Cardiff University Research Associate 2026: NLP and Large Language Models Position in the UK
Overview
Cardiff University is recruiting a Research Associate for the Natural Language Processing Group in its School of Computer Science and Informatics. The post sits within the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship led by Professor Jose Camacho-Collados, which explores how natural language processing can address real-world challenges while improving the interpretability and capabilities of language models. It is a full-time, fixed-term appointment of 14 months in Cardiff, Wales, with a flexible start date around 1 December 2026.
What you get
The salary is 41,064 to 46,049 pounds per annum on Grade 6, for 35 hours per week. The school works from Abacws, a 39 million pound purpose-built research facility shared with the School of Mathematics, and also uses the Social Science Research Park. The source notes that 96 percent of submitted research was rated world-leading or internationally excellent in REF 2021, and that the school collaborates with more than 100 academic and industry partners. The university is a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, so applicants are judged on the quality and impact of their research and not on publication metrics alone.
What the role involves
The associate carries out independent and collaborative research on natural language processing and language models, develops NLP methods for real-world applications, works with multidisciplinary researchers, produces academic publications, contributes to knowledge exchange and takes part in seminars and collaborations within the Cardiff NLP Group. The group works on language understanding, multilingual NLP, semantic technologies and applications of large language models.
Who can apply
The university seeks researchers with strong expertise in natural language processing and language model research, in fields such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, computational linguistics and computer science. Experience producing high-quality academic work and collaborating across disciplines is valued. Applications are welcome from all backgrounds, in English or Welsh, with Welsh applications receiving equal consideration.
Key dates
The closing date is Wednesday, 9 September 2026.