Postdoctoral position in Machine Translation (OP-20131220-162727)

NLP Group, Idiap Research Institute, Martigny, Switzerland

Description: 	

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral researcher position in the
field of machine translation (MT), in the context of the MODERN project
(www.idiap.ch/project/modern) funded by the Swiss National Science
Foundation. The MODERN project is headed by Idiap, with partners in
Zurich, Geneva and Utrecht, and its overall goal is to model discourse
entities and relations for improving MT.

The researcher will focus on enhancing the use of text-level features
upon decoding, in a statistical MT framework. Several features are
available from our previous projects, for instance pertaining to
discourse relations or verb tenses, but also based on robust semantic
relatedness measures. In addition, work in MODERN will focus on
discourse entities (coreference and anaphora resolution) which will
offer additional text-level constraints to experiment with. We are
expecting from the postdoctoral researcher to advance the
state-of-the-art in text-level decoding with linguistically motivated
features, demonstrating improvement over existing options (such as
factored models) through quantitative evaluation.

Candidates should hold a PhD degree in statistical machine translation
or natural language processing, and demonstrate a strong publication
record at the time of application. Strong skills in programming and
statistical modeling are also expected, along with a sensitivity to MT
evaluation issues. While English is the main working language, knowledge
of French, German or Dutch (the languages targeted in MODERN) would be
an advantage. The PhD degree must be obtained before the starting date
of the position.

The position is offered for one year, with renewal for a second year
conditional on satisfactory results. Review of the applications will
start on February 1st, 2014, and will continue until the position is
filled. The appointment will start on August 1st, 2014.

How to apply:

Please fill in and submit your application through the Idiap online
recruitment system, by clicking on the position's title at
http://www.idiap.ch/education-and-jobs.

Contact information:

Further information about this position can be requested via the Idiap
online recruitment system or by contacting Dr. Andrei Popescu-Belis,
head of the NLP group.

About Idiap: 	

Idiap is an independent, non-profit research institute recognized and
supported by the Swiss Government, and affiliated with the Ecole
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). It is located in the town of
Martigny in Valais, a scenic region in the south of Switzerland,
surrounded by the highest mountains of Europe, and offering exciting
recreational activities, including hiking, climbing and skiing, as well
as varied cultural activities. It is within close proximity to Geneva
and Lausanne. Although Idiap is located in the French part of
Switzerland, English is the working language. Free French lessons are
provided.

Idiap offers competitive salaries and conditions at all levels in a
young, dynamic, and multicultural environment. Idiap is an equal
opportunity employer and is actively involved in the "Advancement of
Women in Science" European initiative. The Institute seeks to maintain a
principle of open competition (on the basis of merit) to appoint the
best candidate, provides equal opportunity for all candidates, and
equally encourage both genders to apply.