Job description

A full-time position as Associate Professor in Natural Language Processing is available at the Department of Informatics in the Language Technology Group (LTG) within the Section for Machine Learning. The Department seeks a researcher with a strong track record, educational and administrative skills, and abilities to establish and lead research projects, who will strengthen our research and education in Language Technology / Natural Language Processing (NLP).

LTG is one of five research groups in the Section for Machine Learning at the Department of Informatics. Current prominent research activities at LTG include sentiment analysis, detection and analysis of negation and hedges, parsing into graph-structured representations of meaning, multi-lingual probing of linguistic knowledge in neural architectures, and techniques for model adaptation to low-resource domains and languages.

For more information about LTG at IFI, see here.

LTG further administers the BSc- and MSc-level study programmes Informatics: Language Technology at the department and is involved in teaching of several courses with an NLP specialization, as well as more general courses in machine learning. For more information about the study programmes, see:

https://www.uio.no/studier/program/informatikk-sprakteknologi/

https://www.uio.no/english/studies/programmes/informatics-language-master/

General information about the position

Applicants must document scientific qualifications in his/her field equivalent to an Associate Professor position. The successful applicant must be able to teach at all levels and to supervise Master and PhD students.

The successful applicant may furthermore be required to take on other teaching duties and administrative tasks by request from the Department or the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

Qualification requirements

The candidate must:

• hold a PhD in NLP or computer science with an NLP specialization
• have a strong record of publication in relevant NLP venues. Research output from the last five years will be given particular weight
• have expertise in machine learning, including in-depth experience with neural methods in particular
• have teaching experience in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics or NLP courses and have a commitment to engage in undergraduate and graduate education and in mentoring and advising master and doctoral students. Pedagogical qualifications and teaching and supervision experience at all levels will be an important factor in the evaluation process and should be well documented in a teaching portfolio. The applicant should describe her/his qualifications in view of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) framework which includes:

1. Focus on student learning
2. A clear development over time
3. A researching approach
4. A collegial attitude and practice
5. The person appointed must have fluent oral and written communication skills in English

The candidate should:

• be able to lead and manage research projects. A strong track record in academic leadership is an advantage, as well as experience in the acquisition of research grants
• have a research profile that is compatible with the research conducted at LTG

We offer

• Salary from NOK 702 100 - 873 400 per year, depending on qualifications in position as Associate Professor (position code 1011).
• A professionally stimulating working environmen
• Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement, in addition to Oslo’s family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities
• The opportunity to apply for promotion to full professorship at a later stage

How to apply

The application must include:

• An application letter
• A research position paper (1–4 pages) describing the applicant’s vision and ambitions for the nearest future
• A detailed CV, including complete list of education, positions, pedagogical experience, administrative experience, project acquisition and coordination experience, funding and awards, and other qualifying activities
• Copies of educational certificates, PhD diploma, transcript of records and letters of recommendation
• A complete list of publications and academic merits and awards (if not included in the CV)
• Full text of up to 5 selected publications the applicant wishes to include in the evaluation
• A document discussing the importance, interrelation, and relevance of the selected papers for this position, showing how the conducted research complements or meaningfully extends the current research profile of LTG
• Description of dissemination activities beyond scientific publications
• A teaching portfolio of 3–6 pages documenting educational competence and experience, including a reflection note in which your own practice and learning vision is anchored in the SoTL criteria. The teaching portfolio is expected to include:
  • a listing of teaching experience as well as work on developing/ revising/ renewing study plans and the design of courses.
  • documentation of teaching qualifications and supervision of Master and PhD students.
• A list of 3 reference persons (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and phone number)

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, please follow the link "Apply for this job". Please note that all documents should be in English (or a Scandinavian language) and must be submitted as PDF-files (maximum 2 MB / file).

In the evaluation of the qualified candidates the full range of these criteria will be explicitly addressed and assessed.

Relevant candidates will be called for interviews and requested to hold a trial teaching session. References may be consulted.

Formal regulations

The successful candidate who at the time of appointment cannot document basic teaching qualifications (minimum requirement is a 200 hrs. pedagogical programme) will be required to obtain such qualifications within a two-year period.

The successful candidate must demonstrate mastery of English as his/her working language. Bachelor-level teaching at IFI is in Norwegian. If a candidate is not fluent in a Scandinavian language, the successful appointee will be required within a two-year period to learn sufficient Norwegian to be able to participate actively in all functions the position may involve.

The basis for assessment will be the scientific production of the applicant, the teaching portfolio, pedagogical and educational qualifications, the applicant’s qualifications within leadership and administration, other qualifications as well as general personal suitability for the position. In ranking the competent applicants, the full range of qualifications will be considered and explicitly assessed.

Please refer to the Rules for Appointments to Professorships and Associate Professorships at the University of Oslo, the Guide for Applicants and Members of the Assessment Committee and Rules for practicing the requirement for basic pedagogical competence at the University of Oslo.

Pursuant to section 25(2) of the Freedom of Information Act, information concerning the applicant may be made public, even if the applicant has requested not to appear on the list of applicants.

The University of Oslo has a transfer agreement with all employees that is intended to secure the rights to all research results etc.

The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a balanced gender composition and to recruit people with an immigrant background.

In addition, the University of Oslo aims for its employees to reflect the diversity of the population to the greatest degree possible. We therefore encourage qualified applicants with disabilities or gaps in their CV to apply for the position. The University of Oslo will adapt the workplace to suit employees with disabilities. Applicants who indicate that they have disabilities or gaps in their CV are made aware that this information may be used for statistical purposes.

Contactinformation

• Professor Lilja Øvrelid, LTG Group Manager, e-mail: liljao@ifi.uio.no

For technical questions about the recruitment system, HR Adviser Therese Ringvold, email: therese.ringvold@mn.uio.no.

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