[OAI-implementers] Research positions in audio mining project CHoral

[Roeland Ordelman]

2 Research positions in audio mining project CHoral

Applications are invited for:
- a postdoc position, and
- a PhD position

The successful applicants will join the project ‘CHoral: access to oral  
history’, running in the research programme CATCH  (Continuous Access  
to Cultural Heritage) which is funded by the Netherlands Organization  
for Scientific Research (NWO).  CHoral is a joint initiative of the  
Municipal Archives Rotterdam and the Human Media Interaction group of  
the  Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer  
Science at the University of Twente.  The CHoral project team will  
carry out a research agenda that aims to advance in the  
state-of-the-art in Spoken Document Retrieval. The focus of attention  
will be on spoken word collections with stories and testimonies on  
historical events, and more in particular on the audio archives of the  
regional radio station Radio Rijnmond. In this audio mining project a  
variety of techniques will be studied and integrated, among which  
automatic speech recognition and information retrieval.  A  project  
description can be downloaded here.

The project will start on 1 January 2006, or as soon as possible  
thereafter.  The University of Twente will act as employer. In  
accordance with standard CATCH regulations, the project team will be  
housed within the premises of the project's heritage partner, the  
Municipal Archives of Rotterdam. (The set-up of the communication and  
collaboration with the experts and supervisors from the University of  
Twente will take the travel distance into account.)

REQUIREMENTS POSTDOC POSITION

Postdoc candidates should have a background in at least two of the  
following areas:  speech recognition, information retrieval,  
audio-visual archiving, information management for cultural heritage  
collections. Proficiency in Dutch is a plus.  The expertise gained and  
previous experience should demonstrate the candidate's ability to  
fulfil a coordinating role in the project, to act as trait d'union  
between the project PhD, the project supervisors, the project's  
software engineer(s) and the target user groups.

REQUIREMENTS PHD-POSITION

PhD candidates should have affinity and experience with speech and  
language technology,  demonstrated by a degree in e.g., phonetics,  
computational linguistics, computer science. Basic knowledge of Dutch  
is a must, good programming skills will be needed to collaborate  
effectively with the software engineers.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

-  the post-doc salary depends on experience and qualifications;  
minimum is EUR 2191 gross per month.  Duration of the contract: 3-4  
years. Hours per week: 32-40

- the PhD salary starts at EUR 1877 gross per month and grows to EUR  
2407 gross per month (figures based on full-time employment). Duration  
of the contract: three years.  Hours per week: 32-40. PhD students will  
be able to participate in the Dutch research school for Information and  
Knowledge Systems (SIKS, http://www.siks.nl/).

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Applications (in English or Dutch) should  be sent to:
Prof. Dr. F.M.G. de Jong
Human Media Interaction group
Faculty of EEMCS, University of Twente,
P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
phone: +31 53 489 3740
email: f.m.g.dejong at ewi.utwente.nl

Make sure to include the following:
- a letter of application
- a curriculum vitae (including a list of publications, if any)
- a copy of your diploma together with a list of grades
- the names and email addresses of two referents

Deadline: November 15, 2005

For more information on HMI, and its projects see  
http://hmi.ewi.utwente.nl,
or contact Prof.dr. Franciska de Jong (f.m.g.dejong at utwente.nl).

For information on CATCH see http://www.nwo.nl/catch
and  
http://www.nwo.nl/nwohome.nsf/pages/NWOP_66CG7D/$file/ 
Programmatekst%20CATCH.PDF?openelement