Doctoral fellow

Job description

Towards a model of disfluency production

An important challenge for psycholinguistics is to explain the cognitive processes that underlie speakers’ ability to quickly and accurately plan sentences, select words, and to say them out loud. Several influential theories of language production have been proposed that capture important aspects of this skill. But strikingly, they ignore an extremely salient aspect of everyday speech: the fact that it is full of disfluencies. This project will test key mechanisms that we hypothesize to play a role in the production of disfluencies, such as self-monitoring of speech and the coordination between speech planning and execution. The mechanisms discovered in the empirical work will inform a computational model, and we will try to simulate both our own findings and data reported in the literature.

Tasks:
You are expected to design and implement speech production experiments, implement a computational model, and carry out simulations with that model. The student is expected to publish the findings in international peer-reviewed journals and international conferences, and write a dissertation consisting of a collection of articles.

Job profile

You are highly motivated and intrinsically interested in psycholinguistics. You have a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant domain, such as experimental psychology, psycholinguistics, clinical linguistics, or cognitive neuroscience. Previous experience with data analysis, knowledge of programming languages such as R and Python, and experience with computational modeling is a significant plus. Proficiency in English is essential; proficiency in Dutch is a plus.

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

• We offer a full-time position as a doctoral fellow, consisting of an initial period of 12 months, which - after a positive evaluation, will be extended to a total maximum of 48 months.
• Your contract will start on 06/01/2024 at the earliest.  The latest possible starting date is October 31, 2024.
• The fellowship amount is 100% of the net salary of an AAP member in equal family circumstances. The individual fellowship amount is determined by the Department of Personnel and Organization based on family status and seniority. A grant that meets the conditions and criteria of the regulations for doctoral fellowships is considered free of personal income tax. Click here for more information about our salary scales
• All Ghent University staff members enjoy a number of benefits, such as a wide range of training and education opportunities, 36 days of holiday leave (on an annual basis for a full-time job) supplemented by annual fixed bridge days, bicycle allowance and eco vouchers. Click here for a complete overview of all the staff benefits (in Dutch).
• Ghent University offers a high quality Ph.D. training involving a variety of cutting-­edge methods in experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience

Further information:
Please contact Robert.hartsuiker@ugent.be or Aurelie.Pistono@ugent.be for further information.

How to apply

Please send a motivation letter, a detailed CV, a list of courses and grades, and names and email addresses of two academics, who may be contacted for references by email to Robert.Hartsuiker@UGent.be. Deadline is April 30, 2024. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in the course of May, 2024.