We're recruiting PhD students to work on computational linguistics and
machine learning at *Macquarie University* in *Sydney, Australia*.

We're looking for strong candidates with good mathematical and computational
skills interested in human language comprehension, acquisition and its
instantiation in the brain.

A strong background in mathematical analysis (multivariate calculus and
linear algebra) and computer science (algorithms and data structures, as
well as programming experience) is important; prior experience in machine
learning and/or statistics is desirable.

 Various funding sources are available for both Australian and overseas
candidates. I especially encourage overseas applicants to apply for an
International
Postgraduate Research Scholarship
(IPRS)<http://www.hdr.mq.edu.au/information_about/scholarships/hdr_scholarsh...>;
applications for these are due on the *31st August 2011*.

The areas we are especially targeting are:

   - *Computational models of language acquisition:* (especially
   non-parametric Bayesian models). This project involves developing new models
   of language acquisition and applying them to child language development
   data. It involves working with language acquisition researchers as well as
   computational linguists and machine learning experts.

   - *Computational models of incremental syntactic and semantic processing:
   * (especially on-line processing of both text and speech). These projects
   require a good background in statistical parsing and/or language modelling.
   Possible projects include coreference resolution, semantic role labelling
   and incremental syntactic parsing.

   - *Machine learning and computational neurolinguistics:* This project
   involves applying statistical models and machine learning methods to neural
   imaging data from our on-campus MEG and fMRI facilities. We're especially
   interested in developing new methods for applying machine learning
   techniques to address questions of basic scientific interest. This project
   will involve working closely with neuroscientists as well as machine
   learning experts.

 Contact *Mark.John...@MQ.edu.au* for more information.

Information about PhDs at Macquarie University: http://www.hdr.mq.edu.au/

IPRS web site:
http://www.hdr.mq.edu.au/information_about/scholarships/hdr_scholarsh...