The successful candidate is expected to initiate and conduct computational research in the Tilburg Center for Cognition and Communication (TiCC). Researchers in TiCC explore cognitive and social aspects of human communication through a multidisciplinary approach, combining careful experimentation with survey methods, corpus analyses and computational modelling. Candidates are expected to develop new lines of research fitting within TiCC. 

Possible research topics include computational analysis of media behaviour (including experience sampling), computational cognitive modelling, computational decision making, computational privacy and ethics, data visualisation, digital conversational agents, human-robot interaction, natural language processing and generation, medical informatics, robot-journalism, sentiment analysis and text analytics, social media mining, virtual reality, and writing analytics.

Moreover, the successful candidate contributes to one of the leading programs in the Netherlands in Communication and Information Sciences (CIS), consisting of three tracks: Business Communication and Digital Media (BDM), Communication and Cognition (CC), and New Media Design (NMD). Annually, the CIS program attracts approximately 120 new bachelor students, 150 new premaster students, and 250 new master students. 

Candidates may contribute to one or more of the following teaching topics: programming, statistics, online data-collection, language technology, computational methodology, and (interactive) data visualisation.

The successful candidate has:

• a PhD in a relevant discipline, such as computational linguistics, computational communication science, cognitive science, human-computer interaction, or medical informatics,
• published in international journals or proceedings,
• excellent methodological, statistical and programming skills,
• the intention and ability to acquire external research funding,
• acquired (or is willing to acquire) the University Teaching Qualification, and
• the ability to communicate in English fluently and is able (or willing to learn) to communicate in Dutch.

The position will be ranked in the Dutch university job ranking system (UFO) as assistant professor (“universitair docent”). The starting gross salary for a full-time appointment is (minimally) € 3,637 up to (maximally) € 5,656 gross per month. The start of the employment is negotiable. Successful candidates receive a tenure track position, which is turned into a permanent position when our tenure requirements are met (these are available upon request).

Tilburg University is rated among the top of Dutch employers and has excellent terms of employment, such as a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% (annually), an options model and reimbursement of moving expenses. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may qualify for a tax-free allowance equal to 30% of their taxable salary. The university will apply for such an allowance on their behalf. The Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences will provide assistance in finding suitable accommodation. The collective labor agreement of the Dutch Universities applies. 

Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences

Research and education at the Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences (TSHD) has a unique focus on humans in the context of the globalizing digital society, on the development of artificial intelligence and interactive technologies, on their impact on communication, culture and society, and on moral and existential challenges that arise. The School of Humanities and Digital Sciences consists of four departments: Communication and Cognition, Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Culture Studies and Philosophy; several research institutes and a faculty office. Also the University College Tilburg is part of the School. Each year around 275 students commence a Bachelor or (Pre) Master Program. The School has approximately 2000 students and 250 employees.

Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences