Department of Computational Linguistics
PhD in Language AI / Natural Language Processing 80 %
Start of employment July 2026 or by agreement, temporaryYou will be joining the Department of Computational Linguistics, which has 6 Research Groups and around 70 postdoctoral and student researchers in the areas of Text Technologies, Phonetics and Speech Sciences, Digital Linguistics, Computational Neuroscience of Speech & Hearing, Language, Technology and Accessibility as well as Language Technology.
The Text Technology Research Group invites applications for a PhD position. The position has funding for three years and starts in July 2026 or by agreement.
Your responsibilities
The position will be part of the CHIST-ERA project TINE (Translation is Not Enough), with project partners in the UK, Poland and Spain. The overall project goal is to improve science communication across Europe through improved machine translation of complex scientific document, and accessibility measures such as text simplification and terminology explanation. The main role of this position will be the development of novel methods for machine translation of complex scientific documents, with a special focus on inference-time strategies for LLMs. You will also help to apply the technology developed to a number of use cases identified in the project.
Your profile
Requirements:
We take gender balance and diversity seriously in our hiring decisions.
- a Master degree (or imminent Master degree) in computational linguistics, computer science, AI, or a related discipline.
- strong programming skills.
- a strong academic track record with a background in machine learning and natural language processing.
- strong communication skills (English: essential; German: desirable).
We take gender balance and diversity seriously in our hiring decisions.
Information on your application
We offer varied and interesting work in a dynamic and active research group. The University of Zurich is one of the top research universities in Europe, and Zurich is often ranked among the cities with the world's highest quality of life and most dynamic AI research communities.PhD students are remunerated according to SNSF salary rates (50,504 in the first year, CHF 52,115 in the second year, and CHF 53,725 in the third year).
This position is limited up to 3 years.
To apply, please upload the following documents with the button "Apply now" below:
- a motivation letter (up to one page), explaining why you are applying for this position, and demonstrating how you fulfill the criteria listed above
- a CV, including a list of publications
- two references (name, position and e-mail address)
Please submit your application by April 1st to be among the first candidates considered.
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Further information
Questions about the job
Prof. Dr. Rico Sennrich Head of Text Technology Research Group
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Working at UZH
The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer!
More → https://www.uzh.ch/en/explore/work.html
The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer!
More → https://www.uzh.ch/en/explore/work.html
Working at UZH
The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer!
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