Onwards: Vacancy Junior Research Developer (BioNLP and health information analytics), Antwerp University Hospital, Belgium

The Antwerp University Hospital (UZA) (www.uza.be) is recruiting a

Junior Research Developer (4-year contract)

The ACCUMULATE research project, an IWT-SBO project, addresses the development of language technology modules for extracting crucial medical information from clinical text (Biomedical Natural Language Processing), the visualization of this information, and the demonstration of the technology in software prototypes for various health information analytics use cases, designed for various target audiences. The project is a collaboration with KU Leuven, UZ Leuven, and University of Antwerp (UAntwerp).

Within ACCUMULATE, UZA will develop and evaluate innovative software prototypes in close consultation with clinicians, researchers, and pharmaceutical industry. The ICT department at UZA has a full-time vacancy for a research developer to develop these prototypes. The candidate will start on January 1, 2016 or as soon as possible after that date.

Function description

As a research developer, you are responsible for the development of 1/ a technical backbone in which the various language technology modules can be integrated flexibly, and 2/ health information analytics software prototypes using these modules. You also play a key role in the actual development of the language technology software and in the evaluation of the software prototypes.
You investigate pros and cons of various technologies and are capable of applying these in a flexible way, taking into account the use case and corresponding target audience.
You look for new technologies and innovations that can be applied in the project.
At UZA, you work in close collaboration with the project leads and system administrators of the ICT department and with the senior researcher of the project.
You participate in project meetings and discuss the development of the prototypes with the project partners and the project's Industrial Advisory Board.
We offer you the opportunity to work on your own PhD research, under the supervision of promotors prof. dr. Walter Daelemans (CLiPS research center, UAntwerp) and dr. Kim Luyckx (ICT, UZA). As a PhD student, you publish about your research and present it to scientific audiences.

Function requirements

You have a master's degree in computer science, computational linguistics, engineering, or another relevant discipline.
You have an analytical mind and work independently.
You have a strong interest in scientific research.
You are familiar with Linux environments and open-source software.
You have experience with various programming languages (e.g., Java, Python) and have experience with data modeling.
You have experience with databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgresQL, MongoDB) and application servers such as Tomcat.
Any of the following is considered a plus:
- Experience in scientific research;
- Work experience;
- Experience with tools for real-time and scalable computing;
- The ability to demonstrate experience with building prototypes or webservices (e.g., a hobby or professional project in Github).

We offer

A fulltime contract for four years (starting January 1, 2016 or as soon as possible after that date);
Opportunities for additional technical training;
Recuperation of 40-hour workweek (resulting in 12 additional days off based on a 100% work regime);
8 additional days off on top of official holidays (based on a 100% work regime);
Meal vouchers of 4 EUR per day or per 8 hours;
Day care facilities for children.