PhD – Position in Language Evolution – Netherlands

The PhD project will focus on testing the social, environmental, and/or cognitive pressures that shape the evolution of human language as well as its ongoing diversification and change in present day. The exact research topic is flexible (under consultation and as long as there is a focus on language evolution and adaptation), meaning that candidates are welcome to propose a specific topic of their choice, or pick from a variety of research topics advanced by the supervisor. The project will use a diverse toolkit of experimental and computational methods, and should eventually promote our understanding of the potential drivers of language emergence in our species.

Requirements

• A Masters’ degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., linguistics, psychology, biology, cognitive science, neuroscience, artificial intelligence). Students who expect to have received their Master’s degree by summer 2025 are welcome to apply.
• A keen interest in language evolution, language change, language learning, human evolution, and communication.
• Experience in conducting empirical research (e.g., experimental design, stimuli selection, recruitment, participant testing, report writing).
• Experience with experimental software (e.g., Presentation, PsychoPy, E-Prime, Gorilla).
• Experience in data analysis and programming in R and/or Python.
• Experience in, and aptitude for, complex statistical modelling (inc. mixed effects regression models and/or Bayesian statistics).
• Excellent written and spoken English.

Benefits

• Intended starting date is September 2025. A later start date is negotiable but the candidate should be in place by end of 2025.
• Full time PhD position (39 hours per week), fully funded for 4 years.
• Starting gross salary is approx. €3,008 per month (based on full-time employment, as determined according to the German TVöD (Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst).
• 30 holidays per year, based on full-time employment; in addition, we honour both Dutch and German public holidays.
• Enrolment in a personal pension scheme to which both employer and employee pay a monthly contribution.
• Access to state-of-the art research and training facilities and a generous conference and travel budget.
• Educational training programme provided by the International Max Planck Research School for Language Sciences.
• Doctoral degree conferred by Radboud University, our partner university.

Organization/Company – Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics

Research field – Cultural studies – Language sciences

Research profile – Recognised Researcher (R2) – First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country – Netherlands

Application Deadline – 2 Jun 2025 – 21:59 (UTC)

More information: Euraxess