Call for Proposals: ARiEAL International Scholar Award Program

The Centre for Advanced Research in Experimental and Applied Linguistics (ARiEAL) at McMaster
University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, invites applications from highly qualified and outstanding
international graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, early career and/or established researchers working in the field of cognitive science of language. The goal of this award is to provide support for international researchers and students whose research activities align with that at ARiEAL. While this opportunity is open to any international scholar, preference will be given to graduate students and early career researchers from underserved countries, especially to students and researchers from Brazil, Cuba, Ghana, Jamaica, and Nigeria, and war-zone countries.

ARiEAL will fund up to four international scholars to be in-residence at ARiEAL for up to 120 days in the
Fall 2023/Winter 2024 terms (roughly between September 1 and April 30). The applicants may indicate
the preferred dates of their stay. Each fellowship is valued at roughly $12,000CAD and includes airfare,
lodging, some funding for meals, University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP), and other incidental fees.
Research and research collaboration are key foci of this program and selected scholars are expected to
contribute to our extensive research activities. Selected scholars will also have the chance to showcase their research at one of our workshops or speaker events and to attend classes.

To learn more, and to view the submission requirements, visit ARiEAL here: https://arieal.mcmaster.ca/news/international-scholar-award-program

or view the call as a pdf:

Two postdoctoral positions: cognitive neuroscience of language and concepts (Concordia University, Montreal)

Two postdoctoral positions are sought for the Psycholinguistics and Cognition Lab, in the Department of Psychology at Concordia University in Montreal. Position one is open to a variety of topics and techniques fitting the research themes of the lab. Position two is funded by a Horizontal Postdoctoral Fellowship and is tied to a particular topic within the semantics/pragmatics interface. Please see below for full descriptions.

POSITION 1

Research program title: The mapping between linguistic and conceptual representations

Reference number:  32022

Supervisor:  Roberto G. de Almeida, Department of Psychology, Concordia University

Program description:

We are seeking a postdoctoral fellow to work on projects investigating the mapping between linguistic and conceptual representations, employing a variety of experimental techniques. Projects include the representation of verb meaning, visual word recognition, category-specific semantic deficits, and the mapping between words and objects, as well as between sentences and events/dynamic scenes. Candidates should have a strong background in cognitive science and expertise in behavioral and/or neuroimaging techniques employed in psycholinguistics and cognitive neuroscience. Candidates with experience conducting research with clinical populations (e.g., aphasia, agnosia) are also encouraged to apply.

For ongoing projects in the lab please see https://psycholinguistics.weebly.com

This position is supported by grants from SSHRC and NSERC. The position is for one year with the possibility of renewal. Salary will be commensurate with experience. Review of applications will begin on February 15, 2022. Starting date: flexible but no later than August 31, 2022.

Requirements and instructions for applying are provided below and are similar for both positions. Candidates should make sure to include the reference number in the application materials and provide the application number to referees.

POSITION 2

Research program title: The neurocognitive bases of semantic and pragmatic composition

Reference number: 10002b

Supervisor: Roberto G. de Almeida, Department of Psychology, Concordia University

Program description:

We are seeking a postdoctoral fellow to work on projects investigating the comprehension of sentences that are either ‘indeterminate’ or are deemed ‘figurative’, and thus may require contextual enrichment. The projects employ diverse behavioural and neuro-imaging techniques as well as computational modelling. Ideally the candidate will have theoretical background in cognitive science with emphasis on semantics/pragmatics and with experimental work in brain-imaging/recording (fMRI, ERP) techniques.

Experience with computational modeling involving Recurrent  Neural Networks (RNN) is an asset. Other resources (e.g., clinical populations, MEG, eye-tracking) are also available at Concordia or other institutions in the Montreal area.

Academic qualifications required:

PhD in Psychology, Neuroscience, or other Cognitive Science related field.

Horizon Postdoctoral Fellow Eligibility requirements:

  • Applicants must not currently hold a postdoctoral appointment at Concordia
  • Priority will be given to postdoctoral fellows who have obtained their PhD from another university although in exceptional cases Concordia graduates may be considered
  • Applicants must adhere to the postdoctoral fellow eligibility criteria outlined in Concordia University’s Postdoctoral Policy

Timeline:

Applications will be reviewed starting February 15 and will continue until the position is filled; starting date is flexible, preferably in the Spring or early Summer 2022; however, following the fellowship rules, the Horizon Postdoctoral Fellow must start their appointment by August 31, 2022.

Value: The prestigious two-year Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowships are valued at $50,000 per year plus benefits and full access to Concordia’s services, including GradProSkills.

https://www.concordia.ca/sgs/postdoctoral-fellows/funding/horizon/descriptions/10002.html

Submission process for both positions:  

All documents must be submitted to Roberto G. de Almeida (roberto.dealmeida@concordia.ca); subject line: postdoctoral application (10002b) or (32022).

Please include the reference number with your application.

Application checklist for both positions:

  • One to three (1-3) page research statement demonstrating fit with one of the programs described above
  • Current curriculum vitae demonstrating research excellence and a capacity for leadership in the domain (maximum 5 pages)
  • Two letters of reference from academic supervisors or current employers to be sent via e-mail directly to: Roberto G. de Almeida (roberto.dealmeida@concordia.ca); subject line: postdoctoral application reference ((32022) or (10002b))

Concordia University is a vibrant research and teaching environment, with state-of-the-art research facilities and many research centers. Concordia is located in Montreal, Canada, a diverse and creative city, often ranked as offering one of the best quality of living experiences in North America. Concordia University is committed to Employment Equity and encourages applications from women, Aboriginal Peoples, visible minorities, ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities.

PhD Positions (2): Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Dr. Fritz Günther is looking for PhD students to join the DFG-funded research group “What’s in a name?” at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in the Department of Psychology.

The aim of this project is to examine why individuals pick certain names instead of others when naming (new) objects or concepts are the subsequent consequences of those choices. This will be investigated from a computational as well as cognitive perspective, combining methods and approaches from computational linguistics/NLP, cognitive science, and experimental (social) psychology.

Successful applicants will have a strong background in computational linguistics/NLP and genuine interest in cognitive science, or a strong background in cognitive science/psychology and solid base of computational skills. Ideal candidates have a degree in a relevant scientific field, such as computer science, computational linguistics, NLP, cognitive modelling, cognitive science, experimental psychology, or social psychology. Coding experience (for example, in R, MATLAB, Python, or C++) is expected.

For more information about how to apply, view the announcement here: https://www.personalabteilung.hu-berlin.de/de/stellenausschreibungen/research-fellow-m-f-d-with-part-time-employment-75-e-13-tv-l-hu-thirdparty-funding-fixed-term-until-30-11-2024

and the full call for PhD students here (pdf): https://www.lingexp.uni-tuebingen.de/z2/Call_PhD%20students_v3.pdf

Applications are due by November 3, 2021.

Announcement: MSc & PhD positions at McMaster University

The Cognitive Science of Language program at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) is now welcoming applications at the MSc and PhD levels for the academic year 2021–2022. All applications received before or on January 31st, 2021, will be considered.

Based in the Department of Linguistics and Languages, the graduate program is interdisciplinary, including faculty from Humanities, Science, and Health Sciences. The program has a strong research orientation with expertise in cognitive science, corpus linguistics, neurolinguistics, phonetics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and theoretical linguistics.  The program introduces students to the issues in those fields that form the nexus of, linguistics, cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience, and trains them in the research methods employed to study them. More information about the program can be found at https://academiccalendars.romcmaster.ca/preview_entity.php?catoid=42&ent_oid=5791&returnto=8769, about the department at https://linguistics.humanities.mcmaster.ca and about the application procedure at https://gs.mcmaster.ca/academic-services/how-apply.

It is a good idea to get in touch with a potential thesis supervisor in advance. Supervisors can be found at https://linguistics.humanities.mcmaster.ca/people/faculty/. Many of them are affiliated with the Centre for Advanced Research in Experimental and Applied Linguistics (ARiEAL) that lists their most recent research interests at https://arieal.mcmaster.ca/discover-arieal/arieal-team

Announcement: Doctoral Candidate position – English Linguistics, Language Acquisition, Language Processing

Full time doctoral position at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, 3 year term, to start as soon as possible. The deadline for application is August 31, 2020. The official job announcement can be found here: https://uol.de/stellen/?stelle=67489.

The cluster of excellence Hearing4all and Prof. Dr. Marcel Schlechtweg at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg invite applications for a 3-year doctoral position. Candidates with an interest in contributing to the cluster’s first research thread, auditory processing deficits throughout the lifespan, and who are interested in extending that research to include connections with phonetics, phonology, and/or morphology, are particularly welcome.

Requirements:

  • Degree in psycholinguistics, linguistics, or a related discipline
  • Ability to perform excellent scientific work
  • Expertise in psycholinguistics and the following core areas of linguistics: Phonetics, phonology, and/or morphology
  • High working knowledge of English

Desirable competencies:

  • Experience in experimental linguistics and/or psycholinguistics and experimental software (e.g., reaction-time (Eprime), production (Praat), eye-tracking, ERP studies)
  • Experience in statistical analysis
  • Expertise in further core areas of linguistics (e.g., syntax, semantics, pragmatics)

The complete job announcement and application guidelines can be found here: https://uol.de/stellen/?stelle=67489

WORDS IN THE WORLD NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2020

Message from the Director

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you all are keeping safe and well.

So much has changed in the months since our last Words in the World Newsletter. At the same time, I am struck by how periods such as these bring out the importance of community and our shared values. It is clear that in order to support the advancement of the next generation of research leaders, we need to prioritize opportunities for creativity, creating new knowledge, and translating that knowledge to serve the needs of our communities.

Certainly, the past months have highlighted the centrality of communication, our need to work together, and our need to train for the unexpected. It has been a pleasure for me to learn from others during our Open Office Hours, and to see the innovative new applications such as WritLarge developed in the Network. I am very excited to hear about the new work of trainees at our upcoming Words in the World Online Conference. I warmly invite you to encourage trainees within your institutions to submit an abstract at the beginning of August so that they can share their developing work at the online conference in October.

With very best wishes,
Gary Libben 

Good news and opportunities from across the network

Across our network we’ve all experienced, at minimum, a great upheaval of 2020 research plans. All of our in-person training and conference events have been postponed. This includes the 12th International Meeting on the Mental Lexicon which has been rescheduled to October 12-15, 2021. However, we have been encouraged to hear about how our colleagues have quickly adapted to a rapidly changing environment.Open Office Hours

We’re humbled by the response we’ve received from our colleagues regarding our Open Office Hour activities. So far we’ve hosted 8 events with colleagues participating live from more than 15 countries! We are pleased to announce that the next Open Office Hour, Incorporating Neuropsychological Tests into Experimental Research, will be held on July 28 at 12 p.m. EST (GMT -4). For more information, visit https://wordsintheworld.ca/home/open-office-hours/.

If you are interested in hosting an Open Office Hour, we would be happy to hear from you!

WritLarge App Announcement

The Reading Lab at McMaster University is happy to announce the launch of WritLarge (https://akkyro.shinyapps.io/writlarge/).This web-based application is designed to facilitate social mobility and relieve social isolation of older individuals through story-telling, writing, and sharing. This tool will provide older adults with a virtual community and an outlet to voice their experiences and engage with other community members. WritLarge also serves as a research tool for documenting and analyzing experiences and testimonies of living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Feel free to try out the WritLarge app, spread the word about it and send us your feedback. For questions and comments contact Aki-Juhani Kyröläinen (akkyro@gmail.com) or Victor Kuperman (vickup@mcmaster.ca).

Postdoctoral Opportunity Announcement

The Language and Communication Research Lab/McGill University and Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital-Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and the Mental Lexicon Lab/CRIUGM and University of Montreal are offering a joint postdoctoral position for 1 year, with a possibility of a 1-year extension. The application deadline is August 1, 2020.

Prospective candidates are expected to conduct psycholinguistic and/or neurolinguistic original research not only in the lab, but also in real world environments. The postdoctoral fellow is expected to actively contribute to ongoing Words in the World research in the two labs and to be involved in lab and research centre activities across the two sites.  Primary tasks include conceptualizing, designing, and conducting research projects, and preparing findings for publication.

For more information about the position and how to apply, view the full job posting on the Words in the World website: postdoctoral research position.

Words in the World International Conference 2020

We are looking forward to the virtual Words in the World (WoW) International Conference! This conference will offer a venue for the communication of ideas, intellectual exchange, and networking for trainees and others across the network.

This conference will take place online October 16-18, 2020 and will include scholarly presentations as well as discussion panels. The conference will strive to create presentation opportunities for trainees (e.g., undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, recent graduates and others). We encourage students and postdoctoral fellows from all over the world to present their in-progress or completed work at this conference and engage in conversations with their colleagues on academic and non-academic topics. Papers can, of course, include a mix of trainees and faculty members as authors.

Submissions are currently open. Read the full call for submissions here and the abstract guidelines here.

Questions? You can contact the organizing committee at wordsintheworldconference@gmail.com.

For more information about upcoming opportunities for involvement across the Words in the World network, visit our website at: https://wordsintheworld.ca/announcements-updates/.

Open Office Hours – June 2 & 9, 2020

We are pleased to announce our next two Open Office Hours! Join us at 12:00pm Eastern Time (GMT -4) on June 2nd and June 9th for two very different topics brought to you by three hosts from across our network.

On June 2, Noam Siegelman (Haskins Laboratories) is offering an Introduction to Bayesian Inference. This is a great opportunity to learn about this alternative to Null Hypothesis Significance Testing! Beginners are most welcome. View the complete event information here: https://wordsintheworld.ca/calendar-events/introduction-to-bayesian-inference/

On June 9, Eva Kehayis & Anik Nolet (McGill University) will provide insights into Ethics at a Distance, addressing the challenges and opportunities researchers face when conducting experiments online. More information about this event will be released in the coming days!

We always welcome questions during our live events, but if you have a question that you’d like answered during any upcoming Open Office Hour, you can also let us know ahead of time. This will help presenters to both ensure your questions are addressed and to gear the presentation toward the interests of the attendees. Questions can be submitted via the Words in the World website at this link: https://wordsintheworld.ca/home/open-office-hours/open-office-hours-q-a/

PsychoPy3 & Gitlab resources

Jordan Gallant (Brock University) has recently offered an Open Office Hour on using PsychoPy3 to create and run experiments online (video & collected materials: https://bit.ly/2wshFL7). Now he has put together a series of resources for researchers who are interested in getting started with PsychoPy3, but who don’t know quite where to start.

He is offering a selection of Experiment Templates (https://gitlab.pavlovia.org/Words_in_the_World), including code for lexical decision and self-paced reading tasks in PsychoPy3, and an associated video (Template Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dY5gvzR9xo) that explains how to use the templates to create your own experiments.

If you are interested in conducting collaborative research using PsychoPy3/Gitlab, you can find detailed information about setting up projects in a series of videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrqzzPKPF_6ZSVeUnKk3V_FogfgogjChg

Jordan will also be hosting next week’s Open Office Hour on how to conduct collaborative research online using PsychoPy3/Gitlab, and will be available for a Q&A after his presentation!

Open Office Hours – May 12, 2020

Thank you to everyone who has participated in our Open Office Hour series!

Our next Words in the World Open Office Hour will take place on Tuesday, May 12, at 12pm (Eastern Time, GMT -4). Jordan Gallant (Brock  University) will share his expertise using Gitlab and PsychoPy3 in collaborative remote research. Here is his summary:

“The COVID-19 pandemic has forced our research activities out of the lab and into online virtual environments. Not only has this changed the research methods available to us, but it has also fundamentally changed the way the that we work together. However, this office hour is here to say that this change need not be for the worse. Collaborative remote work can offer distinct advantages when paired with the right technology to support it. In this Open Office Hour I will discuss the merits of using online project development platforms such as Gitlab for collaborative research projects. Specifically, I will look at how PsychoPy3 and Gitlab can support the collaborative construction and administering of online experiments. In the process, I hope to instill a sense that, rather than being a quick fix for temporary problems, this is a paradigm worth carrying into the post-COVID future.

Accompanying video tutorials: YouTube

Open Office Hours are delivered using Zoom. Passwords are sent out via email in advance of Open Office Hours. If you would like to join the Open Office Hour mailing list, please sign up here: Open Office Hours Sign-Up Form.

Open Office Hours – Week of April 20, 2020

This Week

Join us this week on Tuesday, April 21 at 12pm EDT (GMT -4) for a look into how to use online psycholinguistic resources to run experiments without a lab. Dr. Victor Kuperman (McMaster) will lead us through an introduction to online databases and how we can combine information from different databases using R. More information here: Using online databases

Recorded Videos

Recordings of previous Open Office Hours are now available! You can currently find the following videos on YouTube:

How to collect psycholinguistic data from home: Introduction to crowdsourcing tools

Running non-chronometric experiments in Mechanical Turk

Running chronometric experiments online using PsychoPy3