PhD Candidate - Automatic Speech Processing 100%

About the job

PhD Candidate - Automatic Speech Processing 100%

PhD position for Automatic Speech Processing (NLP) in Swiss German for people with speech disorders.

Department: School of Engineering

Start date: Between June and September 2026. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, so early application is recommended.

Speech disorders affect a significant portion of the population. In Switzerland, thousands of children require speech therapy, and people with neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s also benefit from regular speech training. At the same time, there is a clear shortage of speech therapists. Digital solutions can make an important contribution here – especially if they work in the patients’ native language.

Within the framework of the research project SpeeDi (Swiss German Speech Processing for Persons with Speech Disorders), we are developing new AI methods for processing Swiss German language for people with speech disorders. The aim is to develop technologies that can be used in digital therapy or diagnostic tools, e.g. in speech therapy.

Your tasks will include in particular:

• Development of new speech-to-text models for Swiss German that preserve linguistic errors (Error-Preserving Speech-to-Text)
• Training of modern deep learning models (e.g. transformer-based models such as wav2vec, HuBERT or Whisper), for example for automatic detection and classification of speech/language errors in audio recordings and/or transcripts
• Participation in the collection and annotation of speech data (Swiss German, children and adults)
• Publication of research results at international top conferences (e.g. ACL, EMNLP)
• Collaboration with speech therapists, linguists and clinical partners
• Co-supervision of bachelor’s and master’s theses in the research area
• Collaboration with speech therapists, linguists and clinical partners
• Support in teaching

This PhD position is based at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence (CAI) of the ZHAW and is supervised by Prof. Dr Mark Cieliebak (Head of NLP Research Team).

You are a highly motivated individual with very good German skills, an interest in research in artificial intelligence and speech processing, and want to apply your knowledge to a socially relevant problem.

Ideally, you bring the following qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Computational Linguistics, Neurolinguistics, Data Science or a related field
• Very good knowledge of machine learning / deep learning
• Good knowledge of software engineering
• Experience with Python and machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
• Interest in speech processing, natural language processing and dialect processing
• Experience with speech technologies or large language models is an advantage
• Enjoyment of interdisciplinary collaboration between linguistics, AI, machine learning and speech therapy
• Very good German skills; you can understand Swiss German well.

The ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest multi-disciplinary universities of applied sciences in Switzerland. The School of Engineering is one of the leading technical education and research institutions in the country and focuses on future topics in the areas of energy, mobility, information and health.

The Centre for Artificial Intelligence (CAI) is a competence centre of the ZHAW for applied AI research. Our research groups work on methods of machine learning, speech processing, computer vision and robotics and develop innovative solutions together with industry and research partners.

This position offers the opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI methods for speech processing while simultaneously achieving a direct societal benefit, especially in the area of digital support for speech therapy and medical diagnostics.

Please send us:

• a letter of motivation

a CV

• Certificates and transcripts of your previous studies
• Contact details of two referees

We look forward to receiving your application.

We offer university-level working and employment conditions and actively promote the professional development of our staff and managers. A detailed description of the benefits can be found on the "Working at ZHAW" website. Here are the main points:

Prof. Dr Mark Cieliebak

Professor of Speech and Text Processing & Head of the Natural Language Processing (NLP) Research Group

Samy Shalaby

Recruiting Manager