The Department of Comparative Linguistics, in collaboration with the Department of Psychology at the University of Zurich invites applications for a 4-year PhD student position in the Swiss National Science Foundation project “Ergativity, Event Cognition and Evolutionary Biases in Language”. The project investigates the relationship between agent preferences in event cognition and language structure in a diverse set of languages. The PhD student will conduct eye tracking and EEG experiments on Basque and Swiss German, with both children and adults, in collaboration with partners in France and Spain.

The ideal candidate holds an MA/MSc in linguistics, psychology, cognitive science or a similar field. Knowledge of Basque is an advantage; otherwise willingness to acquire a working knowledge of the language quickly is essential. The ideal candidate also possesses prior experience with one or more of the following: experimental studies, eye tracking and/or EEG, programming (R, Python, MATLAB), statistical data analysis.

Apart from their CVs, applicants should submit (a) a sample of their writing (e.g., from their MA thesis), (b) names of 2-3 persons willing to provide a letter of reference, and (c) a cover letter explaining their expertise and interest in the project. We strongly aim at gender balance and particularly encourage women to apply. Applications should be sent as a single PDF to jobs@ivs.uzh.ch, with subject header “E3 PhD”. Application deadline is April 15, 2019. The starting date is October 1, 2019. For further information contact balthasar.bickel@uzh.ch or martin.meyer@uzh.ch