Mikuláš Preininger is a Research Assistant and a PhD student at Charles University in Prague. His research explores the relationship between language and gender. He completed his STSM at the Institute for Computational Linguistics at the University of Zurich from 01/04/2024 to 27/04/2024. During the STSM period he worked on the translation of the missing parts of instructions and experimental stimuli and transformed the materials into the format consistent with the guidelines.
When I applied for the Short-term Scientific Mission at the University of Zurich, I sort of expected that the people from the Department of Computer Linguistics would be good at technologies. But, when I actually arrived at the department, the first thing I saw, and especially heard, were drones—hovering, flying through the corridors, buzzing from the screens. ‘OK, am I in the right place?’ And I was! The computer linguists just share the floor with the people from robotics. And what I soon found out was that they were not only on the same building level but also on the same level of technological expertise (at least from what I, as a psycholinguist with limited programming skills, can judge).
During the four weeks at UZH, I had an opportunity to learn from people who develop the MultiplEYE experiment, watch them work, and gain hands-on experience from the eye-tracking lab. I also got an insight into what other people from the department do and how the department works, which was very inspiring. On top of all that, I could spend a month in such a beautiful city as Zurich is, enjoying it in the spring roller coaster weather with both snowy mountains and sunny, crowded river banks. It was a time I will surely remember and that I am really grateful for!
During the four weeks at UZH, I had an opportunity to learn from people who develop the MultiplEYE experiment, watch them work, and gain hands-on experience from the eye-tracking lab. I also got an insight into what other people from the department do and how the department works, which was very inspiring. On top of all that, I could spend a month in such a beautiful city as Zurich is, enjoying it in the spring roller coaster weather with both snowy mountains and sunny, crowded river banks. It was a time I will surely remember and that I am really grateful for!
