[LCT-alumni] Funded PhD position in NLP

[Ali Reza Ebadat]

*****

Fully-funded Research Support Officer / PhD Candidate
to conduct research on multimodal semantic grounding and model
transparency, at the interface between Natural Language Processing and
Computer Vision.

This project forms part of the EU-funded NL4XAI Innovative Training
Network, and this specific call targets ESR5 in this ITN.

The researcher will work under the supervision of Albert Gatt
(https://staff.um.edu.mt/albert.gatt/) at the University of Malta, and
the co-supervision of Kees van Deemter (
https://www.uu.nl/staff/CJvanDeemter) at the University of Utrecht.

The NL4XAI Training Network focuses on the challenge of making AI
systems intelligible through the use of Natural Language. In this
specific project (ESR5), the focus will be on models -- especially
neural models -- which generate language from perceptual (e.g. image or
video) input (for example, to answer questions, or generate descriptive
or narrative captions). Such systems raise a number of important
questions, such as:

(a) to what extent are the choices made by a language model truly
grounded in sensory information?
(b) what is the best way to design training data for such models to
ensure that perceptual and linguistic modalities are complementary,
rather than redundant?
(c) how can the choices made by such models be rendered explicit or
intelligible to human users?

These questions will be addressed in a variety of ways, including
through techniques to test the sensitivity of neural Vision-Language
models, as well as behavioural techniques to evaluate them against human
input.

Both Albert Gatt and Kees van Deemter have long-standing track records
in research in Natural Language Generation. The successful candidate
will be part of the Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology at
the University of Malta, working in a group of researchers working on
several aspects of NLP, as well as on language from theoretical,
experimental and applied perspectives. Successful candidates will also
benefit from the training network which is being set up under the
European NL4XAI Innovative Training Network (https://nl4xai.eu/).

In the course of their work, the researcher will carry out two
three-month secondments to the University of Utrecht, and one
three-month secondment to Orange in Lanion, France (with Lina
Rohas-Barahona and J. Heinecke).

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Applications can be made directly at: https://nl4xai.eu/vacancies/

The full text of the call, with details of employment conditions at the
University of Malta is available here: http://bit.ly/semgrounding

Inquiries should be sent directly to Albert Gatt (alber...@um.edu.mt
<mailto:alber...@um.edu.mt>)

The NL4XAI project has received funding from the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie
Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 860621.



--
Albert Gatt
Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology
University of Malta
http://staff.um.edu.mt/albert.gatt/