Two PhD and Postdoc openings at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (E13, 100%)

[Gozde Gul]

The newly founded Chair of Intelligent Language Systems at FAU Erlangen–Nürnberg is seeking applications for fully funded PhD and postdoctoral positions. The key research areas include reasoning, interpretability, neuro-symbolic methods, memory and multilinguality. The position offers a degree of research freedom, however the overall goal is to advance LLM/VLMs for the long-tail of the distribution, i.e., unseen languages, tasks or domains by developing novel ML/NLP/RL methods.

About the Lab

The lab is led by Gözde Gül Sahin. We regularly publish at top-tier *CL venues, and are also looking to extend to top-tier ML venues. Our lab has been partially funded by Wikimedia Foundation via Wikimedia Research Fund , Google (Gemini) Academic Program and Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye via International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers program.

About FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg

FAU offers broad opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration across Informatik and beyond. There is strong potential for joint research with other computer science chairs, for example in areas intersecting with speech processing, as well as, security, and reliable systems. Natural connections also exist with the Humanities, particularly linguistics and digitally supported humanities research, as well as with application-oriented fields such as medicine. The chair is embedded in the vibrant Erlangen–Nuremberg research ecosystem, with close proximity to major industrial and applied research actors such as Siemens, adidas, and Fraunhofer IIS, providing an excellent environment for collaborative, impact-oriented PhD and postdoctoral research.

Computational Resources

FAU Erlangen–Nürnberg HPC Center offers access to powerful, well-maintained GPU clusters (https://doc.nhr.fau.de/clusters/overview/). 

Your Profile

- For the postdoctoral position: PhD in computer science, computational linguistics or a related field. For PhD position: Master of Science in computer science, computational linguistics or a related field before the PhD starting date

- Strong background in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning

- Excellent programming skills 

- Proficiency in English (German not required)

- Ability to work independently and as part of an interdisciplinary team

- Positive attitude, enjoyment of research, and finding new solutions

Application

Please email the following as a single pdf file to goezde.sahin [at] fau.de

- Cover letter, including your motivation for application (max. one page)

- A research statement outlining your research interests within the scope of the advertised position. It should propose a concrete research agenda you plan to develop during your PhD or PostDoc (up to two pages including references).

- Curriculum vitae (including your publication list (if available))

- Bachelors and Masters diplomas

- Transcripts 

- Name and contact details of 2 referees

Applications until 01.03.2026 will be given full consideration, however the position will remain open until filled. Hence, feel free to inquire even if the deadline has passed. The preferred starting date is 01.05.2026 (or soon after)

Salary

This is a fully funded E13 position (100%). An approximate salary can be calculated using the following tool: https://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/c/t/rechner/tv-l/west?id=tv-l-2025.