Academic research assistant (m/f/x)

at  Universitt des Saarlandes

Saarland University is a campus university that is internationally recognized for its strong research programmes.
Fostering young academic talent and creating ideal conditions for teaching and research are a core part of the
university’s mission. As part of the University of the Greater Region, Saarland University enables students and staff to
share and exchange knowledge and ideas between disciplines, between universities and across borders. With over
17,000 national and international students, studying more than a hundred different academic disciplines, Saarland
University is a diverse and dynamic learning environment. [Saarland University is officially recognized as one of
Germany’s family-friendly higher-education institutions and with a combined workforce of more than 4,000 it is one
of the largest employers in the region.]
The Department of Language Science and Technology is inviting applications for the following position commencing
02 September 2024

WORKPLACE/DEPARTMENT:

CASCADE (Computational Analysis of Semantic Change Across Different Environments) is a HORIZON Marie
Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks scheme which will bring together researchers from a variety
of backgrounds, including literary studies, historical text analysis, semantics, corpus linguistics, machine learning
and natural language processing. The project will emphasise the importance of computational linguistics and
humanities scholarship as skills that bring value and competitive edge to organisations concerned with semantically
aware information retrieval and text analytics. CASCADE is a partnership between University College Cork, the
University of Sheffield, KU Leuven, the University of Helsinki, and Saarland University.
Saarland University is currently seeking applications for a PhD project entitled Diachronic development of text
types in the English Language, which will be one of ten funded projects to emerge out of CASCADE’s doctoral
network. The successful candidate will be appointed as Marie Curie Early Career Researchers at Saarland University,
enrolled in a fully-funded three-year PhD programme.
The successful candidate will be supervised by PD Dr. Stefania Degaetano-Ortlieb. The position will be located
within the Department of Language Science and Technology. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to
collaborate with researchers affiliated with the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1102 on
Information Density and Linguistic Encoding at Saarland University. CRC 1102 is a thriving research environment with
over 30 PhD students and postdocs from many subfields of Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and
Psycholinguistics. The Department of Language Science and Technology consists of about 100 research staff in nine
research groups in the fields of Computational Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, Speech Processing, and Corpus
Linguistics. It is part of Saarland Informatics Campus, which brings together computer science research at the
university with world-class research institutions on campus.
The project Diachronic development of text types in the English Language will use computational approaches to model
temporal dynamics of textual data (corpus-based and novel probabilistic measures) for the analysis of the
development of text types in English. From the 15th century onward, increased use of the vernacular and perceived
syntactic and lexical gaps (compared with Latin) prompted linguistic innovation in English, concurrent with the
progressive conventionalization of text types. Existing variation was made functional and new distinctions were either
borrowed or invented (e.g. transfer of features from medicine to cooking recipes). Applying corpus-based and novel
probabilistic measures to investigate diachronic change and with support from Text+ and IDeaL, the PhD candidate
will be able to: 1) determine the linguistic features of different text types; 2) determine how these features change
over time; 3) assess the overlap of different text types and the possible mutual influence of text types; 4) develop a
computational workflow to support the above objectives which is made publicly available (e.g. on github).
The vacancy is open to applicants of all nationalities who comply with the mobility requirement and the degree

requirement:

• applicants must not have resided in the country of the CASCADE university that will host them (university of

the main supervisor, Germany in this case) for more than 12 months in the 36 months preceding

appointment

• applicants must not hold a doctoral degree in any other field or have failed a corresponding doctoral

examination at another higher education institution.
CASCADE is committed to creating an environment in which all talents can develop to their maximum potential,
regardless of gender, age, cultural origin, nationality or disability. We particularly encourage candidates from
traditionally underrepresented groups to apply.
CASCADE is advertising positions for 10 candidates within its network, who will be housed across the five
participating universities. While applications are welcome to apply for more than one project, applications for each
position must be submitted separately. In the event an applicant does apply for more than one position and has a
particular preference, this should be indicated by email to PD Dr. Stefania Degaetano-Ortlieb. Applicants are
encouraged to only apply for projects for which they are ideally qualified and suitable. The recruitment process will
be done centrally by the CASCADE selection committee.

YOUR ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Completed university studies in English Linguistics with strong historical and/or corpus-based background, Digital
  Humanities, Corpus Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, or related fields, held by time of appointment (MA-

degree)

• Language skills (according to GER): English B2

• Participation in the general training programme of the doctoral network (kick-off, monthly online research

meetings, annual workshops and schools, and final conference)

• Collaboration with a multidisciplinary research group focused on the intersection of Computational

Linguistics, Linguistics, and Digital Humanities.

• Creation of a typology of diachronic text types.
• Large-scale analysis of the evolution of meaning across text types.
• Development of a computationally supported methodology for diachronic text typology.
• Participation in joint publications and engagement in academic service.
• The successful candidate will be expected to participate in a series of international conferences and

workshops, as well as undertake secondments in Germany and abroad.