Connectionists: PhD position, Neurocomputational Linguistics, Uni Bham / Google Research London

[Uta Noppeney]

*PhD position in Neurocomputational Linguistics*

*University of Birmingham in collaboration with Google Research London*

Language comprehension is critical for effective interactions in our 
social world. In order to understand ‘who does what to whom’ in natural 
language processing, the brain needs to assign a syntactic structure to 
every sentence – a process coined ‘syntactic parsing’.

This interdisciplinary project will combine expertise from human 
neuroscience (University of Birmingham) and computational linguistics 
(Google Research London) to determine the neural mechanisms underlying 
sentence comprehension in the human brain and advance parsing algorithms 
in machines. To study natural language processing and the underlying 
neural mechanisms in humans, we will measure eye movements, behavioural 
(psychophysics) and electrophysiological responses (EEG/fMRI) in 
participants reading natural sentences from syntactically annotated 
corpora. We will employ advanced machine learning algorithms to 
characterize the computational operations and neural mechanisms 
underlying syntactic processing in the human brain. Conversely, the 
insights obtained from human neuroimaging (EEG/fMRI) and eye tracking 
will provide critical constraints on the parameters and algorithms used 
in machine.

The PhD position is designed to involve a 3 month internship at Google 
Research London.

The Computational Cognitive Neuroimaging Group (Uta Noppeney) in 
collaboration with Google Research London (Bernd Bohnet, Ryan McDonald) 
is seeking an enthusiastic PhD candidate with strong analytical and 
quantitative abilities. Applicants should have a background in 
computational linguistics, neuroscience, computer science, psychology, 
physics or related areas. Prior experience in statistical analysis 
and/or machine learning would be an advantage.

The Computational Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab is based at the Department 
of Psychology and the Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics 
Centre of the University of Birmingham, UK. The centre provides an 
excellent multidisciplinary, interactive and collaborative research 
environment combining expertise in cognitive neuroimaging, psychophysics 
and computational neuroscience. The psychology department was rated 5th 
in the UK research assessment exercise.

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/psychology/research/labs/comp-cog-neuro/index.aspx

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/cncr/index.aspx

Applications will be considered until 8th January 2017. The starting 
date is Sept/Oct 2017. iCASE students must fulfil the MIBTP entry 
requirements and will join the MIBTP cohort for the taught modules and 
masterclasses during the first term. They will remain as an integral 
part of the MIBTP cohort and take part in the core networking activities 
and transferable skills training. For further information, please 
contact u.noppeney at bham.ac.uk <mailto:u.noppeney at bham.ac.uk>.

Check eligibility and apply here:

https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mibtp/pgstudy/phd_opportunities/application/ 
<https://www.findaphd.com/common/clickCount.aspx?theid=79324&type=184&DID=148&url=https%3a%2f%2fwww2.warwick.ac.uk%2ffac%2fcross_fac%2fmibtp%2fpgstudy%2fphd_opportunities%2fapplication%2f> 

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