[apologies for multiple postings; please circulate as appropriate] 2 Phd Positions involving speech and text analysis are open within TCD. http://www.tcd.ie/Graduate_Studies/InnovationBursaries/ The bursaries include payment of fees, some research costs, and a stipend of 16K per annum. The funding covers four years of study within a structured PhD program. This funding is equivalent to that provided by IRCSET awards. Position 1: Speaking the 1641 Depositions This innovative project under the theme of "Digital Humanities and Sustainable Records" will attract candidates who are interested in independent and advanced research linking speech synthesis and important historical documents. It will involve application of advanced linguistic and statistical methods, using the latest tools and technologies, for the analysis and rendering into speech of large bodies of annotated historical text. The project will last for four years and research costs, a stipend, and coverage of fees, etc., will be offered. Successful applicants will have a background in either history or computing. They will have keen analytical skills and will join a small team of researchers with similar interests in the way people speak and present information. They will be especially interested in expressing personality through speech synthesis, and in attempting to render historical texts in order to express character through the synthesised voices. Further details: http://www.tcd.ie/Graduate_Studies/InnovationBursaries/ Apply for course: www.pac.ie/tcd (code -- TRB01) Position 2: Technology for harmonising interpersonal communication We explore how contemporary modes of interaction, typically at a distance via electronic devices, can be supplemented to support the sorts of information flow and inference that evolution has endowed humans sensitivity to in face-to-face communications. The research entails that various prototype applications be constructed, deployed and analyzed. A successful candidate will have demonstrable expertise in computer programming, preferably with experience of end-user application delivery. The candidate will be engaged in the delivery of software alongside performance of quantitative and qualitative analysis of linguistic data. The background research topic is in discerning sentiment and other non-propositional content of textual communications (such as text messages) and projecting the same through appropriate vocal synthesis. Prior expertise in text and dialogue analysis as well as speech synthesis will be an advantage. Candidates should be comfortable with computational theoretical frameworks for syntax and formal semantics, as well as statistically oriented approaches to language analysis. Further details: http://www.tcd.ie/Graduate_Studies/InnovationBursaries/ Apply for course: www.pac.ie/tcd (code -- TRB08) ---------------------- Closing date for applications: Friday 9th April 2010 Applications should be made online through www.pac.ie/tcd