Support Announcement:

Level:	PhD
Duty:	Research
Linguistic Field(s):	Computational Linguistics Language Evolution
Application Deadline:	01-Jul-2012
Supporting Institution:	Vrije Univesiteit Brussel Artificial Intelligence Department
LL Issue:	23.2285
Posted:	11-May-2012
Support Description:	PhD on machine learning of combinatorial speech We are looking for someone who has (or who is about to complete) a master's degree in computer science, (cognitive) artificial intelligence, modeling of language evolution or equivalent. You will work on a PhD project that is part of Bart de Boer's European Research Council ABACUS project. The ABACUS project ABACUS is a European Research Council funded project that attempts to advance our understanding of the evolution of (potentially language-specific) cognitive adaptations for speech. It focuses on combinatorial speech: the ability to combine a limited number of building blocks into an unlimited number of utterances according to learned rules. An important open question is how much of combinatorial speech is due to general cognitive abilities in combination with cultural evolution and how much is due to language-specific cognitive biases. The project combines individual and iterated learning experiments with computational modeling in order to address this question. The PhD project Your work consists of designing, implementing, investigating and describing computer models for learning and reproduction of continuous, speech-like signals. You will closely cooperate with (PhD) students doing individual and iterated learning experiments. We are looking for candidates with a serious interest in a scientific career, with good writing skills and with experience in building learning systems. Experience with speech/language research as well as affinity with experimental work are a plus. Theme: Computer modeling of learning and productive use of combinatorial structure Aim 1: Design and implement learning systems to investigate how combinatorial structure of continuous, speech-like signals can be learnt and then used in production and perception. Aim 2a: Help to generate hypotheses about human behavior. Aim 2b: Investigate what needs to be put into the models (in the form of a priori biases, learning biases, representational biases etc.) to get human-like behavior. Methods: Agent based models, focusing on the learning mechanisms of the individual agents (but in principle able to operate as members of a linguistic population). Conditions You apply for a four year PhD scholarship of approximately 36 000 (before taxes) per year, with additional money to visit conferences. You will work in a recently formed international and interdisciplinary research group. The group is part of the computer science department, but it investigates questions about (the evolution of) cognition and language, using a combination of experiment and computer modeling. You will be asked to do a limited amount of teaching and supervision, but that will take up no more than 20% of your working time. As part of your PhD project, you will have the possibility to spend a few months at a different institute. How to Apply We need a letter of motivation, a CV, a copy of your master's thesis (or in case you have not completed this, another sample of your writing), a list of your grades and the contact information of two people who can provide references. You can send these in pdf format to Bart de Boer: bart arti.vub.ac.be mentioning "ABACUS PhD3" in the subject. For inquiries you can send a message to this same address, or phone +32 2 629 3700. The deadline for application is July first, 2012.
Application Mailing Address:	Prof Bart de Boer Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Dienst ARTI Pleinlaan 2 Brussels 1050 Belgium
Application Web Address:	https://ai.vub.ac.be/members/bart/ABACUSPhD3
Contact Information:	Prof Bart de Boer bart@arti.vub.ac.be Phone:+3226293700