Are you passionate about fair and robust Natural Language Processing (NLP), data, and computational social science/sociolinguistics? Join our new ambitious DataDivers project funded by an ERC Starting grant and help us make NLP models more fair and robust.

Your job
The rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) and the availability of massive datasets have sparked a revolution in the field of NLP. However, numerous studies have pointed towards serious flaws: NLP models encode societal biases and show disparate performance across demographic groups. Thus, current models can and do cause real harm when deployed in society.

In the field of NLP, there is a growing recognition that data quality is key to better language models, yet we know surprisingly little about the link between data and model behaviour. In this project, we will develop methods to measure the diversity of NLP datasets, assess the impact of diversity on NLP models, and improve data collection and model training.

As a PhD candidate in our new DataDivers project, you will join the project team led by Dr Dong Nguyen. The team will consist of two PhD candidates and two Postdocs.

You will develop innovative methods to measure the diversity of NLP datasets. A major focus will be on measuring the dataset diversity from a sociolinguistic perspective, considering language variation – such as styles and dialects - and combining (socio)linguistic insights with neural language modelling. You will also draw from relevant disciplines, particularly the social sciences, that have developed measurement approaches for diversity. Furthermore, you will carry out experiments to assess the impact of data diversity on NLP models, with a focus on fairness and robustness, and investigate ways to leverage data diversity to improve NLP models!

This position offers you the opportunity to work on fundamental NLP research. As a PhD candidate, you will have the freedom to shape the project according to your own interests. Responsibilities include contributing to teaching activities, such as supervising Bachelor’s and Master’s theses or assisting in labs.

We are looking for an ambitious and collaborative PhD candidate, who meets several or all of the following criteria:

• You hold an MSc degree in Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, Linguistics, Computational Social Science, or a related field, with demonstratable experience in NLP and Machine Learning.
• You have strong programming skills. Experience with High-Performance Computing, or a willingness to learn, is desirable.
• You have a multidisciplinary mindset and are proactive in exploring and integrating knowledge from various fields.
• You have excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
• You have strong teamwork skills, as you will be collaborating closely with the larger DataDivers team.

We offer:

• a position for four years;
• a gross monthly salary between €2,872 and €3,670 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development, leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities, as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

Universiteit Utrecht

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Pathways to Sustainability. Sharing science, shaping tomorrow.

Working at the Faculty of Science means bringing together inspiring people across disciplines and with a variety of perspectives and backgrounds. The faculty has six departments: Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Information & Computing Sciences, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Together, we work on excellent research and inspiring education. We do so, driven by curiosity and supported by outstanding infrastructure. Visit us on LinkedIn and discover how you can become part of our community.

The Department of Information and Computing Sciences is nationally and internationally known for its research in computer science and information science. The Department provides and contributes to a number of undergraduate and research Master programmes in the fields of Computer Science, Information Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. It employs over 200 people in four divisions: Algorithms, AI & Data Science, Software and Interaction. The atmosphere is collegial and informal.

You will join the NLP & Society Lab, where we work on a variety of topics, including computational sociolinguistics, analysis of online conversations, data-centered NLP, and evaluation of NLP models. We are part of the wider NLP group within the Department of Information and Computing Sciences, with researchers working on multimodal NLP, text generation, modelling label variation in subjective tasks, and many other topics.

For more information, please contact Dr Dong Nguyen at d.p.nguyen@uu.nl.

Do you have a question about the application procedure? Please send an email to science.recruitment@uu.nl.

We aim to conduct interviews in January and hope for the selected candidate to start as soon as possible afterward, though we are open to a later starting date if needed.