PhD Position in Geography

Utrecht University

Institution: Utrecht University
Faculty: Faculty of Geosciences
Department: Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning
Project: ERC-funded GeoTrAnsQData
Location: Utrecht, Netherlands
Start date: 1 May 2026 (aimed)
Application deadline: 31 January 2026
Employment type: Full-time (38–40 hours/week)
Duration: Initially 1 year, extendable to 4 years (to complete PhD)
Salary: €3,059 – €3,881 gross per month (full-time, CAO NU P-scale)

Project Overview

The PhD focuses on understanding, structuring, and formalizing geo-analytical questions using hybrid AI approaches. Key aspects:

• Transforming natural language geographic questions into executable geo-analytical workflows
• Using knowledge graphs and AI to enable scalable, map-based reasoning and reuse of geospatial data
• Exploring hybrid AI approaches, including symbolic reasoning and Large Language Models (LLMs)
• Developing linguistic and conceptual models for linking questions to geospatial data and workflows

Key tasks include:

• Building and annotating a corpus of geo-analytical questions and their associated purposes
• Developing models of geo-analytical purposes and corresponding question grammars
• Conducting user studies on geo-analytical question formulation
• Formalising spatial question types using a purpose-driven taxonomy
• Developing hybrid question parsing pipelines using NLP and formal semantic representations
• Collaborating with other PhD candidates, a postdoc, and a technical assistant

Candidate Profile

Required qualifications:

• (Near-)completed MSc in AI, Computational Linguistics, NLP, GeoInformatics, Geography, Geoscience, or related field
• Experience with natural language processing (NLP), language modeling, grammatical models, or question-answering (QA)
• Strong interest in maps and geographic information
• Programming skills in Python and relevant NLP libraries (spaCy, Hugging Face Transformers)
• Good English communication skills
• Interest in interdisciplinary collaboration

Desirable qualities:

• Conceptual modeling, knowledge representation, knowledge graphs

Working Environment & Benefits

• Collaborative research within ERC-funded GeoTrAnsQData project
• Part of the Faculty of Geosciences (3,400 students, 720 staff)
• Attractive fringe benefits: holiday pay, end-of-year bonus, pension scheme, parental leave
• Professional development, sports and cultural opportunities
• Inclusive and diverse working environment

Application Instructions

Required documents:

• Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Letter of motivation

Application method: Via the Utrecht University recruitment portal only
Contact person: Dr Simon Scheider — s.scheider@uu.nl
First round of interviews: February or March 2026

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