interest in data science and the study of multimodal communication. As a member of the Department, the research fellow will join a lively and flourishing research community where they will enjoy opportunities for intellectual and other leadership in a collegiate and highly ambitious environment. Research fellows will also join the wider network of the UKRI Future Leader Fellowship project, which includes the School of Computer Science, the University of Birmingham's new Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Science and AI, and various industry partners and data science networks (Digital Native, Birmingham Innovation, BrumAI, Birmingham R User Group).

This is a full-time post with a duration of two years, with an anticipated start date of 1 January 2022.

Role Purpose

The Department of English Language and Linguistics seeks to appoint a Post-doctoral Research Fellow to work on the UKRI-funded Future Leader Fellowship project 'Making Numbers Meaningful' led by Dr Bodo Winter. The project focuses on key aspects of numerical communication in (1) data visualization, (2) co-speech gesture, and (3) numerical language, including exact numerals, rounded numbers, vague quantifiers, and numerical metaphors. The role is focused on using methods from computational linguistics (computer vision, knowledge extraction, NLP) and corpus linguistics to study naturally occurring numerical communication in multimodal contexts, such as newspapers, TV news, and corporate annual reports.

Scope of role

Work within specified research grants and projects

Operate within area of specialism

Analyse and interpret research findings and results

Contribute to licensing or spin out deals with demonstrated commercial success (such as revenues, asset or company sales, IP generated) and/or public understanding of the discipline or similar

Main Duties

The responsibilities may include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required

Analyse and interpret data

Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding

Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars etc

Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods

Undertake management/administration arising from research

Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration

Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader

Collect research data; this may be through a variety of research methods, such as scientific experimentation, literature reviews, and research interviews *

Present research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof, for example at seminars

Provide guidance, as required, to support staff and any students who may be assisting with the research *

Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines*

* These indicative responsibilities may also be included in a research role at grade 6.

Skills and experience

Will have a PhD in computer science or related fields, or be close to completion

High level skills in performing computer vision tasks, knowledge extraction from multimodal documents, and/or natural language processing

High level analytical capability

Ability to communicate complex information clearly

Fluency in relevant models, techniques or methods and ability to contribute to developing new ones

Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively

Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes

For informal enquiries, please contact Bodo Winter ( b.winter@bham.ac.uk )

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working

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