AI: PAGE Lab: Two PhD Stipends in NLP, Knowledge Graphs & History

AI:X is an ambitious initiative at Aalborg University that aims to advance AI research and create real-world impact through interdisciplinary collaboration. In 2026, nine labs will be initiated with a total of 18 PhD stipends.

The AI: Page-Lab, an AI:X initiative, is a collaboration between the Department of Society and Politics, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Department of Computer Science, the Technical Faculty of IT & Design.

We invite applications for two fully funded PhD stipends in the area of Natural Language Processing (NLP), Knowledge Graphs (KGs), and Large Language Models (LLMs) to explore historical text data and cultural heritage collections.

Collections of historical texts are increasingly used to train AI, but, consisting of highly heterogeneous text data, they are difficult to search and analyse. The AI: PAGE Lab develops AI tools that transform historical texts into machine-readable and machine-understandable structured knowledge about the people, places and events described in the texts. This makes it possible to search across sources, discover hidden connections, and explore history in new ways. The goal is to develop workflows and approaches that make cultural heritage data easier to use and to probe their usefulness for historical analysis.

Both stipends are open for appointment from 15 August 2026 or soon thereafter, and the duration of the positions are three years.

Stipend 1:

You will be hired by the Department of Computer Science at the AAU’s Copenhagen campus,

Stipend 2:

You will be hired by the Department of Society and Politics at the AAU’s Aalborg campus.

At the Department of Society and Politics (Stipend 2), it is also possible to apply for an integrated stipend, which is described further below in the posting. For the integrated stipend, the appointment is from 1 September 2026.

Please note that the integrated stipend is not possible at the Department of Computer Science.

Your work tasks

AI: PAGE Lab is seeking two highly motivated PhD researchers to join our interdisciplinary team working at the intersection of NLP, KGs, and digital cultural heritage. The two PhD candidates will collaborate closely to develop an ontology-guided pipeline for constructing Knowledge Graphs from historical texts and investigate how such structured representations can support new forms of historical inquiry.

Stipend 1:

The PhD student, hosted by the Department of Computer Science, will focus on developing scalable AI and NLP methods for Knowledge Graph Construction.

Stipend 2:

The PhD student, hosted by the Department of Society and Politics, will guide the Knowledge Graph Construction using their domain knowledge and apply the resulting Knowledge Graphs to conduct graph-based historical analysis, particularly prosopography and social history. The data for the project stems mainly from the nineteenth century, particularly texts from police gazettes and newspapers.

Possible research topics for both stipends can be (but are not limited to):
1. Ontology-Guided Knowledge Graph Construction: Developing automated pipelines leveraging LLMs that extract entities, relations, and contextual descriptions from historical texts and integrate them into scalable, interoperable KGs.
2. NLP for Historical Texts: Designing and adapting NLP techniques to handle the linguistic variability, ambiguity, and noise typical of historical sources.
3. Graph-Based Prosopography and Social History: Developing computational approaches for analysing life-courses, networks and relationships between historical actors using Knowledge Graphs.
4. Knowledge Graph Exploration and Analysis Tools: Creating methods and platforms that enable historians and cultural heritage researchers to query, explore, and discover patterns and hidden connections in large historical datasets.

The PhD students will work both independently and collaboratively within the AI: PAGE lab as well as with the AAU-NLP group and History group, and will have opportunities to engage with national and international partners. We also plan to host internationally leading researchers at AAU to provide further opportunities for knowledge exchange and collaboration.

Your competencies

We are looking for candidates motivated to make fundamentally scientific contributions to NLP, KGs, and Digital Cultural Heritage research.

Stipend 1:

Applicants for the position in the Department of Computer Science must have:
• A relevant MSc degree (e.g., Computer Science, Software Engineering, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Computational Linguistics, or a related field)
• Strong programming skills (e.g., Python)
• Strong skills in machine learning, deep learning and modern NLP techniques.
• Background in Knowledge Graphs and LLMs is advantageous but not a requirement.
• Excellent communication skills in English

Stipend 2:

Applicants for the position in the Department of Society and Politics must have:
• A relevant MA degree (e.g. History, Archival Studies) or BA degree and completed coursework for the first year if an MA, if applying for the integrated stipend
• Experience with archival research
• Skills in digital history (e.g. dataset creation, information extraction, data visualisation)
• Strong skills in academic writing
• Proficiency in historical Danish

Qualification requirements

PhD stipends are allocated to individuals who hold a Master's degree. PhD stipends are normally for a period of 3 years.

Integrated PhD stipends (applicable to ONLY Department of Society and Politics) are allocated to individuals who has not yet completed a Master’s degree and who wish to begin the PhD study in connection with the Master study and apply the integrated stipend. Thus, a prerequisite for acceptance is that the candidate is enrolled in a relevant Master’s programme.

The integrated stipend consists of two parts, A and B. During part A you are enrolled simultaneously in the master’s programme and in the PhD programme. The stipend consists of two SU-PhD Grants per month (SU=The Danish students’ Grants and Loans Scheme). One SU-PhD grant equals DKK 7.426 kr. (2026 level). SU-PhD Grants are paid for a maximum of two years. When the master’s degree has been obtained, you will be employed for two years as a PhD fellow according to the present collective agreement. Part B has a maximum duration of two years.

It is a prerequisite for allocation of the stipend that the candidate will be enrolled as a PhD student at the Technical Doctoral School of IT and Design or the Doctoral School of Social Sciences and Humanities in accordance with the regulations of Ministerial Order No. 1124 of September 19, 2025 on the PhD Programme at the Universities and Certain Higher Artistic Educational Institutions. According to the Ministerial Order, the progress of the PhD student shall be assessed at regular points in time.

As part of the PhD study, you are among other things required to complete PhD courses corresponding to 30 ECTS, gain experience with teaching or other forms of knowledge dissemination and complete an external research stay outside of Aalborg University, preferably 3-6 months at a foreign research institution.

Who we are
According to the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings, Aalborg University ranks 3rd in Europe and 27th in the world among the Best Universities for Engineering. A 2018 report by Massachusetts Institute of Technology ranked its engineering program 4th globally, and in the latest Times Higher Education Impact Ranking, Aalborg University places 9th worldwide for its contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Stipend 1:

The Department of Computer Science has more than 170 scientific staff, 20 administrative staff, and around 1,100 students, and is built on AAU’s problem-based learning model. The Copenhagen section of the department is a rapidly growing and collaborative research environment spanning areas such as NLP, AI, ML, Databases, Formal Methods, and Human-Centred Computing.

We place a strong emphasis on psychological safety, diversity, and inclusive research practices, and work actively to cultivate a positive everyday environment where staff and students can thrive. The Natural Language Processing group, AAU-NLP, focuses on factuality, KGs, multilingual NLP, LLM security, and trustworthy language technologies. The group hosts projects funded by the Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Carlsberg Foundation, and two of AAU’s interdisciplinary AI:X initiative, and will grow to at least 4 faculty members, 4 postdocs, and 11 PhD students by 2026.

Stipend 2:

The Department of Society and Politics include researchers working across disciplines such as history, sociology, political science and criminology. The department is mainly located at the Aalborg Campus. In recent years, researchers at the department have developed new computational approaches. The History group has a strong focus on dataset creation, including machine learning approaches to transcribing, re-structuring and analysing archival collections. The PhD student employed will be part of an award-winning team of computational social historians at the cutting edge of their discipline.

How to apply

Your application must include the following:

Stipend 1:

• Application, stating reasons for applying and qualifications in relation to the position,
• Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Diplomas (bachelor’s and master's degree diploma, including grades)
• Project description
• Other relevant documents

Read more about The Technical Doctoral School of IT and Design

Stipend 2:

• Application, stating reasons for applying and qualifications in relation to the position,
• Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Diplomas (bachelor’s and master's degree diploma, including grades)
• Stipend 2: Project description of approx. 8 pages.
• Applicants WHO are planning to complete a doctoral thesis in English and who do not have English as a first language or WHO have not completed an English language-based Master's programme (or an equivalent educational achievement in English) shall provide documentation that they have passed one of the following official tests with the respective minimum score: IELTS (band score): 7, TOEFL (paper-based): 600, TOEFL (internet-based): 100. The language test must be no more than five years old at the time of the application.
• Applicants must have achieved the grade 10 or above in the Danish grading system (or the equivalent in a different grading system) for their Master’s Thesis/final exam. The PhD candidate may be exempted from the grade requirement, if he/she is able to provide other forms of documentation of his/her qualifications.
• Other relevant documents

Read more about The Doctoral School of Social Sciences and Humanities

The application must be submitted via Aalborg University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aalborg University's website.

Aalborg University wants to reflect the surrounding society and has diversity as a core value. Therefore, everyone, regardless of personal background and orientation, is encouraged to apply for the position.

Do you have any questions?If you have any questions about the position, you are more than welcome to contact us. You will find contact persons at the bottom of the jobpost.

Further informationRead more about our recruitment process here.

The assessment of candidates for the position will be carried out by qualified experts.
Shortlisting will be applied. This means that after the application deadline, the head of the department, with the assistance of the hiring committee, will select the applicants to be assessed. All applicants will be informed whether they have been shortlisted for assessment or not.

The hiring process at Aalborg University may include a risk assessment as a tool to identify potential risks associated with new hires, ensuring the safety, compliance, and integrity of the workplace.

Salary and terms of employmentThe employment is in accordance with the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities (the Appointment Order) and the Ministerial Order on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities (in Danish).

Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with the collective agreement between the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations and the state (AC collective agreement) (in Danish)

Allocation of SU-PhD Grants are according to the Ministerial Order on the State Educational Grant and Loan Scheme part 12, section II. This applies to integrated PhD stipends only.

There is a mutual probationary period of 3 months for the position (not relevant for the integrated stipend).

Aalborg University - Knowledge for the world
Aalborg University is an international workplace with more than 3,700 employees. We offer real-world-oriented education and create world-class research results through collaboration between researchers, students, and public and private companies. This is how we achieve insights, new solutions to societal problems, and knowledge that changes the world. Our main campus is in Aalborg, but we also have campuses in Esbjerg and Copenhagen.