Postdoctoral research position: Multitlingual code-switched speech corpus and systems

A postdoc position focussing on corpus compilation and  automatic speech recognition of codeswitched South African speech in several languages is available in the Digital Signal Processing Group of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
The project will involve the compilation of a multilingual (at least 5 languages) corpus of conversational code-switched South African speech. It will also include the development of associated  automatic speech recognition systems able to process this speech.  Specific project objectives include the gathering of the acoustic data, developing a transcription protocol, recruiting annotators, setting up and managing the annotation process, developing a validation protocol, validating the data, developing baseline automatic speech recognition systems in the languages of the corpus, and producing new and original research into how best to automatically recognise and process this mixed-language speech.
Applicants must hold a PhD (preferably obtained within the last 5 years) in the field of Electronic/Electrical Engineering, Information Engineering, Computer Science, or other relevant discipline. Suitable candidates must also have practical and research experience with automatic speech processing systems in general and multilingual automatic speech recognition in particular, and should have an excellent background in statistical modelling, signal processing, and/or speech analysis. Applicants should also have proven prior experience in speech corpus compilation,  have good programming skills and be able to use high level programming languages for developing prototype systems. Finally, candidates must have excellent English writing skills and have an explicit interest in scientific research and publication.
The position will be available for one year, with a possible extension to a second and third year, depending on progress and available funds.  
Applications should include a covering letter, curriculum vitae, list of publications, research projects, conference participation and details of three contactable referees and should be sent as soon as possible to: Prof Thomas Niesler, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602. Applications can also be sent by email to: trn@sun.ac.za. The successful applicant will be subject to University policies and procedures.
Interested applicants are welcome to contact me at the above e-mail address for further information regarding the project.