Associate Senior Lecturer in Computational Linguistics

Uppsala University, Department of Linguistics and Philology

The Department of Linguistics and Philology conducts research and offers education in language studies and philology with a focus on the languages and cultures of Asia, the classical languages of Europe, general linguistics, and computational linguistics. Education is offered at basic, advanced, and doctoral levels. Some eighty people are employed by the department. Together with students and partners, they create a multicultural and intellectually vibrant environment.

The department is seeking an associate senior lecturer in computational linguistics. Computational linguistics, or language technology, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with computational models of natural language. Traditionally, research has been driven both by the theoretical goal of understanding human language and by practical applications such as machine translation, information retrieval, and human–computer dialogue. The area has in recent years increasingly been influenced by the emergence of large language models and generative AI. The computational linguistics group at Uppsala University conducts research within a broad field with two focus areas: digital philology and multilingual language technology. Education is primarily offered at the second-cycle level, within the international master’s program in language technology, and at the third-cycle level within the PhD program in computational linguistics.

Subject area
Computational linguistics

Duties
The aim of the position is to give the teacher the opportunity to develop independence as a researcher and enhance their academic as well as their pedagogical qualifications in order to meet the criteria for employment as senior lecturer. The duties comprise research within the relevant area of specialization (50% of full time) as well as teaching and administration (no more than 50% of full time). Teaching includes supervision, course responsibility, course administration, and course development. 

Teaching primarily consists of courses in language technology, including master’s thesis supervision, within the international master’s program in language technology, which is taught in English. Teaching may include courses with the following specializations: general language technology, language technology applications such as information retrieval and machine translation, machine learning in language technology, as well as programming and mathematics. It may also include supervision of PhD students.

As an associate senior lecturer, the candidate is expected to actively apply for external research funding, to stay aware of developments within their field of specialization, and to take part in the faculty’s and department’s development of research and teaching.

Eligibility requirements
Applicants are eligible for employment as associate senior lecturer if they hold a doctoral degree or have the equivalent academic competence, have demonstrated pedagogical competence, and have the personal characteristics required in order to carry out the duties that the position involves well. Precedence will be given to applicants who completed their PhD projects or reached the equivalent competence no more than five years before the deadline for applications. In order to meet the requirement of pedagogical competence, the applicant should have completed at least five weeks of relevant training in tertiary-level teaching or acquired the equivalent competence in other ways. In special circumstances, the training can be carried out during the first two years of employment.

Ability to teach in English is required. The candidate is furthermore expected to be able to use Swedish as a working language within two years.

The candidate should have the personal characteristics required to carry out the duties of the position well. Such characteristics include flexibility, the capacity to work well with others, and a sense of responsibility.

It is a requirement that the applicant’s academic, pedagogical, and professional competence is relevant to the subject area and duties that the position involves.

Assessment criteria for candidates who meet the eligibility requirements
In the selection among eligible candidates, special weight will be accorded academic and pedagogical competence. The assessment of pedagogical competence will be accorded the same weight as the assessment of academic competence.

Owing to the nature of a tenure-track position, the applicants’ academic and pedagogical qualifications should be assessed primarily from a qualitative perspective. An applicant’s quantitative advantage as regards qualifications should thus not be decisive if it can be explained by them having been active in academia for a longer period of time.

Academic competence refers to research qualifications. When assessing academic competence, primarily research quality will be taken into account. The scope of the research, mainly depth and breadth, will also be accorded significance. In the assessment of academic competence, special weight will be accorded research qualifications within central methods, problems and applications of computational linguistics, for which machine learning and large language models play a decisive role.

The documented ability to interact within the academic community as well as with the local community will be considered a qualification.

Pedagogical competence refers to educational and teaching qualifications. In addition to academic teaching experience, educational and teaching qualifications from other activities that involve for instance supervision, in-service training or mentoring programmes will be considered. In the assessment of pedagogical competence, primarily pedagogical quality will be considered. The extent of the candidate’s teaching experience, that is, the breadth and depth at different levels, will be seen as significant. In the assessment of pedagogical competence, special weight will be accorded pedagogical qualifications within language technology, in particular with a focus on machine learning, large language models, and language technology applications. In addition, weight will be accorded pedagogical qualifications within mathematics and programming.

Administrative competence, and leadership skills and collaborative competence will be accorded significance. Administrative competence may be demonstrated by, for instance, the ability to plan, organize and prioritize work in an efficient and purpose-adapted manner, as well as through the ability to establish and keep to a time plan. Leadership skills are demonstrated by the ability to lead operations and personnel, make decisions, take responsibility and motivate and provide others with the conditions required to achieve common goals effectively. 
Collaborative competence is demonstrated through the ability to plan, organize and carry out projects in collaboration with the local community, for example in the form of popularised research, public debate and lectures. 

In this recruitment, Uppsala University will primarily consider the candidate who, after a holistic qualitative assessment of skills and competence, is considered to have the best capability to carry out and develop relevant duties and contribute to a positive development of the organisation.

All qualifications must be documented in a way that makes it possible to assess their quality and scope.

Period of employment and promotion
A position as an Associate Senior Lecturer can be held for a maximum of four years. At the end of their employment as an Associate Senior Lecturer, the candidate has the right to be assessed for employment as a Senior Lecturer. Promotion to Senior Lecturer will be based on a comprehensive assessment of the candidate’s academic, pedagogical, and administrative competence as well as leadership qualifications. In the assessment, special weight will be given to the work that has been carried out during the candidate’s employment as an Associate Senior Lecturer. A basic requirement is that the candidate should meet the criteria for employment as a Senior Lecturer according to Uppsala University’s employment regulations and the Faculty of Language’s complementary guidelines for employment. In addition, the candidate must have carried out their duties in a satisfactory manner. A written request to be assessed for promotion to Senior Lecturer must have reached the Board of the Faculty of Languages no later than six months before the end of the candidate’s employment as Associate Senior Lecturer.

Academic competence: The candidate’s scholarly qualifications should be at a competitive international level and indicate an independent research profile. The candidate should have demonstrated an ability to independently initiate and manage scholarly projects. In the assessment of academic qualifications, factors such as grants from external funding organizations, publications in outlets that are relevant to the subject area, presentations and similar activities at scholarly conferences, workshops, etc., and other relevant qualifications within the subject (e.g. having been awarded the title of Docent) will be accorded weight.  

Pedagogical competence: The candidate should have completed at least ten weeks’ worth of training in tertiary education that is relevant to their duties as Associate Senior Lecturer or have the equivalent competence. In the assessment of pedagogical competence, the documented ability to plan, develop, teach, and evaluate courses at undergraduate and advanced levels, as well as experience of doctoral supervision, will be accorded weight. 

Administrative competence: The candidate should have demonstrated administrative competence through participation in the overall planning of teaching and research. In the assessment of administrative competence, participation in research projects, administrative tasks at university, faculty, or department level, and university-external assignments will be accorded weight.

Application procedure
All qualifications must be documented in a way that makes it possible to assess their quality and scope. The application, which may be in English or Swedish, must be complete by the deadline. It must be submitted through Uppsala University’s electronic recruitment system Varbi and should contain the following:
•    A letter of application
•    CV (a brief account of qualifications and previous positions)
•    An account of the candidate’s scientific qualifications
•    An account of the candidate’s pedagogical qualifications
•    An account of the candidate’s administrative competence, leadership qualifications, and collaboration qualifications
•    An account of any additional qualifications
•    A list of scholarly and pedagogical publications
•    Publications or other works that the candidate considers especially relevant to the position
•    A reflective text that describes how the candidate would like to develop their academic,  pedagogical and other competence
•    Degree certificates and other relevant documents

The recruitment group may make use of interviews, trial lectures, and references. On request, applicants must therefore be prepared to submit a list of referees (no more than three) who can elucidate the applicant’s professional competence and personal qualities that have a bearing on the post, such as leadership qualities and the ability to cooperate with others

Any publications that are not available in electronic format should be submitted in two copies to Uppsala University, Faculty of Languages, Box 256, 751 05 Uppsala, Sweden. Mark the package UFV-PA 2025/830.

Additional information
Parental leave, part-time work owing to caring for children, union work, military service or similar activities are considered work experience and should be included in the applicant’s CV.

For further information see the Appointment Regulations for Uppsala University and the  Supplementary guidelines to the Appointment Regulations at the Faculty of Languages.

About the employment
Associate Senior Lecturer (biträdande universitetslektor) is a temporary position which can be held for a maximum of four years with the possibility of promotion to a permanent position of University Lecturer. The position is full-time.  Starting date by agreement. Location: Uppsala. The candidate is expected to spend most of their working hours at the department in Uppsala.

Information about the employment is provided by: prefect Dimitrios Iordanoglou, prefekt@lingfil.uu.se

Please submit your application no later than April 29th 2025, UFV-PA 2025/830

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