LINGUIST List 10.374

Wed Mar 10 1999

Support: Graduate Positions at the UiL OTS

Editor for this issue: Scott Fults <scottlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. UiL-OTS, Graduate Positions at the UiL OTS

The Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS is a research institute of the
faculty of arts of Utrecht University. About a hundred people are involved
of which 12 full professors, 8 postdoc researchers and about 30 graduate
students.

The goal of UiL OTS is to develop scientific expertise in the area of
language, speech and their use. It participates in the Netherlands Graduate
School of Linguistics LOT and in the Graduate school of Logic OzsL. The
research of UiL OTS comprises the following six areas: (i) Syntax and
Semantics, (ii) Morphology & Phonology, (iii) Computational Linguistics &
Logic, (iv) Phonetics, (v) Language Development, en (vi) Language Use. The
research programme of UiL OTS brings together research from different
strands of linguistics and related disciplines such as logic, computer
science, cognitive sciences, teaching, and social sciences. Specific
domains of interdisciplinary co-operation are: the lexicon, 1st and 2nd
Language Acquisition, Language Teaching, Natural Language Processing, Text
linguistics and Conversation-analysis, Translation Studies, Text-design and
Language- and Speech technology.

Within the Netherlands the UiL OTS is the only research institute which
brings together all these different types of research. The research policy
of UiL OTS is focused on making full use of the added value of this
concentration of research and strengthen the national and international
position of the institute.

UiL OTS searches ambitious and enthousiastic candidates for

7 Graduate Positions in Linguistics

Start: August 1, 1999. 

UiL OTS received additional funding for the coming 5 years from the
Board of Utrecht University for the research programme "Language in
Use". The goal of this programme is to gain insight in several
fundamental questions in the area of Language structure, Language
Processing and Language Acquisition by combining research methods from
different subdisciplines and bringing together experts with different
backgrounds. To this end the experimental and computer facilities of
UiL OTS have been substantially improved. Against this background, we
are especially looking for candidates to carry out research in one of
the following areas of research:

	- The role of syntactic, semantic and pragmatic factors in the
	 interpretation of referential dependencies.
	- The role of prosody in Language Structure and Language Processing.
	- The role of the Language Acquisition Device in first and
	 second language acquisition as compared to general cognitive
	 faculties and experience.
	- The construction of formal models of syntactic and semantic
	 structure.

In all these areas projects will be characterised by an
interdisciplinary approach. Candidates are expected to be able to
co-operate with researchers from different backgrounds.

It is envisaged to assign 5 graduate positions to the programme
"Language in Use". Two graduate positions will be available for the
other areas of the UiL OTS research programme as it is sketched above.

Candidates are invited to apply for a graduate position in one of
these research fields. As part of their training, they will be able to
follow courses in the graduate programmes of LOT and/or
OzsL. Furthermore, candidates will carry out a research project. In
each of the above-mentioned research areas projects have been
formulated by the institute staff, but candidates may also apply on
the basis of a proposal of their own. Such proposals will be evaluated
against the research program of the institute. Summaries of the
available projects will be sent to you on request. These summaries are
also available on our Web-page:
www-uilots.let.ruu.nl/graduatepositions.htm. Part of the selection
procedure will be to elaborate a project proposal on the basis of a
summary.

We ask enthusiasm for scientific research and evident interest in one
of the areas of research of UiL OTS. The candidate should have a
relevant doctoraal, or equivalent (MA-)exam. Those who will finish
their doctoraal/MA before August 1, 1999 are also eligible.

We offer a stimulating and innovative research environment with many
international contacts, a program which offers possibilities for
education in a broad area of linguistics, good experimental
facilities, bursaries for attending conferences and a monthly
stipend. Contingent on progress the stipend will be available for four
years. Information will be provided by professor Eric Reuland
(academic director), tel. +31-30-256006, or Dr. Jan Don (program
coordinator), tel. +31-30-2536065. Applications may be sent before
March 22 to the Utrecht institute of Linguistics OTS, Trans 10, 3512
JK Utrecht, The Netherlands. Applications should be accompanied by a
curriculum vitae, two references, a list of academic results, and a
written specimen of academic research (MA-thesis, paper, etc.)