Research Associate in Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing

UAG; Sheffield; Hybrid; GBP 39,000 - 47,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave

Pension scheme

Flexible working

Job summary

The University of Sheffield is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join a world-leading NLP group and contribute to research on natural language processing, machine learning and computational social sciences.

You will work on European-funded projects, develop AI-based tools to analyse online disinformation, and build an AI chatbot to assist journalists and policymakers in countering disinformation.

Job description

Job description:

Are you interested in joining an internationally connected, world-leading research team in a vibrant natural language processing group?

We welcome applications for a postdoctoral Research Associate position focusing on natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML) and computational social sciences (CSS). Working predominantly as part of European-funded projects, you will use cutting-edge NLP and ML methods to research and analyse online disinformation and to develop an AI-based chatbot to guide key stakeholders (eg journalists, policymakers) in countering disinformation.

You will collaborate and work closely with European partners, being part of a large and multidisciplinary team of researchers and developers. You will be confident at leading the write-up and publication of your research results, translating complex technical insights into practical toolkits and white papers.

There is dedicated scope and funding to disseminate your research via high-impact journals and international conferences, alongside opportunities to demonstrate the real-world societal impact of your work to key stakeholders. This position is ideal for an inquisitive, collaborative researcher with excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

The School of Computer Science was established in 1982 and has since attained an international reputation for its research and teaching. In the recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), 99% of our research was rated in the highest two categories (4* and 3*), meaning that it is classed as world-leading or internationally excellent. Half of our research outputs were judged to be world-leading. We were rated as 8th in the UK (out of 90 institutions) for the quality of our research environment, and 70% of our impact was judged to be outstanding. Much of our research spans the boundaries between engineering, medicine and the life sciences. Research in the school is organised into a number of groups: Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Speech and Hearing, Computer Vision, Foundations of Computation, Complex Systems Modelling, Pervasive Computing, Security of Advanced Systems, and AI x Software Engineering & Testing. We attract substantial external funding from UK Research Councils, the European Union and industry. Our record for leadership in collaborative research is outstanding, particularly in European programmes.

More information about the School of Computer Science can be found at https://sheffield.ac.uk/cs

The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university.

We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly-competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more.

We are committed to exploring flexible working opportunities which benefit the individual and University.

We build teams of people from different heritages and lifestyles from across the world, whose talent and contributions complement each other to greatest effect. We believe diversity in all its forms delivers greater impact through research, teaching and student experience.

£38,784 to £47,389 , with potential to progress to £51,753 through sustained exceptional contribution