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Postdoctoral Fellow

Position Purpose: The appointee will be an active participant and will carry out research

projects for newly funded MBIE “Natural Language Processing for Q&A I
Indigenous/Vernacular Languages” Project.

The appointee will join an esteemed team of Research Fellows, PhD
Students and Research Partners in New Zealand, but will also collaborate
with our Research Partners in Singapore.

Department: School of Natural & Computational Sciences (SNCS)

Location: Albany (Auckland)

Reports to: Professor of Information Sciences

Responsible for: Nil

Delegations: Nil

Job Title: Postdoctoral Fellow

Key relationships: Internal External
Head of School Research Partners in New Zealand
Project and Science Leaders of the Research Partners in Singapore
Project
SNCS
Massey University Staff

Massey University: We are a world-leading university in many academic disciplines and fields
of research. Our point of difference is research that is connected to
community and industry. Our researchers are developing expertise and
skills to advance human knowledge and understanding. Working together
across disciplines and locations, we solve national and global problems
through fundamental, applied and interdisciplinary research, while
culturally and artistically enriching our world.
We are deeply committed to being a Te Tiriti-led university,
demonstrating authentic leadership in contemporary Aotearoa New
Zealand as we uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the founding document of our
nation, and its principles through our practice. We embrace this not just
as an obligation but as a real opportunity for the nation and its people.
Our educators are preparing a new generation of global leaders. Our
students are diverse and are attracted to Massey because they want to
achieve their personal goals or make their mark in the world. They
experience world-class learning that recognises their intellectual and
cultural strengths, expands their horizons and prepares them to
contribute to a rapidly transforming world with skills, critical and creative
thinking and leadership.

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We will be renowned for our passion and caring attitude. All Massey
campuses will be innovation ecosystems, acting as magnets for smart
enterprises. Wherever we are, we will operate in partnerships founded
on respect, trust and mutual benefit. Massey is not only defined by what
we do, but by how we do it.

About this area The School of Natural & Computational Sciences generates and
disseminates scientific knowledge of the highest quality We coexist with
the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study, and together have a
formidable research and teaching reputation.

Massey core capabilities

At Massey we are Tiriti-led, upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles through our practice, we:

• Demonstrate awareness of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its contribution to Aotearoa New Zealand

society

• Understand the relevance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in relation to the work of the University and

the people we serve.

• Embracing Te Reo in relevant and practical ways in our workplace interactions and engagement

with external stakeholders, giving expression to Tikanga Māori and protocols that
demonstrates that we respect and value Māori conventions in appropriate settings.

At Massey we work together with mutual respect and caring. we:

• Act with integrity and trustworthiness and give credit to others for the work they do.
• Work cooperatively and inter-dependently to foster and promote the One University approach
• Share knowledge and communicate professionally with courtesy and mutual respect.
• Are ethical in all transactions, working within the parameters of our policies and procedures.
• Are direct, truthful and maintain confidentiality.
• Seek to understand and appreciate our differences.
• Are ethical in all transactions, working within the parameters of our policies and procedures.
• Are direct, truthful and maintain confidentiality.
• Seek to understand and appreciate our differences
• Keep ourselves and others safe; work together to embrace with the University's health, safety

and wellbeing policies, procedures and programmes; display commitment by actively
supporting all safety and wellbeing initiatives: and by actively engaging in health and safety
improvement opportunities.

At Massey we are future-focused, results- oriented and strive for excellence. we:

• Take ownership and responsibility for delivering results to support achievement of University

objectives.

• Provide the best quality services to our customers (internal and external) ensuring our

students/ stakeholders are at the heart of everything we do.

• Deliver or support world-class research, teaching and learning and citizenship.
• Take personal responsibility for our performance, take pride in doing our job well, and commit

to ongoing personal and professional development

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• Are motivated and create a positive working environment where our values are reinforced.
• Anticipate and respond with agility and resilience to the changing needs of the University and

the communities we serve.

• Seek ways to improve our services to deliver in an efficient and effective way.
• Embrace technology and apply this innovatively to better meet the needs of those we serve.
• Challenge ourselves to reach our potential and help bring out the best in others.
• Understand how what we do contributes to the objectives of the University.

Accountabilities

Research • Planning and carrying out appropriate research in line with the aim of
the project.

• Communicating findings within the project team across NZ and

Singapore participants by oral presentations and written reports.

• Disseminating findings across the wider research community through

the publications in high quality peer-reviewed conferences and
journals.

• Engaging positively and collaboratively with clients, research

collaborators and internal staff at Massey University.

• Attending internal meetings, seminars and annual workshops as

directed.

• Observing the rules and regulations of the University, School of Natural

and Computational Sciences (SNCS) and MBIE, including Health and
Safety.

• Complying with the university's obligation to the Treaty of Waitangi.
• Undertakes other reasonable duties as and when required.

Collegiality • Participate fully in the academic activities of Massey University

including SNCS and College of Sciences.

• Diligently and faithfully serve the University and use their best

endeavours to promote and protect the interests of the University.

Qualifications and Experience

Qualifications: PhD degree in Natural Language Processing and/or Speech Processing
(ideally in Automatic Speech Recognition).

Experience: • Customer Service experience.

• Experience in business services and process improvement.

• Significant administration experience and the ability to manage

multiple projects/initiatives at the same time.

• Basic understanding of the concept of trust, security and privacy

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• Proven research and publication track records within NLP or speech

processing particularly had papers published in top conferences and
journals such as ACL, INTERSPEECH, TPMI, TASLP, etc.

• Excellent written and oral communication and writing skills.

• Experience implementing state of the art NLP and/or speech

processing algorithms from published papers.

• Proficient with TensorFlow, Keras, Pytorch or other ML frameworks.

• Industrial experience in NLP or ASR.

• Experience in research grant writing.

• Demonstrates strong interpersonal skills especially across cultures

• Competency in Te Reo Maori

• Teaching experience in one or more areas of computer science

including Artificial Intelligence Programming or Algorithm Design
Analysis.

Capabilities
i. Behaviour

Communication • Conducts discussions in a respectful manner, that are sincere
and fully expressed.

• Develops a clear, complete understanding of needs and

problems through careful listening, probing, reflecting, and
summarising.

ii. Technical

• Content categorization.
• Speech-to-text and text -to-speech conversion
  

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