Connectionists: postdoc position in computational modelling of reading

[Monaghan, Padraic]

Postdoc in computational modelling of reading in Department of Psychology at Lancaster University

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AJL874/senior-research-associate-in-computational-language-modelling/

The post is for up to 3 years, commencing January 2015, working with Padraic Monaghan (Lancaster), Stephen Welbourne (Manchester), and Fernando Cuetos (Oviedo). The project involves constructing and testing computational models of reading, to determine the effect of early and late exposure to language on reading across the lifespan. The post will also involve testing the predictions of the model for readers in English and Spanish using psycholinguistic experimental methods. The project will design and analyse data from models learning to read in English and in Spanish, with particular focus on how incremental learning of the vocabulary has implications for interactions between meaning and phonology as reading proceeds.

We are looking for a highly-motivated and independent researcher with experience in computational modeling, preferably using neural networks, and with an interest in psycholinguistics and/or reading.


This post offers the opportunity to join a large developmental psychology and language research group in the Department of Psychology at Lancaster University, together with an active group of researchers using computational techniques in several areas of cognitive psychology.

This is a fixed term position for up to three years.


The Department of Psychology at Lancaster University:

The Department of Psychology comprises 35 faculty, along with a large and active group of research and technical staff. Our research facilities are excellent, including a dedicated building for research with a suite of labs for infant and child studies. We have extensive neurophysiological, experimental, and computational facilities for supporting our research. The Department includes one of the largest developmental psychology research groups in the UK, and language research is conducted within a rich collaborative network including the Departments of Linguistics and English Language and Computing. The Department co-hosts the ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development, and the current post will benefit from alignment with the training provision and research facilities of this Centre.

We welcome applications from people in all diversity groups.


Please contact Padraic Monaghan - p.monaghan at lancs.ac.uk - if you require further information.

http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/staff/monaghan/index.html