Summary
Utrecht University is recruiting a PhD candidate for a four-year fully funded position within the Department of Methodology & Statistics at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. The successful candidate will conduct interdisciplinary research on computational models of semantic change and synonymy evolution across historical multilingual corpora using AI methods, large language models (LLMs), word embeddings, and clustering architectures.
Fully Funded PhD in Computational Semantics at Utrecht University, Netherlands
Designation
PhD Candidate (Computational Semantic Representations)
Overview & Key Details
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Position Title | PhD Candidate: Computational Semantic Representations |
| Host Institution | Utrecht University |
| Faculty / Department | Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences / Department of Methodology & Statistics |
| Working Hours | 36 to 40 hours per week (Full-time) |
| Contract Duration | 1 year initial contract, extendable to 4 years upon positive evaluation |
| Gross Monthly Salary | €3,204 (1st year) to €4,051 (4th year) per month (Scale P, CAO NU) |
| Benefits | 8% Holiday pay, 8.3% Year-end bonus, pension scheme, parental leave |
| Location | Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Application Deadline | 23 August 2026 |
| Preferred Start Date | 1 October 2026 |
Research Area
- Primary Fields: Computational Linguistics, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning.
- Secondary Fields: Computational Historical Linguistics, Diachronic Language Change, Methodology & Statistics for Social and Behavioural Sciences.
Location
Utrecht Science Park, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Eligibility / Qualification
Required Qualifications
- A (Research) Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence, Computational Linguistics, NLP, Computer Science, Data Science, or a closely related field with a strong affinity for language data.
- Solid programming skills (e.g., Python) and hands-on experience with machine learning or NLP, ideally including transformer-based models and contextualized word embeddings.
- Excellent communication skills in English.
- Strong capability to work effectively within interdisciplinary research teams.
Desirable / Preferred Qualities
- Prior experience with multilingual or historical corpora, multilingual language modeling, explainable NLP, or diachronic linguistic data.
- Hands-on experience with version control (Git), open-source software development, and reproducible research workflows.
- Knowledge of or genuine interest in cognitive, social, or behavioural science perspectives on language and meaning.
Job Description
The PhD candidate will be responsible for conducting original research structured around three core lines of work: modeling semantic relationships across time, interpretability of semantic change models, and generalization across languages and domains.
Key Responsibilities:
- Model Development: Design, implement, and evaluate computational models using contextualized word embeddings and LLMs to track semantic change and synonymy evolution.
- Architecture Design: Build hierarchical clustering architectures to identify and track polysemous word senses in historical corpora.
- Data Analysis: Apply computational frameworks to English (COCA/COHA), Dutch (Delpher), and Spanish (RAE) historical datasets to detect synonyms and measure semantic trajectories automatically.
- Open Science Contribution: Build and maintain an open-source NLP pipeline for the broader historical linguistics and language change research community.
- Theory & Synthesis: Investigate whether observed evolutionary tendencies in language are universal or language-specific.
- Dissemination: Write and publish scientific articles in top international peer-reviewed journals and present findings at major conferences.
- Academic Engagement & Teaching: Participate in seminars, workshops, and departmental activities, with up to 10% of the appointment dedicated to teaching or administrative tasks.
How to Apply
- Prepare a detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a Letter of Motivation.
- Submit your application online via the “Apply Now” portal on the official Utrecht University Job Vacancy Page.
- Contact Information: For informal inquiries regarding the position, contact Pablo Mosteiro via email at
p.mosteiro@uu.nl. - Selection Timeline: Interview invitations will be sent out between the application deadline and early September 2026. First-round interviews will take place in September 2026.
Last Date to Apply
23 August 2026
