Assistant professor in Computational Linguistics

The Department of Linguistics has approximately 70 employees and is one of the largest language departments at Stockholm University. Approximately 30 per cent of the department’s operations focus on teaching, with the remaining 70 per cent being research, most of which is externally funded. For more information about us, please visit: Department of linguistics

Subject/subject description

Linguistics, with a focus on computational linguistics. Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of research that deals with computer models of natural language. Computational linguistics is also a research and teaching profile at the Department, initiated in the 1960s.

Main responsibilities

The duties consist of 60% research and 40% teaching, course development, supervision, and examination at various levels in Linguistics, primarily within Computational Linguistics, but also other suitable teaching within the department's existing course offerings. The offerings include courses in computer systems, programming and machine learning, speech analysis, mathematics, statistics, corpus linguistics, essay and project work, semantics, as well as an introductory course in Linguistics. The courses are offered at the bachelor's and master's levels. The position holder is expected to engage in pedagogical development work, participate in the department's research, initiate, organize, and lead research projects focused on Computational Linguistics, as well as to develop the subject further. The two positions will have different orientations and cover different competence needs that together complement each other according to the department's needs.

Qualification requirements

Eligible to be employed as an assistant lecturer in computational linguistics is someone who has completed a relevant doctoral degree (e.g., in Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, Language Technology, Speech Technology, or Computer Science), has documented scientific competence in Computational Linguistics, and documented pedagogical proficiency. Preference should be given to those who have obtained their doctoral degree or achieved equivalent competence no more than five years before the application deadline. Those who have obtained their doctoral degree or achieved equivalent competence earlier may also be considered if there are special reasons. General eligibility requirements include the ability to cooperate and the competence and suitability necessary to perform the duties well.

Assessment criteria

In the selection among eligible applicants, special and equal weight will be placed on pedagogical and scientific proficiency in Linguistics with a specialization on Computational Linguistics. Great weight will also be placed on the breadth of these proficiencies. The breadth of pedagogical proficiency refers to the ability to teach subjects within the department's course offerings. The breadth of scientific proficiency refers to the ability to conduct interdisciplinary research projects in line with the other research conducted at the department.

Given the nature of the position as a career development position, the applicants' scientific and pedagogical merits will be assessed primarily qualitatively. A quantitative advantage for an applicant, which may be explained by a longer period of activity, should not be decisive.

Meritorious qualifications include higher education pedagogical training of at least 7.5 higher education credits or equivalent knowledge acquired in other ways. An applicant lacking higher education pedagogical training of at least 7.5 higher education credits must complete such training within the first two years of employment. Also meritorious is completed doctoral supervisor training.

The department places great importance on good cooperation skills and the ability and willingness to take on administrative tasks within the department. The ability to collaborate with the surrounding community and to inform about research and development work will also be considered.

Stockholm University will, in this recruitment, primarily consider those who, after an overall assessment of competence, merits, skills, and personal abilities, have the best conditions to carry out the current tasks and contribute to a positive development of the activities.

Particularly Meritorious are the following:

• Documented ability to teach a course offering relevant to the department.
• Experience in participating in, applying for, and obtaining external research funding.
• Documented administrative proficiency.

Meritorious are the following:

• Ability to collaborate with the surrounding community and to inform about research and development work.
• Supervision at the doctoral level.
• Documented ability for interdisciplinary collaboration, preferably in one of the areas where research is conducted at the department.
• Proficiency in Swedish (or Norwegian or Danish) 

About the employment

This position (in Swedish, “biträdande lektor”) is a tenure track position, and the qualification requirements and terms of employment are regulated by the Higher Education Ordinance (SFS 2017:844).

For this tenure track position, the Assistant professor in Computational Linguistics, is employed until further notice, but no longer than 4 years. The contract may be extended by 2 years under special circumstances, such as due to sick leave or parental leave.

An assistant professor, may, on application, be promoted to a permanent position as senior lecturer. Specific criteria for the promotion have been established by the Faculty of humanities.

An application for promotion to associate professor should be submitted to the faculty at least nine months before the appointment as assistant professor expires.

Contact

Further information about the position can be obtained from the Head of the Department, Professor Mattias Heldner, phone +46 8 16 1988, mattias.heldner@ling.su.se, or by the subject coordinator of Computational Linguistics, Associate Professor Robert Östling, robert@ling.su.se.

For questions regarding the application process, please contact administrator Kenneth Hjalmarsson, phone: +46 8 16 21 30, kenneth.hjalmarsson@su.se.

Application

Apply for the position at Stockholm University's recruitment system. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the University’s instructions, and that it is submitted before the deadline.

We would appreciate it if your application is written in English. Since it will be examined by international experts, English is the working language.

Teaching positions: Instruction and application template
The University’s rules of employment and instructions for applicants are available at: How to apply for a position.

You are welcome to apply!