Post-doctoral Research Associate in Machine Learning and Social Robotics for Child Language Development

Fixed term (for a period of 36 months)

Abertay is a modern university with a global outlook, rooted in its local and national communities. We have made our mark with high quality, well-directed teaching and research, and a stimulating and enriching experience for our students.

The University seeks to appoint a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Machine Learning and Social Robotics for Child Language Development. The successful candidate will join our interdisciplinary team of researchers in language development and machine learning across the Faculty of Applied Sciences and the Faculty of Design, Informatics and Business. 

Reporting to the project investigators with expertise in Child Language Development (Prof Vera Kempe), AI (Dr Javad Zarrin) and Social Robotics (Dr Salma ElSayed), you will develop innovative machine learning systems for a groundbreaking project aimed at understanding and enhancing early child language development. The project involves programming a robot to interact with 2-3-year-old children using contingent verbal responses based on the analysis of the children's eye movements, the visual scene surrounding the child, and the child's vocalisations. The aim of the project is to support vocabulary growth through child-directed speech in a naturalistic and playful learning environment. The successful candidate will be supervised by Prof. Vera Kempe, Dr. Javad Zarrin, and Dr. Salma ElSayed.

The role requires you to

• Develop multi-modal machine learning algorithms capable of processing and analysing eye movement data, visual scene data, and child vocalisations.
• Program a robot to deliver contingent verbal responses based on real-time input from interacting children.
• Collaborate with child development researchers to ensure the robot's responses are conducive to children’s language development.
• Conduct and refine experiments to test the efficacy of the robot-assisted language learning with 2–3-year-old children.
• Analyse experimental data and contribute to the writing of research papers and reports.
• Present findings at national and international conferences and events.

For informal inquiries please contact Prof Vera Kempe (v.kempe@abertay.ac.uk).

If you believe you have the skills and experience for this exciting and challenging role, please submit your application through our online recruitment system, which can be found at www.abertay.ac.uk/discover/work-here/jobs

Committed to Equal Opportunities

Abertay University is a Scottish Registered Charity,

No: SC016040

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