Student Assistant position

We are seeking a student assistant to help with the Department’s research on how humans acquire language. The assistant will assist with lab-based studies with children and adults, and with coding language and communicative behaviour in caregiver-child interactions. The position would suit a student with an interest in a career in research in language, cognitive science, education and/or cognitive neuroscience.

Activities

• Assist with creating and conducting lab-based studies with babies, children and/or adults
• Coding and transcribing observational and experimental data
• Assist with everyday lab business, e.g., recruitment

Requirements

Essential

• Good fluency in spoken and written Dutch and English
• Study in a relevant discipline (e.g. Psychology, Linguistics, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, or a related discipline)
• Excellent attention to detail and organisational skills
• Flexible availability (e.g. willingness to work some Saturdays)

Desirable

• Experience with leading and/or running experimental or observational studies with adults and/or children, preferably on topics related to language
• Experience with the use of PRAAT and/or ELAN (however, training will be provided for all tasks)

Conditions of employment

• Position available from 1st June 2023, though start date is negotiable
• Term of appointment of 6 months initially, with the possibility of extension
• Between 16 and 19 hours per week, set according to the student’s study schedule
• The hourly rate is 13.95 Euro (with a Bachelor’s degree) and 12.00 Euro (without a Bachelor’s degree)

Application procedure

The deadline for applications is midnight (CEST) on Monday March 27th, 2022. Please submit your application directly via this link on our recruitment portal.

Applications should include

1. A cover letter outlining your motivation to apply and detailing how you fit the requirements above
2. A current CV that includes details of education, relevant work and/or voluntary experience and language(s) proficiency (to facilitate a bias-free hiring process, please do not include a photo or details of gender, age or marital status)
3. A summary of courses and grades achieved from relevant Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degrees
4. The names and contact details of two referees (referees will not be contacted unless you are invited to interview)

Interviews will be held on Tuesday April 11th or Thursday April 13rd, 2023. Please let us know if you are available on these dates (via Zoom).

For further information or questions about these positions, please contact the secretary of the Language Development Department, Ilse van den Dobbelsteen (Ilse.vandenDobbelsteen [at] mpi.nl).

Employer

The Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Psycholinguistics is entirely devoted to psycholinguistics – the study of how we produce and understand language, and how we acquire these skills as first or second language learners. Our goal is to understand how our minds and brains process language, how language interacts with other aspects of mind and with other agents, how multiple modalities (as in speech, gesture and sign) shape language and its use in diverse languages, and how we can learn languages of quite different types. We are situated on the campus of the Radboud University and have close collaborative links with the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and the Centre for Language Studies at Radboud University.  We also work closely with other child development researchers as part of the Baby and Child Research Centre.

Staff and students at the MPI have access to state-of-the art research and training facilities (including audio-visual equipment, EEG, fMRI, eye tracking, virtual reality labs, molecular biology labs and a child-friendly child development lab).

The Institute is part of the Max Planck Society, an independent non-governmental association of German-funded research institutes dedicated to fundamental research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.

The MPI for Psycholinguistics recognises the positive value of diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination. We are committed to redressing systemic problems with diversity in science, and therefore welcome applications from individuals from minority groups and from groups that are otherwise under-represented.