PhD student position in Computer Vision
Deadline for application: May 15, 2024.
Beginning of the position: September 01, 2024 (ideally).
Work place: Basel (Switzerland)
Salary: approx. 50'000 Swiss francs per year
The interviews are expected to take place beginning of May online via Zoom.
The project
Papyri preserved by the dry climate of Egypt are an unparalleled source of information about the Ancient World. However, their large number, diversity and current dispersion have impeded a comprehensive grasp of their nature and content. In particular, palaeography, the study of handwritings that has the potential to unveil where, when, and by whom a text was written, still relies on experts' assertions that rarely reach consensus. New technological advances in Computer Science, notably in Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing now allow building the big picture of the writing culture of Greco-Roman Egypt and developing scientific analyses of scripts. Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation for five years, the Starting Grant project EGRAPSA (literally "I have written" in Ancient Greek) aims at providing a new theoretical framework to the palaeography of Greek papyri. Starting from sound evidence, it aims at retracing the evolutions of handwritings, generating a model that, in turn, can contribute to organizing the papyrological documentation in a coherent panorama, improving the solidity of dates and writer identifications made on palaeographical grounds. The ground-breaking dimension of the project is to encompass the entire papyrological documentation in its full complexity to measure similarities and explain evolutions by focusing on the reconstruction of the dynamics of writing, thus to literally re-trace handwritings. For further information, see the project website https://d-scribes.philhist.unibas.ch/en/.
In addition, the PhD student will take part in the team's discussions on the history and evolutions of Greek handwritings across a millennium. She/he will help organize - jointly with the team - a number of workshops and conferences, participate in outreach activities of the project and present her/his research at scientific meetings.
We look forward to receiving your complete application. Applicants should submit a motivation letter, a current CV (including a list of publications if applicable), a text sample of a research paper (MA-thesis or other), and a copy of their academic degrees via the online application portal of the University (see button below) until 15 May 2024. Please also indicate the name and address of two possible referees. Applications that are not submitted via the University's online application portal will not be considered. Questions about the position can be addressed to Prof. Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello, SNSF Project leader Egrapsa, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, CH - 4051 Basel (Write an email).
4000 Basel
Adresse
Universität Basel