Werken bij de UvA
The Faculty of Humanities provides education and conducts research with a strong international profile in a large number of disciplines in the field of language and culture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the Faculty maintains close ties with many cultural institutes in the capital city. There are almost 1,250 employees affiliated with the Faculty, which has about 6,800 students.
The Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) is a research institute of the University of Amsterdam, in which researchers from the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Humanities collaborate. ILLC's central research area is the study of fundamental principles of encoding, transmission and comprehension of information. Emphasis is on natural and formal languages, but other information carriers, such as images and music, are studied as well. Research at ILLC is interdisciplinary, and aims at bringing together insights from various disciplines concerned with information and information processing, such as logic, mathematics, computer science, linguistics, cognitive science, artificial intelligence and philosophy.
The ILLC invites applications for:
2 PhD positions
1.0 FTE for four years
vacancy number 10-3027
The two PhD students will take part in the NWO funded research programme: The Inquisitive Turn. A New Perspective on Semantics, Logic, and Pragmatics. The PhD students will be supervised by the programme leader Prof. Jeroen Groenendijk and the postdoctoral researcher Dr Floris Roelofsen. The programme consists of three intertwined projects:
- Inquisitive Semantics (Postdoctoral researcher)
- Inquisitive Logic (PhD student)
- Inquisitive Pragmatics (PhD student)
The primary aim of the semantics project is to develop a notion of meaning that directly reflects the interactive communicative function of language. In the logic project the logical and philosophical foundations of the semantics are investigated. In the pragmatics project the semantics is put to work in a system that models information exchange in dialogue.
Tasks
- Complete and defend a PhD thesis within four years
- Regularly present intermediate research results at international workshops and conferences, and publish them in proceedings and journals
- Collaborate with the researchers in other parts of the programme
- Participate in the organization of the programme's research activities and events, such as conferences, workshops, and joined publications
- Assist in teaching activities of the ILLC
Requirements
- A Master's degree with excellent grades in a relevant field, such as logic, philosophy of language, or linguistics
- Candidates for the PhD project on Inquisitive Logic should have a strong background in logic, and a demonstrable interest in the application of logic in the study of language
- Candidates for the PhD project on Inquisitive Pragmatics should have a strong background in formal semantics and pragmatics, and a demonstrable interest in empirical linguistics
- Good academic writing and presentation skills
- Good social and organizational academic skills
Appointment
The PhD candidates will be appointed for a period of four years at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam. A contract will be given in the first instance for one year, with an extension for the following three years on the basis of a positive evaluation. The gross monthly salary (on a full time base) will be €2,042 during the first year and will reach €2,612 during the fourth year.
Job application
Applications including a cover letter, curriculum vitae, two letters of reference, and an application statement should be submitted before May 22, 2010 to the UvA / Faculty of Humanities, for attention of the Dean, Mrs Prof. J.F.T.M. van Dijck, Spuistraat 210, 1012 VT Amsterdam. Please state the vacancy number and 'strictly confidential' in the upper left corner of the envelope.
In the application statement (approximately 500 words) the candidate should motivate interest in the programme, and is invited to specify his or her own ideas on the research questions addressed in the PhD project for which (s)he applies.
You may also submit your application by email to solliciteren2010-fgw@uva.nl. In that case please state the vacancy number in the subject field.