The Social Cognitive Systems Group at Bielefeld University is seeking applications for a ** Full-time (100%) Research Assistant / Ph.D. Student position ** to work in a newly established project on multimodal creativity in AI-based co-speech gesture generation. The project is part of a newly established Collaborative Research Center (CRC 1646) on “Linguistic Creativity in Communication” funded by the German Research Agency (DFG) for 4 years. The goal of the project is to investigate how co-speech gestures are employed to support both speaker and listener when new linguistic constructions are invented to solve a challenging situation in communication (e.g. referring to an entity for which no conventionalized term is available and ordinary language productivity does not suffice). It will be carried out by the Social Cognitive Systems Group (Prof. Stefan Kopp) in collaboration with the Psycholinguistics Group (Prof. Joana Cholin) at Bielefeld University, and will encompass both experimental studies with human speakers as well as the development of computational models (using machine learning techniques) of speech-gesture use in such situations. The announced position will be working for the computational part under supervision of Prof. Stefan Kopp. The main task will be to extend the currently popular data-based accounts that predict gestures from (prosodic and textual) information in a given speech input, to models that are able to generate novel gestures that (1) meet communicative demands that are not met by the given simultaneous speech or (2) mark and support the use of non-conventionalized creative language. We will build on the group’s long-standing previous work on cognitive and linguistic models of speech-gesture generation, as well as deep machine learning-based accounts of speech-driven gesture synthesis. In addition, the research assistant/PhD student will carry out interdisciplinary work with the psycholinguistic part of the project. The duration of the position is about 3,5 years (until end of 2027). Salary is 100% TVL-E13 scale (about 4.000,- EUR per month before taxes, depending on relevant work experience). Bielefeld is the vibrant center of the region of East Westphalia and Germany’s greenest big city with a lot of cultural, entertainment, and recreational opportunities. It is located in the center of Germany, surrounded by beautiful forests, and connected to Germany’s high-speed rail system. Bielefeld University is a strong research-oriented university with more than 20.000 students and a famous commitment to interdisciplinary research. It hosts major research centers such as the Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) or the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF). Application deadline is 25th of January, but later applications will be considered too until the position has been filled. If you are interested to learn more about the position, please get in contact with Stefan Kopp (skopp@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de <mailto:skopp@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de>). For information on how to apply please refer to: https://uni-bielefeld.hr4you.org/job/view/3067/research-positions?page_lang=en