Associate Senior Lecturer in Computer and Systems Sciences with a focus on Privacy-Preserving Natural Language Processing

The Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV) is one of the biggest departments at Stockholm University, located in the capital of Sweden. With over 200 employees and 4,500 students, DSV offers a strong and dynamic research and educational environment.

The discipline of computer and systems sciences bridges the gap between technology and the humanities, social sciences and behavioral sciences, with great relevance to our lives today and in the future. Our research addresses how new information and communication technology should be designed to benefit individuals, organisations and society as a whole.

At DSV, you’ll find a stimulating research community in a truly international environment. Many of our projects are interdisciplinary, and our researchers frequently collaborate with colleagues at other universities, in industry, and within the public sector.

For more information, please visit the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences.

What we’re looking for

We aim to strengthen our team by hiring an associate senior lecturer (”assistant professor” in American English, or ”biträdande lektor” in Swedish). The position is in computer and systems sciences, focusing on privacy-preserving natural language processing. It is a full-time employment for four years, involving both research and teaching.

Subject description

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a field that aims to equip computers with the ability to understand, interpret, and generate human language, and is therefore a central component of artificial intelligence (AI). By combining areas such as computer science, machine learning and linguistics, NLP aims, among other things, to develop language models that process unstructured data in the form of text (or speech). An important research goal within NLP is to make language models – and thus the generative AI systems that are based on this type of model – privacy-preserving, i.e. less vulnerable to privacy attacks that risk revealing sensitive information in their training data.

Main responsibilities

The main duties are research, teaching, course development, course responsibility and supervision, primarily in courses in NLP and AI. The holder of the position is also expected to supervise bachelor and master theses within the field.

The holder of the position will be a part of the Natural Language Processing research group and is expected to strengthen the group’s theoretical and practical competence, particularly in the area of privacy-preserving machine learning for training language models.

The employment is shared between 55 percent research and 45 percent teaching.

Qualification requirements

Eligible applicants for the position of Associate Senior Lecturer should hold a PhD in Computer and Systems Sciences or have equivalent research skills. Priority will be given to applicants who received a PhD or equivalent qualifications no more than seven years before the deadline for applications. However, an applicant who has received such a degree earlier may be considered under special circumstances.

The applicant must have the ability to cooperate with colleagues as well as other abilities that are required in order to successfully meet the demands of the position.

Assessment criteria

• Special emphasis will be placed on research skills in the field of privacy-preserving Natural Language Processing demonstrated through the applicant’s own research.
• Strong emphasis will be placed on teaching proficiency within the focus of the call, demonstrated through teaching at the undergraduate and master’s level, including supervision of degree theses. Teaching expertise should be well-documented and in a manner that makes it possible to assess the quality of the teaching activities.
• Strong emphasis will be placed on a detailed research plan covering the employment period.
• Strong emphasis will be placed on a documented ability to cooperate well with colleagues and fellow researchers.
• Emphasis will be placed on having successfully planned, applied for and obtained research project funds from external research funding bodies.
• Emphasis will be placed on administrative skills and proven collaboration with the surrounding society and dissemination of research and development findings.

It is a merit to have completed at least 7.5 higher education credits in teaching and learning in higher education or have otherwise acquired equivalent knowledge.

About the employment

Employment as an associate senior lecturer is limited to four years in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance (1993:100) (HF). The purpose of the position is to enable the associate senior lecturer to develop independence as a researcher and acquire the necessary qualifications for appointment to another more senior teaching position.

An associate senior lecturer at Stockholm University can apply for and ought to be promoted to senior lecturer for an indefinite term of employment if she or he meets the demands for promotion in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance and the Rules of Employment for the Recruitment and Promotion of Teachers at Stockholm University (AOSU) and Specific criteria for promotion from associate senior lecturer/assistant professor to senior lecturer/associate professor adopted by the The Board of Human Science (Dnr SU FV-1464-23). Note that the promotion criteria are the same regardless of the length of the employment.

The length of the employment is four years.

Additional information

An applicant who does not have at least 7.5 higher education credits in teaching and learning in higher education, and is not deemed to have acquired equivalent knowledge, must complete such training within the first two years of employment.

Proficiency in Swedish is not a requirement for the position, but the applicant has to be ready to take on administrative and pedagogical tasks that demand an understanding and usage of Swedish after two years of employment.

Contact

Further information about the position can be obtained from the Head of Department, Professor Jelena Zdravkovic: jelenaz@dsv.su.se or phone: +46 8 16 49 94.

For questions regarding the application process, please contact administrator Johan Magnéli: johan.magneli@su.se or phone: +46 8 16 40 57.

Application

All applications are made through Stockholm University’s recruitment system. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the University’s instructions, and that it is submitted before the deadline. We would appreciate it if your application is written in English.

Read more and apply here: https://su.varbi.com/what:job/jobID:895184/where:4/

Instructions for teaching position applicants

The University’s rules of employment and instructions for applicants: https://www.su.se/english/about-the-university/work-at-su/how-to-apply-for-a-position

In the event of a discrepancy between the Swedish original and the English translation, the Swedish version takes precedence.

Type of employment Temporary position

Contract type Full time

Salary Individual salary setting

Number of positions 1

Full-time equivalent 100 %

City Stockholm

County Stockholms län

Country Sweden

Reference number SU FV-0237-26