Two PhD fellowships and two postdoc positions on explainable stance detection are available in CopeNLU. The PhD fellowships and one of the postdoc positions are offered in the context of a DFF Sapere Aude research leader fellowship on `Learning to Explain Attitudes on Social Media (EXPANSE)´. Sapere Aude is a program by the Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF) to support the most talented younger researchers in Denmark with funding for blue-skies research to build up or expand their research groups.
The EXPANSE project studies attitudes voiced on social media, examining what is said, and explaining it by examining why, how and by whom attitudes are stated. Currently, the only criterion commonly taken into account when researching and developing not just such stance detection, but Natural Language Processing models in general, is predictive performance, e.g. how well models can predict labels such as ‘positive’, ‘negative’ or ‘neutral’. This does not provide any insights into why and how models arrive at certain predictions, which is crucial for utilising predictions for decision making. By contrast, this project will examine explainability as a success criterion, in an interdisciplinary approach which combines Natural Language Processing research with sociological theories.
In addition to the principle investigator, the two PhD students and the postdoc, the project team will also include interdisciplinary collaborators from sociology. More information about the project can also be found in the official announcement on DFF’s website.
The other available postdoc position is offered in the context of a project on researching explainable NLP methods for educational technologies.
Candidates are expected to hold a Master’s degree in computer science or a related relevant area or be near completion for one. There are no restrictions on citizenship, and a language certificate is not required at application time. Candidates from traditionally underrepresented minorities in natural language processing are particularly encouraged to apply.
Read more about reasons to join us here. Before applying, you are welcome to get in touch informally if you have questions about the call. The official call for PhD positions and application link can be found here; the application deadline is 6 May 2021. Note that the other PhD position as well as the postdoc position on the project have already been filled.