Research Associate

Department

The Department of Language and Linguistic Science is seeking to appoint a post-doctoral Research Associate (PDRAs) to work with Dr Vincent Hughes (Principal Investigator), Professor Paul Foulkes and Dr Philip Harrison (Co-investigators), in collaboration with the Netherlands Forensic Institute and Oxford Wave Research, on their ESRC-funded project ‘Person-specific automatic speaker recognition: understanding the behaviour of individuals for applications of ASR’. The project will examine the types of speakers that are particularly difficult for automatic systems to recognise and will attempt to adapt systems to better handle those individuals. The aims of the project are to better understand how automatic systems behave, to improve overall system performance, and to contribute towards making ASR evidence admissible in UK courts.

Role

We are currently recruiting for a PDRA, who can be from any of the following disciplines: speech science, phonetics, sociophonetics, laboratory phonology, speech technology, automatic speaker or speech recognition, machine learning (with a focus on speech).

This role will involve processing large-scale speech databases using Oxford Wave Research’s VOCALISE automatic speaker recognition system, and changing settings related to adaptation, normalisation, and calibration. You will extract acoustic-phonetic data from the same recordings using techniques such as forced alignment and be involved in validation of expert forensic phonetic methods. You will also be involved in developing and testing novel methods for adapting automatic systems to better deal with problematic speakers. You will collaborate with the PI and CIs on dissemination and impact activities.

The successful applicant will start on 1 July 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. The post is full-time and fixed term for 12 months.

Skills, Experience & Qualification needed

• PhD in speech science, phonetics, speech technology or another relevant discipline, or equivalent experience
• Experience of processing large-scale databases of speech recordings (using e.g. automatic speech recognition, forced alignment)
• Ability to conduct acoustic phonetic and statistical analyses of databases of speech recordings
• Excellent communication skills to engage effectively with a range of audiences

Interview date: May 2024

For informal enquiries: please contact Vincent Hughes at vincent.hughes@york.ac.uk.

The University strives to be diverse and inclusive – a place where we can ALL be ourselves.

We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background, who are underrepresented at the University.

We offer family friendly, flexible working arrangements, with forums and inclusive facilities to support our staff. #EqualityatYork

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