Vacant job

Gothenburg University meets society's challenges with diverse knowledge. With 58,000 students and 6,800 employees, the university is a large and inspiring workplace. Strong research and attractive education programs attract researchers and students from around the world. With new knowledge and perspectives, Gothenburg University contributes to a better future.

At the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science (FLoV) within the Faculty of Humanities, we have approximately 120 employees and a teaching volume covering around 350 full-time equivalent students. We are currently involved in numerous large-scale international and interdisciplinary research projects within areas such as theoretical and practical philosophy, logic, linguistics, computational linguistics, language technology, and the theory of science.

Gothenburg University is a government agency, which means good employment benefits such as on-site fitness facilities, reimbursement for medical visits, 28 days of basic annual leave, and a pension plan. You can read more about our employment benefits here (https://www.gu.se/jobba-hos-oss/formaner-och-forsakringar-vid-goteborgs-universitet).

Project Description

You will be employed at FLoV as a Research Assistant in the ERC project: Divergence and Convergence in Dialogue: The Dynamic Management of Mismatches (https://www.gu.se/en/research/divcon-divergence-and-convergence-in-dialogue-the-dynamic-management-of-mismatches) (DivCon), which started in May 2023 and is led by Christine Howes.

As more and more of our interactions take place via digital channels, it has become increasingly important to understand how we communicate and interact with others through computers and digital devices. In this context, the DivCon project, funded by the European Research Council, aims to change our understanding of human interaction, particularly within computer-mediated communication. The project will create a new experimental platform for live multimodal interactions using avatars and virtual reality, as well as develop a precise theory of divergence and convergence in interaction that unites verbal and non-verbal dialogue phenomena. Ultimately, the project's results will pave the way for more adaptive conversation-based AI systems that can better simulate human-like communication.

Linguistic interaction is the overarching theme for research in computational linguistics at FLoV. This includes an interest in formal models of language with regard to the social methods and psychological mechanisms through which language is used – not merely systems of conventions that make up language.

Responsibilities

The person employed as a Research Assistant is expected to assist project participants with tasks including, but not limited to, recruiting participants for experimental studies, conducting experiments for data collection both on-site and remotely using various forms of computer-mediated communication (text, video, and social robots), and analyzing collected data.

The Research Assistant is also expected to participate in the project's activities, such as meetings, workshops, and potentially seminars. The majority of the work will be performed on-site at Gothenburg University. The common working language of the research group is English.

Qualifications

We are looking for you with a master's degree relevant to the position in a field relevant to the tasks, or a foreign degree assessed to correspond to a master's degree in computational linguistics, cognitive science, or linguistics. Documented experience of research, research projects, and research administration within higher education in Sweden is highly meritorious.

We are looking for you who have the ability to work independently but also appreciate collaborating in a team. You have good organizational skills and need to be a careful, structured, and creative person who is flexible in carrying out your tasks.

We will make a holistic assessment of competence and skill in order to employ the applicant who is assessed to have the best prerequisites for carrying out the tasks. We place great emphasis on personal suitability.

Good knowledge of English and Swedish, both spoken and written, is required.

Employment

Employment type: Fixed-term employment (SÄVA), period 2026-08-01 – 2026-12-31

Extent: 50%

Location: Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg

Start date: 2026-08-01 or as agreed

The University applies individual salary setting.

Recruitment Process and Application

For information about the recruitment process and how to apply, see the full advertisement on Gothenburg University's website (https://www.gu.se/jobba-hos-oss/lediga-anstallningar).

The University works actively for a working environment with equal conditions and values the qualities that diversity brings to the operations. The University applies individual salary setting. According to the National Archives' regulations, the University is required to keep application documents for two years after the appointment decision. If you as an applicant specifically request your documents back, they will be returned when the two years have passed; otherwise, they will be destroyed. To staffing and recruitment agencies and to you who are sales representatives: Gothenburg University uses a procured advertising agency in connection with the recruitment of staff. We kindly but firmly decline direct contact with staffing and recruitment agencies as well as sellers of job advertisements.