Department: Department of Computer Science The Natural Language Processing Section at the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen invites applicants for a PhD fellowship in Explainable Natural Language Understanding. Start date: Expected 1 March 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter. The PositionThe PhD fellowship is offered in the context of an ERC Starting Grant held by Isabelle Augenstein on ‘Explainable and Robust Automatic Fact Checking (ExplainYourself)’. The ERC Starting Grant is a highly competitive funding program by the European Research Council to support talented early-career scientists in Europe with funding for a period of 5 years to build up or expand their research groups. ExplainYourself proposes to study explainable automatic fact checking, the task of automatically predicting the veracity of textual claims using machine learning methods while also producing explanations of how the model arrived at the prediction. Existing methods often use opaque deep neural network models, which hinder user trust. ExplainYourself proposes methods for explainable fact checking that more accurately reflect how models make decisions, while also being useful to diverse groups of end users. The project team currently consists of the principal investigator, three PhD students, two postdocs, collaborators from CopeNLU, and external collaborators. The recruited PhD student is expected to define their project within the overall project scope and collaborate with the larger project team. Whom Are We Looking For?Applicants should hold an MSc degree or equivalent in Computer Science or a related field, and have good written and oral English skills. Assessment will also consider previous scientific publications (if any) and relevant work experience. Ideal candidate background:
Our Group and What We OfferThe successful candidate will join the CopeNLU group at the University of Copenhagen, led by Isabelle Augenstein and Pepa Atanasova. The group focuses on methods for deep language understanding, interpretable and explainable AI, and applications to tasks such as fact checking and question answering. We are affiliated with:
The group emphasizes foundational and applied research in NLP while promoting transparent and responsible AI development. Principal Supervisor: Prof. Isabelle Augenstein – augenstein@di.ku.dk The PhD ProgrammeStudy Framework: Three-year full-time study within the regular PhD programme (5+3 scheme), for candidates with a degree equivalent to a relevant Danish Master’s. Eligibility: Completion of a degree programme equivalent to a Danish Master’s (180 ECTS BSc + 120 ECTS MSc) in NLP, ML, or related areas. Terms of Employment:
Responsibilities and Tasks
Qualifications
Application and Assessment ProcedureApplications must be in English and submitted electronically. Required Documents:
Application Deadline: 31 October 2025, 23:59 GMT +1 Note: Late applications or incomplete submissions will not be considered. Selection Process
ContactFor specific information about the PhD fellowship: augenstein@di.ku.dk General information about PhD study at the Faculty of SCIENCE is available at the PhD School. Application Start Date: 1 March 2026 The University of Copenhagen encourages all applicants regardless of personal background and promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard in an ambitious and informal environment. Contact:
Application Deadline: 31-10-2025
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