Job Offer: One PostDoc Position in Research Project MPCD
The Center for Religious Studies (CERES) is offering a post-doc position (100%) within the research project MPCD.
The long-term project MPCD will create an online and open-access corpus of Zoroastrian Middle Persian texts. The resulting corpus (ca. 54 texts, 687,000 tokens) will be by far the largest of its kind. At MPCD, we will make this corpus accessible in transliteration, transcription, and via manuscript photographs of the 15 oldest codices. The project will provide morphological and, in part, syntactical annotations for these texts encoded in TEI. Furthermore, it will create a digital Middle Persian-English dictionary with about 7000 lemmata.
The digital corpus and the ensuing digital dictionary constitute two closely interlinked analytical instruments. They focus on two closely connected but separate aspects of the texts, syntax and semantics, which are linked together in the work of the project. A web-based working environment enabling the collaborative processing of both corpus and dictionary will serve as a user interface for search in and analysis of the prepared resources. Moreover, the project aims to make the corpus of Pahlavi literature accessible for the methods developed in corpus linguistics and digital humanities.
The project is funded by the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) for a period of three years: 01.04.2021-31.03.2024. The project and the advertised positions are embedded within CERES, Central Research Unit of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
Tasks:
- Transliteration and transcription of Zoroastrian Middle Persian texts,
- Morphosyntactic tagging,
- Translation of Zoroastrian Middle Persian texts into English,
- Lexicographical analysis of the texts,
- Coordination with Cologne University regarding the implementation of the software and repository.
The position is third party funded and does not have any formal teaching duties attached.
At Ruhr-Universität Bochum, we wish to promote careers of women in areas in which they are underrepresented, and we would therefore like to encourage female candidates to send us their applications. Applications by suitable candidates with severe disabilities and other applicants with equal legal status are likewise most welcome.
Requirements:
- PhD in Iranian Studies, Linguistics, Religious Studies or related disciplines
- Excellent competence in Middle Persian philology
- Profound knowledge of Linguistics
- Good knowledge of corpus linguistics and lexicography
- Good command of English
In addition, the following qualifications are desirable:
- Experience in digital humanities
- experience with TEI and XML
- Good command of German
If interested, please submit your application via e-mail (one single pdf-file) to kianoosh.rezania@rub.de. Applications will include a cover letter explaining applicants’ interest in this position, a detailed CV, a list of publications, and copies of relevant certificates. The deadline for application is 31 January 2021. Expenses for travel, accommodation, and loss of earnings in the context of job interviews will not be redeemed.