Lonneke van der Plas

Lonneke van der Plas is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Argumentation, Linguistics and Semiotics within the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), and an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Informatics, USI, since October 2024. She also serves as the group leader of the Computation, Cognition & Language research group at the Idiap Research Institute in Martigny, a position she has held since February 2021.

Her academic background includes:

• PhD in Humanities Computing, University of Groningen
• M.Phil in Computer Speech and Language Processing, University of Cambridge
• Postdoctoral research at the University of Geneva (CLASSiC project)
• Junior Professor at the University of Stuttgart (IMS, SFB 732)
• Associate Professor at the University of Malta (2014–2020)

Her research interests span Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, Distributional Semantics, Multilingual NLP, Computational Creativity, and Low-Resource Languages. She integrates insights from cognitive science, linguistics, and computer science to model language as a tool for creative thinking and reasoning. Her work includes semantic role labeling, cross-lingual transfer, medical question answering, and lexical innovation.

The 15 most recent publications reflect a strong trend in interdisciplinary NLP research, combining linguistic theory with machine learning. Topics include lexical innovation, multilingual financial NLP, skill extraction, multi-modal fact checking, and cognitive modeling. The articles demonstrate expertise in both theoretical and applied NLP, with applications in healthcare, finance, education, and AI ethics. Key subfields include semantic role labeling, cross-lingual transfer, bootstrapping for low-resource languages, and structured knowledge integration.

Scientific recognitions include:

• DSI Fellow, University of Zurich (2019–2020)
• Erasmus Mundus LCT Visiting Scholar at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and University of Melbourne (2016)
• Visiting Academic at Macquarie University, Sydney (2007)

She has advised multiple PhD students including Stefan Müller, Patrick Ziering, Molly Petersen, Mete Ismayilzada, and Diego Rossini. She currently leads several major funded projects: NCCR Evolving Language (SNSF, PI), C-LING (SNSF, PI), SEM24 (Innosuisse, PI), and FactCheck (Hasler Foundation, co-PI). These grants support postdoctoral researchers, developers, and PhD students, and involve collaborations with institutions like EPFL, EHL, and ARCA24. Her research bridges academia and industry, with applications in HR, finance, and healthcare.

Lonneke leads the Computation, Cognition & Language group at Idiap, which conducts highly interdisciplinary research involving collaborations with social scientists, cognitive scientists, linguists, and professionals in health, finance, and business. The group focuses on modeling language as a cognitive and creative tool, using computational methods to explore lexical innovation, diachronic change, and reasoning. Open PhD positions are available in areas such as NLP for cognitive modeling, multilingual NLP, and mental health applications.