2 PhD positions in Computational Social Sciences at ETH Zurich

The Chair of Systems Design at ETH Zurich invites applications for two PhD positions in the field of Computational Social Sciences. The first PhD position focuses on the analysis of political speeches using NLP approaches. The second PhD position focuses on quantifying resilience in collaboration networks. Both PhD positions leverage a new data set on the Swiss parliament (longitudinal, 1891 until today). The two positions are associated with our SNF project (Analyzing Co-Sponsorship Networks from 127 Years of the Swiss Federal Assembly), but successful candidates are required to develop their own research plan.

Project background
The two PhD positions are loosely associated with our SNF project. In this project we aim to detect when politicians change their opinions and why. We examine parliamentary speeches (using both supervised and unsupervised ML approaches) and the temporal dynamics of how members of parliament work together. Our project builds on a newly compiled data set of the Swiss parliament from 1891-today. It contains all speeches, political interactions and collaboration networks from members of parliament over the past 128 years. For more information, see www.sg.ethz.ch/projects/snsf-federal-assembly.

Job description
Our multi-lingual data set offers the opportunity to develop new methodologies in the field of NLP (including e.g., analyzing evolving speech patterns, speech complexity and sentiment analysis) and network science (including e.g., analyzing collaboration networks, multi-level networks, developing inferential network models). Starting from this unique data set, prospective candidates will develop their own research interests. The positions are available from May 2020 (flexible) and are fully funded for 3+ years by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). Deadline for applications is February 16, 2020.

Further details:
2 PhD positions in Computational Social Sciences at ETH Zurich