PhD Position in First Language Acquisition Research

The NCCR Evolving Language (www.evolvinglanguage.ch) invites applications for a PhD position in an interdisciplinary project on the evolution of languages, their structures, and usage patterns over time and space, and under diverse social and population-historical conditions. The successful applicant will work in a project focusing on input features in child-directed speech comparing neurotypical and autistic children.

The NCCR is a Swiss National Center of Competence in Research with the goal of creating a new discipline, Evolutionary Language Science, that targets the past and future of language. The center consists of leading scientists from traditionally separated academic domains, which allows us to harvest the diverse expertise from the humanities, social sciences, computational sciences, natural sciences and medicine towards a broadscale interdisciplinary collaboration.

PhD Position in First Language Acquisition Research

Employment is at 80% FTE (including 10 % teaching assistant tasks). The position is a training opportunity and the successful candidate is expected to use the remaining unpaid 20 % for their own further training and skill development.

The successful candidates have a background in (general) linguistics, good data science skills (in particular statistical modeling of corpus and database data), and are ready to step out of their disciplinary comfort zones. Specializations in language acquisition research is a plus. Basic knowledge of anthropology, biology, or psychology are welcome additions.

The NCCR Evolving Language places great emphasis on teamwork and multidisciplinary perspectives. Excellent communication and collaboration skills are essential.

PhD positions lead to a dissertation and can be financed up to 4 years. We offer an interdisciplinary, collaborative and supportive work environment.

UZH offers excellent opportunities and strong support for career development. Salaries are internationally competitive: Salary ranges, guidelines for employees in SNF-funded projects (PDF)

We take gender balance and diversity seriously in our hiring decisions.

Please direct all inquiries to E-Mail schreiben.