PhD student position

Università della Svizzera italiana; Lugano; Vor Ort; EUR 40’000 - 55’000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

L'Università della Svizzera italiana offre una posizione di Dottorato in Argomentazione, Pragmatica e Analisi del Discorso per il progetto 'ReCOUNT'. Questa posizione è altamente interdisciplinare e richiede un forte interesse per la ricerca empirica e l'analisi critica del discorso sociale, specialmente nelle interazioni sui social media. Inclusi nella posizione ci sono anche compiti di insegnamento e assistenza accademica nelle corsi di Argomentazione e Analisi del Discorso.

Qualifikationen

• Master o titolo equivalente in linguistica, argomentazione, comunicazione.
• Interesse per l'analisi del discorso e dei social media.
• Competenze di programmazione considerato un valore aggiunto.

Aufgaben

• Sviluppare una dissertazione nel progetto ReCOUNT.
• Contribuire alla raccolta e analisi dei dati.
• Lavorare come assistente per corsi universitari.

Kenntnisse

Analisi della lingua

Interesse per le scienze sociali

Competenze di programmazione (Python)

Ausbildung

Master in linguistica o discipline correlate

Jobbeschreibung

Institute of Argumentation, Linguistics and Semiotics (IALS)

PhD student position at the Institute ofArgumentation, Linguistics and Semiotics,Faculty of Communication, Culture and

Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) is a young and lively university, a hub of opportunity

open to the world where students are offered a quality interdisciplinary education in which

they can be fully engaged and take center stage, and where our researchers can count on

having the space to freely pursue their initiative.

Established in 1996, USI is in constant evolution, always taking on new challenges while

remaining true to its three guiding principles: quality, openness and responsibility.

The Institute of Argumentation, Linguistics and Semiotics (IALS) represents a lively research

environment for a PhD student who specializes in the study of argumentation. Interaction

with several researchers specializing on argumentation in different contexts, as well as

interdisciplinary interactions with colleagues inside and outside the Faculty is an asset for a

PhD candidate who wants to work on empirical argumentation.

The Institute invites applications for a PhD position in Argumentation, Pragmatics and the

Discourse Analysis of Digital Media within the project “ReCOUNT - Reasons of the

others: concession and counterargument in polylogues”, a collaborative project

involving IALS (USI) and the Laboratory of the New Ethos (Warsaw University of

Technology, Poland). The project is funded by Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

through the Weave funding scheme in collaboration with Polish National Science Center

(NCN).

The PhD position is funded at 100% for 4 years.

The PhD candidate will develop their dissertation within the ReCOUNT project with a focuson the annotation and analysis of argumentation, and in particular of concession andcounterargument strategy in a corpus of social media interactions. The dissertation will besupervised by Prof. Andrea Rocci (http://usi.to/e3y). Depending on the thesis topic, a cosupervision involving one of the international project partners could be activated.

The project

ReCOUNT is a collaborative corpus-based investigation of discursive patterns of concession

and counterargument in the context of argumentative polylogue, relying on a qualitative and

quantitative exploration of an extensive case study of discussions on issues related to

Generative AI carried out via social media platforms. Perspective candidates are invited to

consult the detailed abstract of the research plan, which is available at the link below:

https://search.usi.ch/en/projects/4345/recount-reasons-of-the-others-concession-and

counterargument-in-polylogues

https://search.usi.ch/en/projects/4345/recount-reasons-of-the-others-concession-and-counterargument-in-polylogues

https://search.usi.ch/en/projects/4345/recount-reasons-of-the-others-concession-and-counterargument-in-polylogues

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The Ph.D. PositionCoursework. The doctoral student will be enrolled as PhD student in the Faculty ofCommunication, Culture and Society, in the Ph.D. school in Communication Sciences, with aspecialization in “Discourse and Argumentation”. They will attend doctoral courses in areassuch as Argumentation Theory, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis, Corpus Linguistics,Computational Linguistics / Natural Language Processing, Qualitative and QuantitativeMethods in Social Sciences.Research and Thesis. The PhD candidate will contribute to the development of the instituteresearch agenda, with a primary focus on the ReCOUNT project. They will have a significantrole in the data collection, manual and automatic annotation, qualitative and quantitativeanalysis of the corpus of the project. Their dissertation will be empirical and based on theThe PhD candidate is also asked to present papers at scientific conferences, and producepublications for scientific journals, in co-authorship with other project members of the projectand as a single author.Teaching. On the teaching side, the PhD candidate will work as teaching assistant in theArgumentation and Discourse Analysis courses taught by Prof. Andrea Rocci at the masterand bachelor levels, helping in the preparation of teaching materials and tutoring students.Bachelor courses are taught in Italian.Candidates’ profileIdeal candidates should satisfy the following requirements:

• A Master (or equivalent title) in linguistics, argumentation, rhetoric, discourse analysis,applied linguistics, computational linguistics, communication sciences or related disciplines.

• High personal interest in the analysis of discourse, dialogue and argumentation. Provenattitude for a fine-grained analysis of discourse and language. An interest for exploring thediscourse of social media and digital journalism and the societal debate around the scientific,economic, social and environmental impact of the “AI revolution”.

• Passion for interdisciplinary work and an open-minded willingness to learn about a widerange of topics and subject areas (including Linguistics, Argumentation, Media Studies,Ethics, Philosophy of Language, Political Science, Economics and Artificial Intelligence), towork with both qualitative and quantitative methods and to acquire the computerprogramming skills necessary for using natural language processing methods relevant forthe project.

• A strong work ethic and the willingness to carry out painstaking manual linguistic annotationof corpus data maintaining the highest standards of quality. Willingness to learn to useannotation software (e.g. INCEpTION, OVA+).

• A strong motivation to develop and complete a PhD thesis and the ability to work in a teamas well to collaborate more broadly with colleagues at IALS (engage in scientific dialogue,listen and think critically).

• Excellent fluency in English is necessary. Knowledge of Italian, Polish, German and Frenchwill be considered an added value. Working knowledge of a programming language (e.g.Python) will be also considered a plus.

• Interest for teaching and tutoring students is also required.

Contract termsThe position is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) and the salary levelscorrespond to those set by the SNF for PhD researchers. Please, consult the SNF salary

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Presence on site is required. Availability to travel to other parts of Switzerland and abroad(for purposes of collaboration and research) is also required.

Starting date is November 1st, 2025 (at the earliest). However, the position will be keptopen until a suitable candidate has been found.

The ApplicationApplications may be submitted upon acceptance of the Applicant Personal Data ProcessingNotice found at the following LINK. In the online form, you will be asked to declare that youhave read and understood our privacy policy.Applications should contain: (1) a letter in which the applicants describe their researchinterests and the motivation to apply to this specific position, (2) a complete CV, (3) copies ofrelevant diplomas, certificates as well as the full transcript of records that prove thecandidates’ eligibility for doctoral studies in Communication Sciences, (4) an electronicversion of a research work (Master thesis or other scientific publication). The latter must beaccompanied by a short summary in English (1 page maximum). A support letter written bythe Master thesis supervisor (or another Professor who knows the candidate well) is equallywelcome.Applications must be submitted ONLINE by filling out the form accessible through thefollowing link: APPLY. You will also need to upload the documents listed above.Requests for further information to Prof. Andrea Rocci ([e-mail]).Applications received before July 15, 2025, will be given priority. However, applicationswill be received until the position is filled.USI strives to be an equal opportunity and family friendly employer and is further responsiveto the needs of dual career couples. We guarantee that the selection process will give equalopportunities to female and male researchers.As an institution that values diversity, USI particularly encourages applications from womenand from all individuals from underrepresented groups.