| Minimum requirements:
* MA/MSc or equivalent in Computational Linguistics or related fields.
* Thorough knowledge of C/C++, Perl, and the UNIX/LINUX environment.
* Knowledge of and experience in text processing or related fields.
* The ability to work well in a team and willingness to supervise.
* Full fluency in English.
Preferred/recommended requirements:
* PhD in Computational Linguistics or related fields.
* Thorough knowledge of and experience in main statistical and machine learning approaches, applied to both text and speech processing.
* Experience in other programming languages.
* 1-3 years related experience in product development.
* Experience in scholarly publication.
* Knowledge of or fluency in a Germanic language and/or Bantu language.
* Teaching experience.
Job description:
Over and above all, it will be expected from the Computational Linguist to help establish the Centre for Text Technology as a leading national and international institution of excellence and innovation in the field.
The three main responsibilities will be formalised within the following parameters (with suggested time allocations in brackets, to be negotiated each year):
(a) Development of human language technology applications, including market research and evaluation, planning, overseeing of activities related to the development, and programming (40%)
(b) Research in Computational Linguistics, with the focus on innovative research of international standard. It will be expected from you to publish in acknowledged international journals, present research results at local and international conferences, and stimulate research within the Centre (45%)
(c) Tuition, including undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, as well as workshops and other training programmes, and supervision of post-graduate students (15%)
Commencement:
As soon as possible, but not later than 1 December 2004.
Contract period:
36 months. Depending on the output of the Centre and work performance, the post may either be renewed on a contract basis or tenured after the 36 month period.
Remuneration:
Highly competitive salary, with an annual raise, according to University benchmarks. No fringe benefits included, but a structuring of the salary can be negotiated (e.g. a part for travel allowance, inclusion in the University's medical aid scheme, etc.). Annual leave according to labour law regulations and University practice included.
Additional information:
** A certain amount of the library budget allocation will be made available to you to expand the current library collection.
** You will be encouraged to apply for funding for research and conference attendance, within the University's framework for research funding, as well as external funding (e.g. National Research Foundation).
Background on Centre for Text Technology:
Since 2000 the Research Focus Area “Languages and Literature in the South African Context” at the North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus – www.puk.ac.za) established a research programme “Language & Technology”. In 2002 a four year degree in Computational Linguistics was also introduced at the University. Given the growing interest in Computational Linguistics in South Africa, and the niche focus at the North-West University, the Centre for Text Technology was established in 2004. Sufficient internal and external funding for operations for at least the next three years has already been obtained.
The Centre for Text Technology is a research and development centre, which combines research expertise and the essential technical and administrative support in order to conduct cutting-edge research in text technology, and use that as the basis for the development of innovative and relevant technological applications.
The mission of the Centre for Text Technology is to conduct innovative research of international quality, to ensure long-term sustainability in terms of product development, and to obtain outside funding for research and development activities. The Centre for Text Technology therefore aims to:
** stimulate and conduct high-quality, innovative research on text technology;
** develop world-class enabling technologies and text technology applications; and
** acquire mainly 3rd, 4th, and 5th stream funding for research and development activities (but also contribute to 1st stream funding, by generating subsidised research outputs).
Given the field of HLT and Computational Linguistics in South Africa, the Centre for Text Technology for now has three specific focal points, viz.:
** machine learning (Considerable effort has already been made to teach personnel and post-graduate students at the North-West University in using machine learning techniques for purposes of natural language processing);
** South African languages (The initial main focus will be on Afrikaans and Tswana, two of the most prominent provincial languages; the focus will later be extended to other prominent languages used in the rest of Africa); and
** proofing tools (Dominant research activities, expertise, and viable commercialisation opportunities in this domain in South Africa is already concentrated at the North-West University).
Under the auspices of the Centre, and based on research over the past two years, a new spelling checker and hyphenator for Afrikaans was commercially released at the beginning of 2004. Applications currently under development include spelling checkers and hyphenators for Northern Sotho, Tswana, Xhosa and Zulu, while the possibilities for the development of an Afrikaans grammar checker, thesaurus, and e-mail classification system are also being explored. The range of enabling technologies already developed includes an English Tag error checker for POS taggers, Tswana and Afrikaans tokenisers, Afrikaans stemmer, compound analyser and grapheme-to-phoneme converter, as well as a web-based Accent Attitude Assessment Tool and tools for acoustic and phonetic related analyses. Currently under development are Afrikaans and Tswana POS Taggers, Afrikaans sentenciser, Afrikaans Named-Entity Recogniser, and Tswana morphological analyser (using Xerox technology).
The Centre boasts a dedicated Human Language Technology Laboratory, as well as two smaller, specialized development laboratories with state of the art equipment. Full-time personnel include a senior researcher, project manager, programmer, resource manager, administrative manager, and various student assistants. The Centre is headed by Dr Gerhard van Huyssteen.
Application and deadline:
To apply, email a CV (including a statement of research interests, as well as names and contact information for three references) to Gerhard van Huyssteen ([email protected]) before 9 July 2004. Interviews with potential candidates to be conducted telephonically, or otherwise in person during ACL 2004 in Barcelona, or otherwise in The Netherlands before 14 August 2004.
For more information, contact Gerhard van Huyssteen at [email protected], or at +31 64 315 7374.
The North-West University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. Women and minority candidates are encouraged to apply.
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