November 2025: There will be several openings in my lab in 2026.

Two positions, for a start in March or April 2026:

  • PhD position (100% TLV-13). Thematically, this can be on anything within the research interests of the group (see this site); some recent topics of interest are evaluation of LLMs through conversational games and post-training of models in interaction. This position comes with a teaching load of 4 hours / semester week (= 2 classes per semester), contributing to our Bachelor of Science “Computerlinguistik” and our Master of Science “Cognitive Systems: Language, Learning, and Reasoning”. (See the list of past teaching to get an idea.) This position is initially for 3 years, and can be extended for another year.

  • PhD position (75% TVL-13). This position is within project D01 of the “Collaborative Research Centre 1287 ‘Limits of Variability in Language’” (site, not yet updated for phase III). The project will look into the question of why small variations in the formulation of a prompt (both for single-shot as well as for multi-turn tasks) to an LLM can lead to differences in output. It will study the phenomenon empirically as well as through methods of mechanistic interpretation. This position does not come with a teaching load. It has a fixed term of 3.5 years. (There might be an opportunity to stretch this position to 100% by taking on administrative duties in the management of the Master’s.)

The ideal candidate for either position has an excellent degree in a related field (Computational Linguistics, Computer Science, Cognitive Psychology), strong programming skills, strong writing skills, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to carry a research project through.

One position for a post-doctoral researcher, from September 2026:

  • This is a 100% TVL-13 position, initially for 3 years, with the possibility to extend. On the research side, the postdoc will be embedded in my group, and will be expected to help maintain its research activities, while gradually forging a recognisable own profile. As such, a substantial overlap with the concerns of the lab (see https://clp.ling.uni-potsdam.de/publications/ ; roughly: situated language use / “agents”; learning in interaction; computational pragmatics) would be helpful. The way this would be expressed would be through joint supervision of Master’s students (and perhaps PhD students, eventually), leading to publications, and support in defining research projects (and grant proposals).

  • As usual with this type of position, it comes with a teaching load of 4 hours per semester (which usually works out as 2 classes per semester). See comments above for the PhD position. Being able to teach in German is a plus, but not absolutely necessary.

The idea candidate would have a profile as described above for the PhD positions, plus a comparatively more developed publication record and some first experience in teaching and supervision.

General information

  • The positions are open until filled. Evaluation of applications has already begun (December 2025); so if you are interested, contact me ASAP.

  • The Department of Linguistics at the University of Potsdam is a great place with many research activities (collaborative research center in linguistics; part of the University’s “designated research focus” on cognitive science); popular CL/NLP BA and MSc (taught in English); well established contacts with NLP industry in Berlin / Potsdam area.

  • Potsdam and the general Berlin/Potsdam metropolitan area is a great place to live.

To apply, send

a) a statement of research interests, relating them to the research of the group;
b) electronic copies of your degree certificates;
c) a CV with a list of publications, code repositories, etc, (if such already exists; otherwise, any other kind of writing and coding samples);
d) the names of references,

to David Schlangen ( first.last@uni-potsdam.de ), by email.

For any enquiries, please also contact David Schlangen.

  • For information on the TVL-13 scale, see here.

Other opportunities

I sometimes accept self-funded PhD students, if the research interests are sufficiently aligned. If you have an idea for a project (and a source of funding, such as DAAD or your national funding agency), let’s talk.

I also sometimes accept research interns (advanced Master’s students) for the summer. I have had interns that brought their own funding (RISE, DAAD), and have in exceptional cases also provided funding for interns recommended by other labs I have collaborated with.

Note: If you cold email me, tell me exactly where you see a connection between your idea and our research. Just mentioning a (random) paper title is not enough. If I don’t see an actual engagement with our work, I will have to ignore the email – I simply cannot answer all the unsolicited requests I get.