The successful candidate will join a research team with Dr. Neil Cohn on the TINTIN project funded by the European Research Council. This scientific programmer will help design and program software tools for analyzing visual and multimodal materials, particularly comics, along with programming a database for accessibly exploring this data by both laypeople and researchers. Additional information about this research topic can be found at www.visuallanguagelab.com/tintin.

• PhD degree in computer science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, communication science, or a related field.
• Proficient ability and experience in software design and modern programming languages (Python, Java, PHP), in database design, SQL databases, and exchange formats such as XML.
• An accessible attitude, can function well in a team, and can establish and maintain interpersonal relations, with excellent communication skills in English.
• Ability to take initiative, be organized, be flexible, and work independently
• Strongly motivated to deliver a usable and maintainable product, and able to carry out internationally competitive and cutting-edge research.
• An interest in comics, language, cognition, and/or visual media.

Fixed-term contract: at least 2,5 years.

• A full-time appointment for a period of at least 2.5 years, with an intermediate evaluation after 9 months. Ideal start date is February 2020.
• The post doc position will be ranked in the Dutch university job ranking system (UFO) as a researcher.
• The starting gross monthly salary for a full-time appointment is (minimally) € 3.389 in scale 10 up to (maximally) € 4.978 in scale 11.
• A holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% (annually).
• Tilburg University is one of the best non-profit employers in the Netherlands and offers very good fringe benefits such as an options model for terms and conditions of employment and reimbursement of moving expenses, also including excellent technical infrastructure, savings schemes and excellent sport facilities. The collective labor agreement of the Dutch Universities applies.
• Researchers from outside the Netherlands may qualify for a temporary tax-free allowance equal to 30% of their taxable salary. The University will apply for such an allowance on their behalf.
• The University will provide assistance in finding suitable accommodation (for foreign employees).

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

Who we are

The department of Communication and Cognition (DCC) studies cognitive and social aspects of human communication through a multidisciplinary approach combining careful experimentation with survey methods, corpus analyses and computational modeling. Core research domains include communication and technology, cross-cultural communication, information visualisation, marketing and business communication, language production, and non-verbal communication.

New media and other digital technologies play an increasingly important role in the research and teaching of the department. These technologies shape how we live, learn and work, and strongly influence how we communicate with colleagues, family and friends. Our research and teaching contributes to developing better digital communication systems, with applications in eHealth, affective computing, media, journalism and education.