[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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