Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Section of Health, Developmental and Personality Psychology

Job description

Applications are invited for a fully-funded 3-year PhD position in Developmental Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, to work on the research project "The role of parental speech on infant language development: Insights from Norwegian language", financed by a FRIPRO-grant of the Norwegian Research Council.

The project examines, in a longitudinal design, the role of infant-directed speech in language development of Norwegian 6- to 18-month-old infants. The successful candidate will contribute to participant recruitment and data collection. In addition, the candidate will perform acoustic analyses of parental speech addressed to infants at 6, 9, 12 and 15 months and will examine how the acoustic features of parental speech predict infants’ performance in eye-tracking linguistic tasks administered at 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 months of age.

The project is led by Dr Natalia Kartushina, in collaboration with Pr Julien Mayor (Section of Health, Developmental and Personality Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo) and Dr Alejandrina Cristia (CNRS, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris). The PhD-researcher will work within the Babyling Lab based at the Section of Health, Developmental and Personality Psychology (HUP).

More about the position

The appointment is a full time three-year position. It is expected that the PhD fellow will join the project in October 2020.

The research fellow will take part in the Department’s PhD program and is expected to complete the project within the fellowship period.

The Section of Health, Developmental and Personality Psychology has around 50 national and international permanent and non-permanent full time employees, including professors and associate professors, university lecturers, postdoc and PhD fellows. The Section covers basic and applied research and teaching for the Bachelor, Master, Professional (Clinical) and PhD programs in health, developmental and personality psychology.

Qualification requirements

• Applicants must hold a Master’s degree (120 ECTS) or equivalent in psychology, linguistics or related fields. The Master’s degree must include a thesis of at least 30 ECTS with a minimum grade B (ECTS grading scale) or equivalent.
• Knowledge of quantitative statistical methods
• Solid theoretical and methodological background in experimental psychology, psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology or related fields
• Ambitions for high-quality research within the project, as evidenced by the required cover letter, explaining the motivation for applying and how own qualifications are suitable for the announced position
• Enthusiasm for the topic
• Experience with software such as R, SPSS, Python or Matlab
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English

Preferable qualififcations

• Experience in language development research
• Ability to work in collaborative groups and independently
• Experience with eye-tracking
• Publications, conference participation and experience as research assistant, especially within the field of language development are an advantage
• Open Science practice is a plus
• Experience with acoustic analysis of speech (e.g., with Praat) is an advantage
• Computational skills is a plus
• Knowledge of Norwegian language (or a Scandinavian language) is an advantage

We offer

• Salary NOK 479 600 - 523 200 per annum depending on qualifications in position as PhD Fellow (position code 1017)
• The possibility to attend conferences, courses and workshop
• A professionally stimulating working environment
• Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement, in addition to Oslo’s family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities

How to apply

The application must include:

• Cover letter (statement of motivation, summarizing scientific work and research interest)
• CV (summarizing education, positions, pedagogical experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activity)
• Copies of educational certificates (academic transcripts only)
• A complete list of publications; those publications that the applicant wishes to be considered for the position should be highlighted (up to three)
• List of reference persons: 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and phone number)

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system. Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University's grading system.

Please note that all documents should be in English.

When evaluating the application, emphasis will be given to the applicant’s academic and personal prerequisites to carry out the project.

Applicants may be called in for an interview. It is expected that the successful candidate will be able to complete the project in the course of the period of employment.

Formal regulations

Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Research Fellowships at the University of Oslo.

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.

According to the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.

The appointment may be shortened/given a more limited scope within the framework of the applicable guidelines on account of any previous employment in academic positions.

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results etc.

Contact information

• Project leader: Natalia Kartushina: natalia.kartushina@psykologi.uio.no
• Head of Office: Joakim Dyrnes; joakim.dyrnes@psykologi.uio.no, +47 22855246

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