[alife] Research Asst/Fellow in Psychology or Cognitive Linguistics (Human-Robot Interaction) at University of Hertfordshire
Chrystopher Nehaniv
C.L.Nehaniv at herts.ac.uk
Sat Apr 17 15:10:22 PDT 2010
Research Assistant / Fellow in Psychology or Cognitive Linguistics
(Human-Robot Interaction)
University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, U.K. - School of Computer Science
Salary: c£ 20,300 - £ 21,500 pa for Research Assistant or c£25,000-
£29,800 pa for Research Fellow (depending on qualifications and
experience).
A Research Assistant/Fellow post is available in the EU Framework VII
funded project ITALK (Integration and Transfer of Action and Language
Knowledge in Robots). This multidisciplinary project consists of
several European partners. The position is based on a fixed-term
contract. The position may start as soon as possible with a contract
up to end of February 2012. You will be a member of the Adaptive
Systems Research Group (http://adapsys.feis.herts.ac.uk/) at
University of Hertfordshire in the School of Computer Science which
includes 30 research staff members (postdocs and PhD students). The
University of Hertfordshire is the top-ranked university in the UK
amongst new universities for post-2008 RAE-funding in Computer Science
and Informatics, with 55% of research outputs identified as
internationally excellent or world leading. The highly active and
multidisciplinary research group has an excellent international
research track record including research in human-robot interaction,
social robotics and robot learning.
You will work in the European project ITALK (http://
www.italkproject.org). The ITALK project aims to develop artificial
embodied agents able to acquire complex behavioural, cognitive, and
linguistic skills through individual and social learning. This will be
achieved through experiments with the iCub humanoid robot to learn to
handle and manipulate objects and tools autonomously, to cooperate and
communicate with other robots and humans, and to adapt to changing
internal, environmental, and social conditions. Within ITALK the UH
team pursues research harnessing social learning, gaze, gesture,
deixis, and shared attentional framing for the acquisition of
linguistic skills by humanoids in long-term unconstrained interactions
with human participants. This particular post will involve the design,
conduct and statistical evaluation of experiments with human
participants in laboratory as well as more naturalistic settings. You
would carry out the experiments as part of and in collaboration with
an interdisciplinary group of ITALK researchers at UH, including
experts in linguistics, robot learning and humanoid robotics. However,
you would be responsible for the design and analysis of the human-
robot interaction studies that form part of the research in ITALK as
well as other related projects in the Adaptive Systems Research group.
You should have a university degree in psychology, cognitive science,
or related area. You will be expected to contribute to the planning,
preparation and analysis of human-robot evaluation studies. You are
required to have excellent knowledge of research design methods,
strong analytical and statistical skills, and experience of empirical
psychological work. The ability to work as part of a multi-
disciplinary team, excellent time management and presentation and
communication skills in both spoken and written English are
necessary. You are expected to work independently, but under guidance
of and in close collaboration with other team members at UH and other
project partner institutions.
The position is full-time. Work will be based at University of
Hertfordshire and may include short stays at European partner
institutions. The position is based on a fixed-term contract up to end
of February 2012. Starting date: As soon as possible.
For informal inquiries please contact the team leader Prof.
Chrystopher L. Nehaniv (C.L.Nehaniv at herts.ac.uk).
Note, all applications must be made formally via the University's
website. Detailed information about the post and personal
specification for this post will be posted on the University's website.
Closing Date: 6 May 2010
Quote Reference: EN9190XAC
The University offers a range of benefits including a final salary
pension scheme, professional development, family friendly policies,
child care vouchers, waiving of course fees for the children of staff
at UH, discounted memberships at the Hertfordshire Sports Village and
generous annual leave.
Apply online at http://www.herts.ac.uk/jobs or request an application
pack from Human Resources on [+44-] 01707 284802 (24hr voicemail),
quoting the appropriate reference number.
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