PhD Position at the Donders Centre for Cognition: Talker Variability in Speech Recognition

1. Introduction

Are you fascinated by the human ability to recognise speech? If so, this PhD position in psycholinguistics is for you. You will have the exciting opportunity to run word-learning experiments on talker variability that will inform the development of a new Bayesian model of human speech recognition. 

2. Job description

You will work together with James McQueen and Orhun Ulusahin on an NWO-funded project (’Plugging talkers in: A new solution to the variability problem in human speech recognition’). The project seeks to understand how listeners cope with the fact that spoken words are acoustically hugely variable. Words vary across talkers (e.g. the same word is pronounced in a physically dramatically different manner by a two-year-old girl versus an 80-year-old man) and words vary not only segmentally but also prosodically. The project explores the hypothesis that listeners store knowledge about how individual talkers speak and ’plug in’ that knowledge as they recognise those individuals’ words. The project has two aims: (1) to use computational modelling to build a new Bayesian model with ’plug-ins’, and (2) to run word-learning experiments (several using eye tracking) to test the model. You will be developing, running, analysing and writing up the experiments.

Your teaching load may be up to 10% of your working time.

Would you like to learn more about what it’s like to pursue a PhD at Radboud University? Visit the page about working as a PhD candidate. 

3. Profile 

• You hold a Master’s degree (preferably a Research Master’s) in psycholinguistics, cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, or a related field.
• You have hands-on experience in preparing, running and analysing human speech recognition experiments, ideally on word learning and/or using eye tracking.
• You have demonstrable experience with R and/or Praat and/or with other types of programming (e.g. Python or Matlab).
• You are a creative and critical researcher and are motivated to pursue an academic career.
• You are able to contribute to a collaborative work environment based on transparent communication and a positive and respectful attitude towards supervisors, colleagues and students.
• You have an excellent command of English (both spoken and written).
• You possess excellent time management and organisational skills.

4. We are

You will be part of the Speech and Learning group (PI: Prof. James McQueen) at the Donders Centre for Cognition (DCC). DCC is one of the six research centres of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and is embedded in the Faculty of Social Sciences of Radboud University. There are strong links to other research groups at  DCC, including Speech Perception in Audiovisual Communication (PI: Hans Rutger Bosker) and Cognition of Multilingualism (PI: Kristin Lemhöfer), and to other research groups elsewhere on the Nijmegen campus, including the Centre for Language Studies and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. You will be part of an exceptionally rich environment for research on language and speech.

The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour is a world-class interfaculty research institute that houses more than 1000 researchers devoted to understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of the human mind. Research at the Donders Institute is focused around four themes: 1. Language and communication, 2. Perception, action and decision-making, 3. Development and lifelong plasticity, 4. Natural computing and neurotechnology. You will be part of Theme 1. Excellent, state-of-the-art research facilities are available for the broad range of neuroscience research that is being conducted at the Donders Institute. The Donders Institute has been assessed by an international evaluation committee as ‘excellent’ and recognized as a ‘very stimulating environment for top researchers, as well as for young talent’. The Donders Institute fosters a collaborative, multidisciplinary and supportive research environment with a diverse international staff. English is the lingua franca at the Institute. 

5. We offer

• We will give you a temporary employment contract (1.0 FTE) of 1.5 years, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, your contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4-year contract).     
• You will receive a starting salary of €2,901 gross per month based on a 38-hour working week, which will increase to €3,707 in the fourth year (salary scale P).
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus. 
• We offer Dual Career Coaching. The Dual Career Coaching assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. 
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20. 

6.  Practical information and applying

You can apply only via the button below. Address your letter of application to James McQueen. In the application form, you will find which documents you need to include with your application.  

The first interviews will take place on Thursday 26 June. Second interviews, if necessary, will take place on Thursday 3 July. You will preferably start your employment on 1 September 2025.

We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure. It describes what you can expect during the application procedure and how we handle your personal data and internal and external candidates.