Helena Wedig

Hi, I am Helena!

After graduating in linguistics with a focus on computational linguistics in 2019, I used the last few years to first explore the industry while working at the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS), where I was able to develop skills in client communication, business proposal writing, and (agile) project management. After one year, I continued my academic career as a Pre-doctoral Research Fellow in Antwerp, Belgium. As a Pre-doctoral Research Fellow, I enlarged my knowledge about corpus linguistics, natural language processing (NLP), statistical methods, academic writing, (academic) project management, and conference presentations. I obtained my PhD in March 2025. In my current position, I am raising awareness of the use of research software and interoperability by giving RS training myself as well as coordinating other training offers at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Education

• B.A. in (Computational) Linguistics, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, 2017
• B.A. in German studies, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, 2017
• M.A. in (Computational) Linguistics, Ruhr University Bochum, 2019
• Ph.D. in Linguistics, University of Antwerp, March 2025
  • Topic: “A corpus-based analysis of connectives in L2 German. Insights into the effect of learners’ native language on academic writing in a foreign language”
  • Funded by Research Foundation Flanders (FWO)

Work experience

Jun 2025 – today: Research Software and Interoperability Training Lead

• Erasmus University Rotterdam

Jan 2021 - Oct 2024: Pre-doctoral Research Fellow

• University of Antwerp, Belgium
• Tasks
  • Project management
  • NLP
  • Research
  • Paper writing
  • Conference presentations
  • Corpus annotation & analysis
  • Statistical analysis (with R)
• Skills: Microsoft Word · Microsoft PowerPoint · Writing · NLP · Project Management · Annotation · Statistics · Student Recruiting · Natural Language Processing (NLP) · Academic Writing · Microsoft Excel · Python · R · Microsoft Office · Data Processing · Data Collection · Conference Presentations · Publication Writing

Sep 2019 - Dec 2020: Research Engineer

• Fraunhofer IAIS, Dresden, Germany
• Tasks
  • Client communication
  • Project management
  • NLP
• Skills: Annotation · Data Processing · Office Administration · Scrum · Client Relations · Client Communication · Presentations · Project Management · Python · Microsoft Office · NLP · Microsoft Word · Microsoft Excel · Microsoft PowerPoint · Apple iWork

Oct 2017 - Aug 2019: Academic Tutor for Computational Linguistics (3 semesters) and Psycholinguistics (1 semester)

• Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
• Tasks
  • Giving tutorials about the lecture’s content
  • Supporting students
  • Correcting assignments and exams
• Skills: Teaching · Peer Tutoring · Presentations · Python · Microsoft PowerPoint

Apr 2015 - Aug 2019: Student Research Assistant

• Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
• Tasks
  • Manual annotation of an Early New High German corpus with POS, sentence boundaries, morphology and normalized word forms (Anselm Project)
  • Processing learner data (Litkey)
  • Programming various applications with Python
  • Data processing (Tagging, Parsing, Converting)
• Skills: Annotation · Data Processing · Data Cleaning · Project Management · Python · NLP

Oct 2014 - Mar 2017: Student Assistant

• Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
• Tasks:
  • Student Assistant in the Students’ Office of Linguistics
  • Administrative tasks
  • Supporting teachers and tutors
  • Student counselling
  • Supporting students with eCampus
• Skills: Student Counseling · Office Administration · Microsoft Office

Voluntary work

• Apr 2011 - Jan 2019: Youth group leader
  • Herne, Germany
• Apr 2015 - Jun 2019: Elected member of the students’ representatives (Linguistics)
  • Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
• Apr 2018 - Jun 2019: Speaker of the students’ representatives (Linguistics)
  • Ruhr University Bochum, Germany

Other activities

• Panel chair at LCR 2024, NITS 2024, Graduate Student Conference in Learner Corpus Research 2023 & Learner Language Day UAntwerp 2023
• Member of the local organizing committee and website administrator of NITS2024.
• Lecturer of sessions on “Introduction to Computational Linguistics” (2021, 2022 & 2023), University of Antwerp, Belgium
• Editorial assistant Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series – Themes in Translation Studies (Sep 2021 - Oct 2024), University of Antwerp, Belgium
• Reviewer for Finnish Journal of Linguistics (2022)
• Teacher “Duits ophalen” (Sep 2023 – today), Pannehoef Oosterhout, Netherlands
• Certified Carpentry Instructor (2025 – today)

Skills

• Languages
  • German - Native proficiency (C2)
  • English - Professional working proficiency (C1)
  • Dutch - Limited working proficiency (B2)
  • French - Elementary proficiency (A2/B1)
• Programming: Python, R, Java, C, C++
• Tools: Microsoft Office, Apple iWork, PyCharm, R Studio, Google Analytics, Visual Studio Code