The PhD positions are part of a round of a new project financed by European Research Council (ERC). The title of the project is “Memory access in language: how we store and retrieve linguistic information”.

We are seeking to hire highly motivated, driven, and talented PhD students to carry out this project in a period of four years. The project will be carried out at the Institute for Language Sciences (ILS) at Utrecht University. You will be working in an interdisciplinary team with researchers from the fields of linguistics, psychology and artificial intelligence.

Project description:
This project aims to develop, implement and test a general model of memory that can provide insights into how we store and retrieve linguistic information and how our language use is intertwined with memory when we communicate. The model to be developed and tested will be hybrid in the sense that it merges linguistic factors uncovered in computational and theoretical linguistics with general cognitive mechanisms. The overarching goal is to find out how the model of memory can be generalised across various linguistic domains, from the lexicon through syntax to discourse semantics, and how the memory model can help us predict diverse quantitative data in linguistics and cognitive science.

There are two components in the project: an empirical one and a computational one. The empirical component of the project will consist in developing, carrying out and analysing experiments that collect behavioral data (e.g., reaction times, eye fixations) or EEG data. The computational modelling component will involve simulating behavioral and neural data connected to processing and memory retrieval.

The project will involve 2 PhD students and 2 post-doctoral researchers. While the focus of the PhD students should be on the empirical component of the project, they will be encouraged to cross over to the computational component of the project. The following links provide more information: https://www.jakubdotlacil.com/projects.html.

Tasks for the PhD students:

• Completion and defense of an article-based PhD thesis within four years;
• Publication of peer-reviewed articles in established international journals;
• Regular presentation of intermediate research results at workshops and conferences;
• Co-organization of project workshops, language training and conferences;
• Participation in training programs and international expert meetings;
• Participation in relevant training programmes provided by the Institute for language sciences (ILS) and the Utrecht University Graduate School, the National Graduate School of Linguistics (LOT) and other organisations.

We are looking for two PhD students with:

• a Master degree (or equivalent) in linguistics, psychology or artificial intelligence in hand by the starting date;
• demonstrable knowledge in at least one of the following areas: experimental research, statistical analyses, linguistic theories, computational linguistics;
• high proficiency in academic English;
• ability to work both as an independent researcher and as a team member;
• affinity with interdisciplinary research;
• strong organisational, social and communication skills;
• ability to meet deadlines;
• readiness to learn new experimental methods and statistical analyses;
• prior experience with reaction-time experiments, reading experiments (e.g., eye tracking) or EEG experiments is a plus.

We offer:

• a position (1.0 FTE) for 1 year, with an extension to a total of four years upon successful assessment;
• a full-time gross salary between €2,770 in the first year and €3,539 in the fourth year of employment in scale P of the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities;
• 8% holiday bonus and 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities.

In addition to the employment conditions from the CAO for Dutch Universities, Utrecht University has a number of its own arrangements. These include agreements on professional development, leave arrangements, sports and cultural schemes and you get discounts on software and other IT products. We also give you the opportunity to expand your terms of employment through the Employment Conditions Selection Model. This is how we encourage you to grow.

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