Dr. Iverina Ivanova on Language as Patterns, PhD Life, and Linguists in the Age of AI

Decoding Phase Transitions - the DPT Podcast || Ep.6 || Feat. Dr. Iverina Ivanova (Part 2/2) In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Iverina Ivanova, we dive deeper into her academic and professional journey across Europe. From cultural shocks in Belgium to combining linguistics with technology during her Master’s in Marburg, Germany and ultimately making the bold decision to leave her job as a junior analyst to pursue a PhD in Frankfurt am Main — this episode is a story of courage, curiosity, and transformation. Dr. Iverina Ivanova is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer in Linguistics at Goethe University Frankfurt, where she also completed her PhD in Linguistics (dissertation title: "Text-type Constraints on the Choice of Linguistic Mechanisms in Research Articles: A Corpus-based Approach"). Her academic journey began at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in English Philology. She then pursued a Master’s in Linguistics and Web Technologies at the Philipp University of Marburg, Germany, combining her passion for language with the emerging world of digital technologies. Today, Dr. Ivanova's research and teaching explore the intersection of language, technology, and learning. Her story reflects resilience, curiosity, and the courage to turn challenges into opportunities — qualities that continue to shape both her academic and personal journey. If you haven’t already watched Part 1, where Dr. Ivanova talks about her early journey through language, resilience, and turning challenges into stepping stones — be sure to check it out here: [https://youtu.be/-QqnRUvCFSg]. 👉 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to this channel for more inspiring stories from brilliant minds in academia and beyond! ⏰ Episode Chapters: 00:00 – Welcome & Episode Introduction 01:38 – Decisions for doing masters in Germany 06:20 – Considering other countries for masters 07:30 – Cultural shock in Ghent, Belgium 09:57 – Masters in Marburg: combining tech with linguistics 14:55 – Was learning German necessary to study in Germany? 16:27 – Challenges in Marburg 17:53 – Advantage of sharing accommodations in the early days in a new country 21:30 – Things to do in Germany after moving from other countries 22:00 – After masters: job experience in Bulgaria 25:23 – Challenges teaching small kids 26:47 – Working as a junior analyst 32:47 – Back to academia: Academic assistant 39:15 – Moving to Frankfurt 44:45 – Decision to do a PhD 46:16 – PhD work: Research question 01:03:48 – ChatGPT and LLMs and more - in a nutshell 01:07:17 – GPT is more than predicting next words 01:13:07 – Current research interest 01:15:08 – Role of linguists in current technological landscape / Can linguists help to minimise deep fake? 01:21:00 – Satisfactory and Challenging aspects of teaching in higher education 01:25:30 – Fun trivia about her 01:31:38 – Learnings from PhD journey 01:44:06 – Final thoughts 🔗 Resources Mentioned / Related Links: Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgeria: https://www.uni-sofia.bg/eng Philipps' University of Marburg, Germany: https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/studying Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany: https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/study WordNet: https://wordnet.princeton.edu Linguist list: https://linguistlist.org link for linguists to search job worldwide Standford core NLP: https://stanfordnlp.github.io/CoreNLP/ spaCy: https://spacy.io 👋 Connect with Sananda Biswas (Host): YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/@SanandaBiswasPhD LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sananda-biswas-PhD/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sananda.biswas.phd #DPTPodcast #IverinaIvanova #PhDJourney #Linguistics #ArtificialIntelligence #ChatGPT #LargeLanguageModels #HigherEducation #AcademicLife #CareerInAcademia #LanguageAndTechnology #Deepfake #TeachingInHigherEducation #Resilience #InspiringStories