PhD fellowship at ILLC (Faculty of Science)

The Institute for Logic, Language and Computation is a research institute at the University of Amsterdam, in which researchers from the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Humanities collaborate. Its central research area is the study of fundamental principles of encoding, transmission and comprehension of information. 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, musicology and philosophy. Research is organized in three research groups: Logic and Computation (LoCo), Logic and Language (LoLa) and Language and Computation (LaCo). For an overview of the research being carried out in the different groups, please have a look at "Research at ILLC" (see link below). For the research carried out by the individual staff members of ILLC, see People at ILLC (see link below) and check their personal webpages.

The Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) currently has a PhD fellowship available at the Faculty of Science starting on 1st September 2012. Applications are now invited from excellent candidates wishing to conduct research in an area in which members of ILLC scientific staff affiliated with the Faculty of Science are active.

PhD Fellowship
1.0 FTE
vacancy number: W12-066

Tasks

• Complete and defend a PhD thesis within the official appointment duration (see text below).
• Regularly present intermediate research results at international workshops and conferences, and publish them in proceedings and journals.
• Collaborate with the researchers in other relevant parts of ILLC.
• Participate in the organization of research activities and events at ILLC, such as conferences, workshops and joint publications.
• Assist in teaching activities of ILLC.

Requirements

• A Master's degree with excellent grades in a relevant field, such as logic, computer science, mathematics, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, musicology or cognitive science.
• Good academic writing and presentation skills.
• Good social and organizational skills.

Further information

For general information, you may also contact the Chair of the Selection Committee, Dr. Alexandru Baltag, at A.Baltag at uva.nl.

Appointment

The PhD candidate at the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam will be appointed for 4 years for 1.0 FTE under de terms of the employment currently valid for the Faculty. Initially a contract will be given for 18 months, with an extension for the following 30 months on the basis of a positive evaluation The salary for the position (on a full-time base) will be € 2042 during the first year (gross per month) and will reach € 2612 during the fourth year, in accordance with the CAO for Dutch universities.

Job application

Applications for the PhD position should include a Letter of Motivation, a CV, a Research Statement, a writing sample, a list of grades obtained for your Bachelor and Master (or equivalent) programmes, as well as the names and contact details of two academic referees.

Please supply each document separately in pdf format (not zipped), giving the files self-explanatory names (e.g. CV NAME.pdf).

Any additional relevant documents are most welcome. In particular, a writing sample (such as your MSc thesis, a published or submitted paper, or a term paper) can be sent either as a pdf or also (preferably) as a link to an online version.

The Research Statement (about 1 page long) should describe your research interests in general, as well as the specific research topics you wish to focus in your PhD work.

In the Letter of Motivation you can comment on why you believe ILLC would provide the right environment for your PhD studies: how and why your research interests fit the ILLC, which of the three groups (Logic and Computation, Language and Computation, Logic and Language) would fit you best, who (among the ILLC scientific staff) are the people that you see as potential collaborators, supervisors etc.

You are welcome to contact an appropriate member of the senior scientific staff at ILLC to discuss your plans ahead of applying formally.

Completed applications should be submitted by 23.59 hours (CET) on May 20, 2012 to application-science at uva.nl. Please quote the vacancy number in the subject line. Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Links

• Research at ILLC: http://www.illc.uva.nl/Research/
• People at ILLC: http://www.illc.uva.nl/People/