UCD Post-doctoral Research Fellow

Applications are invited for a temporary post of a UCD Post-doctoral Research Fellow Level 1 within UCD School of Politics and International Relations
 
University College Dublin is currently recruiting a post-doctoral researcher to implement natural language processing (NLP) tools to analyse interview data.
 
The main objective of this position is to develop tools to identify and analyse so-called cognitive maps (Axelrod 1976) from interview data. Dornschneider and Henderson (2016, 2023) and Dornschneider (2019) have developed tools for the computational analysis of cognitive maps. What is needed is a set of tools to infer cognitive maps from natural language.
 
This Irish Research Council funded project investigates the role of women in Muslim resistance movements, based on Arabic interviews conducted by the PI. The cognitive mapping analysis has several main objectives: 1- to show typical behavioral decisions (e.g. to join a resistance a movement) described by the interviewees; 2- to identify common reasoning processes related to these decisions; and 3- to trace the role of religious beliefs in these reasoning processes.
 
You will work with the Principal Investigator, Dr. Stephanie Dornschneider-Elkink,  to deliver the research objectives of the project. You will support the development and subsequent publication of new tools to convert text into cognitive maps. Tasks will include but are not limited to POS tagging, sequence analysis, word embeddings, and visualization. You will have the chance to give substantial input to the analysis and to co-author papers with the PI. Knowledge of Arabic is not necessary, but a plus.
 
This is an academic research role, where you will conduct a specified programme of research supported by research training and development under the supervision and direction of a Principal Investigator.
 
The primary purpose of the role is to further develop your research skills and competences, including the processes of publication in peer-reviewed academic publications, the development of funding proposals, the mentorship of graduate students along with the opportunity to develop your skills in research led teaching. 
 
In addition to the Principal Duties and Responsibilities listed below, the successful candidate will also carry out the following duties specific to this project:

• Develop tools in R and/or Python for the automatic analysis of natural language to construct cognitive maps .
• Assist in the development of open source packages to make the developed tools available to a wider audience.
• Co-author peer reviewed articles with the PI.

Fixed Salary: €42,783 Per Annum
 
Closing date: 12:00 noon (local Irish time) on the 13th of May 2024
 
Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time of 12:00 noon (Local Irish Time) on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system. UCD are unable to accept late applications.

UCD do not require assistance from Recruitment Agencies. Any CV's submitted by Recruitment Agencies will be returned.
 
The PD1 position is intended for early-stage researchers, either just after completion of a PhD or for someone entering a new area for the first time. If you have already completed your PD1 stage in UCD or will soon complete a PD1, or you are an external applicant whose total Postdoctoral experience, inclusive of the duration of the advertised post, would exceed 4 years, you should not apply and should refer to PD2 posts instead.