[oor-forum] Two fully funded PhD positions on Answering Questions using Web Data

[Christoph LANGE]

Hi all, these two positions in the WDAqua project are not as close 
matches for ontology engineers as the ones at the University of Bonn I 
advertised earlier today, but I think they will still be of interest. 
–Christoph

Fraunhofer IAIS is pleased to announce two PhD positions - fully-funded 
with the EU research project: “WDAqua: Answering questions using Web 
Data”, which has started in January 2015.

Research Area:

The project will undertake advanced fundamental and applied research 
into models, methods, and tools for data-driven question answering on 
the Web, spanning over a diverse range of areas and disciplines (data 
analytics, data mining, information retrieval, social computing, cloud 
computing, large-scale distributed computing, Linked Data, and Web 
science). Potential topics for a PhD dissertation include, but are not 
limited to:

● Design of a cloud-based system architecture for question answering 
(QA), extensible by plugins for all stages of the process of QA and Web data
● High-quality interpretation of voice input and natural language text 
as database queries for question answering.
● Leveraging Web Data for advanced entity disambiguation and 
contextualisation of queries given as natural language.
● Question answering methods using ecosystems of heterogeneous data sets 
(structured, unstructured, linked, stream-like, uncertain).

Institution

The about 200 employees of the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent 
Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS; http://www.iais.fraunhofer.de) 
investigate and develop innovative systems for data analysis and 
information management. Specific areas of competence include information 
integration (represented by the IAIS department Organized Knowledge), 
big data (department Knowledge Discovery), and multimedia technologies 
(department NetMedia).

Requirements:
1. Master Degree in Computer Science (or equivalent).
2. You must not have resided or worked for more than 12 months in 
Germany in the 3 years before starting to work.
3. Proficiency in spoken and written English. Proficiency in German is a 
plus but not required.
4. Proficiency in Programming languages like Java/Scala or JavaScript, 
and modern software engineering methodology.
5. Familiarity with Semantic Web technologies, Natural Language 
Processing, Speech Recognition, Indexing Technologies, Distributed 
Systems and Cloud Computing is an asset.

As a successful candidate for this award, you will:
1. Spend the majority of your time at Fraunhofer IAIS, where you will 
research and write a dissertation leading to a PhD (awarded by the 
University of Bonn).
2. Have a minimum of two academic supervisors from the WDAqua project.
3. Receive a full salary and a support grant to attend conferences, 
summer schools, and other events related to your research each year.
4. Engage with other researchers and participate in the training program 
offered by the WDAqua project, including internships at other partners 
in the project.

Further Information

For further information, please see the WDAqua homepage at 
http://www.iai.uni-bonn.de/~langec/wdaqua/.

How to apply

Applications should include a CV and a letter of motivation. Applicants 
should list two referees that may be contacted by the Department and are 
moreover invited to submit a research sample (publication or research 
paper). Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis. For full 
consideration, please apply until 27.02.2015.

Applications should be sent to Dr. Christoph Lange-Bever.
E-Mail: Christoph.Lange-Bever at iais.fraunhofer.de
Tel.: +49 2241/14-2428

-- 
Christoph Lange, Enterprise Information Systems Department
Applied Computer Science @ University of Bonn; Fraunhofer IAIS
http://langec.wordpress.com/about, Skype duke4701

→ WDAqua (Answering Questions using Web Data) Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Intl. Training Network (ITN) seeking 15 highly skilled PhD candidates.
Apply by February: http://www.iai.uni-bonn.de/~langec/wdaqua/