Research Assistant (Natural language Processing for Accessible Science)

The University of Surrey is a global university with a world‑class research profile and an enterprising and forward‑thinking spirit, committed to research and innovation excellence and to benefitting the economy, society and the environment. Our researchers practise their excellence against the backdrop of our broad spectrum of technological, human, health and social sciences, and their uncommonly strong linkages forged in an integrated campus culture of cooperation.

The Centre for Translation Studies (CTS) at the University of Surrey is seeking a Research Assistant in natural language processing for accessible science to contribute to the Terminology‑Aware Machine Translation for Accessible Science (TaMTAS) project. The project is funded by EPSRC under the CHIST‑ERA Call 2025: Science in Your Own Language. Bridging Machine Translation, Natural Language Processing, and scientific expertise, the project addresses the urgent need for accurate and accessible scientific communication by enabling multilingual access to scientific knowledge. It challenges the dominance of English in scientific dissemination and aims to empower both researchers and the general public to engage with science in their native languages. The project brings together an outstanding international consortium, including collaborators from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Dublin City University and the University of Tartu.

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• Contribute mainly to WP4 (Terminology‑aware Quality Estimation and Automatic Post‑Editing) by developing models capable of identifying and characterising terminological errors, their span and severity, focusing on critical domain errors.
  
• Contribute to WP5 (Text Augmentation) which enhances scientific content for accessibility and educational reuse.
  
• Collaborate with project partners and prepare and present research results.
  
• Demonstrate good communication skills.
  

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• Graduate Researcher with a background in natural language processing, computational linguistics or a related discipline.
  
• Experience with machine translation, text accessibility and the use of large language models (LLMs) in evaluation.
  
• Proficient programming skills.
  
• Familiarity with the use of LLMs for quality estimation like the GEMBA prompt is desirable.
  
• Knowledge of any of the consortium languages in addition to English (Spanish, Catalan, Estonian or Irish) would be a bonus.
  

This is a part‑time position available for 2 years with the possibility of extension until the end of the project (31/01/2029).

To apply for this role, please upload a CV and submit a cover letter via the University website. In your cover letter, please explain why you are suitable for the job.

Informal questions can be sent to Prof Constantin Orasan ().