The successful candidate will work from digital transcriptions of ancient texts from the Registers of the Geneva Council and their modernized versions to enrich them via data analysis. The practical outcome is to deploy interactive visual discovery tools for the general audience, and interactive visual scientific exploration tools for expert audiences such as historians. Part of this work will involve analyzing and identifying needs and activities relevant to target audiences and creating appropriate interactive knowledge visualization techniques.

Applicants must hold a master's degree in computer science or information systems (or a related field). Skills and experience in at least one of the following areas are required: data visualization, information retrieval and knowledge management, user experience, etc. They should show a strong interest in collaborating with practitioners (particularly historians) and work with real data.

This PhD position is part of a 4-year SNF-funded project "Une édition sémantique et multilingue en ligne des registres du Conseil de Genève (1545-1550)". The aim of the project is to transcribe the manuscript texts of the Registres du Conseil de Genève (Registers of the Geneva council) between 1545 and 1550 into accessible digital form, and to develop functionalities that will make these fundamental documents of local and international history accessible to as many people as possible, while at the same time stimulating research in numerous fields: history, the computer processing of ancient languages and digital technology. In practical terms, the project aims to create a perennial, open and open source computing platform, offering users not only text transcription, but also modernization and translation into other languages, as well as a series of digital and educational tools for visualization and advanced exploration.

Starting date: as soon as possible.

Application deadline: End August 2023.

Applications must be composed at least of a CV and a letter of motivation to be sent to Laurent.Moccozet@unige.ch.

The University of Geneva is one of the oldest and the third largest university in Switzerland by number of students. It is highly ranked, both Nationally and Internationally according to the Shanghai Ranking of World Universities 2022.

The city of Geneva is very international and occupies a central position in Europe, and has a strong international reputation, including via the light of the international organizations (e.g. UN, WHO, WIPO, WTO, ICRC, CERN). The official language is French, and the successful candidate will need to interact with French-speaking colleagues.

Updates on this announcement at https://viper.unige.ch/doku.php/23.06.phd