PhD and Postdoc positions at the Language Learning and Processing Lab, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Full-time PhD positions are available at The Language Learning and Processing Lab of Prof. Inbal Arnon at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The PhD appointment is for 4 years. Preferred starting date, Sept 2021 (flexible). The lab’s core research areas include language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and the impact of cognitive biases on language structure and change. We want to understand what it means to know language; how it is acquired; and how our cognitive biases impact the language emergence, structure and change. Our research lies at the intersection of Cognitive Science, Linguistics, and Psychology, and employs a range of experimental and computational methods. Our lab is committed to maintaining and promoting a diverse and inclusive environment. We seek to recruit, support, and retain members from diverse backgrounds and groups that have historically been underrepresented in the sciences.

The positions are part of an externaly funded project on ‘What makes linguistic information more learnable: Investigating the learnability sources and consequences of Zipfian distributions in language’. In this project, we use mathematical, computational and experimental tools to investigate the possible learnability sources of one of the striking commonalities across languages. You can read more about our findings here. This is part of a larger research program on the cognitive and communicative underpinnings of language. We are seeking to expand this research program in developmental, computational, mathematical, and cross-species directions.  

We are looking for strong candidates for a funded PhD studentship. The Hebrew University offers several training opportunities in different departments. The successful candidate will be competitive for one of the flagship programs (psychology, cognitive science, ELSC), have a background in a relevant field (Psychology, Computer Science, Linguistics, and Cognitive Science), and will have demonstrated experience in research from their post-bac or BA education (as research assistants or honours students). Knowledge of programming is an advantage.

Positions require a passion and a commitment to science, intellectual curiosity, a collaborative spirit, and fast learning skills. Interested candidates should send a CV, a statement of research interests, and the names and contact details of two academic references to Inbal.arnon@mail.huji.ac.il, preferably by March 31st. Applications will be considered until the positions are filled.