[RNLD] PhD opportunities, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU node

[Jane Simpson]

 PhD Opportunities: The ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of
Language, ANU node


Expressions of interest are now being sought for PhD positions at the new
Centre for Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL), funded by the
Australian Research Council for the period mid-2014 to mid-2021. This is
the first stage in a two-step procedure: in this first stage we will go
through the overall field of applications, and rank them for fit and
competitiveness, then in a second phase we will get back to the
highly-ranked ones with guidance about how to go through the somewhat
baroque process of making a formal application.


CoEDL [http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au/] is launching an ambitious
series of interlinked projects, focusing on language as a dynamic and
variable system, and drawing on the full diversity of the world’s
languages, through four programs focusing on the design space of language
(Shape), how it is learned (Learning) and processed (Processing), and how
linguistic structures evolve at various timescales (Evolution). Two
‘threads’ (Archiving, and New Generation technologies) will enable the
technological advances needed to drive forward the language sciences in the
coming decades. The Centre is strongly interdisciplinary and features
researchers from linguistics, speech pathology, psychology, anthropology,
philosophy, bioinformatics and robotics. CoEDL is centred on four
Australian Universities (Australian National University, University of
Melbourne, University of Western Sydney and University of Queensland), with
partner institutions in Australasia and the Pacific, Asia, Europe and North
America.


The present PhD positions will be located at the Australian National
University (ANU), which houses researchers working in and across all four
Programs, and we are particularly interested in doctoral students whose
interests make new interconnections between various approaches to language.
Potential topics include the following:

-        Description and documentation of a traditional indigenous language
of Australia

-        Description and documentation of new Australian varieties,
including Kriol, new mixed languages

-        Multigenerational documentation of an Australian language focusing
on aspects of language-use across generations

-        Description and documentation of an undescribed Papuan language

-        Corpus-based study of an Australian or Papuan language; or
corpus-based study of the coding of social-cognition across a parallel
corpus

-        Quantitative sociolinguistic study of immigrant varieties of
Australian English

-        Experimental studies of first language acquisition and language
processing

-        Corpus- and/or fieldwork-based study of language acquisition with
particular focus on intersubjective functions,  preferably in  a language
of the Asia-Pacific region

-        Language phylogenies and human prehistory in New Guinea or
South-East Asia

-        Linking language micro-evolution to language macroevolution

-        Coevolutionary interactions between language, cognition or culture

-        Evolution and co-evolution of language structures



PhD applicants will need to successfully apply for an Australian
Postgraduate Award (or other suitable scholarship); CoEDL will then
supplement this with generous conference travel funds, and substantial
training and development opportunities. Field-based PhD positions will
undertake substantial fieldwork in the relevant speech community, and
generous fieldwork support and mentoring will be provided.


PhD students will be supervised by CoEDL researchers, as well as
researchers across the other CoEDL nodes (Universities of Melbourne,
Queensland and Western Sydney).


Interested applicants should contact coedl at anu.edu.au in the first
instance; COEDL will then prioritise the most competitive applications and
contact approved applicants about making a formal application for enrolment
and scholarship through the regular ANU system, by 31st August 2014 for
international applicants and by the 31st October 2014 for applicants from
Australia and New Zealand.


In their applications, applicants should provide the following:

1.     CV with educational qualifications, any publications and other
relevant experience (e.g. fieldwork, relevant internships)

2.     Transcript of prior undergraduate and/or postgraduate degrees (will
normally need *at least *80% average to be competitive)

3.     A two-page statement setting out your preferred topic, potential
field site (if relevant), what skills and personal attributes you will
bring to the project, and what you see as the most interesting and
challenging issues you will address

4.     If available, other materials supporting your case (e.g. relevant
articles or other materials)

5.     For applicants whose undergraduate/postgraduate theses are not in
English, their most recent TOEFL/IELTS scores

*Deadline* for initial expressions of interest (International applicants):
20 August 2014 (note formal application must be completed by 31 August).

*Deadline* (Australian and New Zealand Applicants): 15th September 2014.

Scholarship information is available at:
http://students.anu.edu.au/scholarships/gr/off/

General information about applying is available here:
http://students.anu.edu.au/applications/gradresearch.php

-- 
Jane Simpson
Private e-mail
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/resource-network-linguistic-diversity/attachments/20140809/5ed209dd/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: COEDL PhD Opportunities ANU edited.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 18712 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/resource-network-linguistic-diversity/attachments/20140809/5ed209dd/attachment.docx>