In this project, three PhD positions and a Postdoc position (advertised separately) will be available for the following subprojects:

1. PhD1 – Person-driven auxiliaries and differential object marking in contact
2. PhD2 – Deixis in contact: pronouns, determiners, adjectives and adverbs
3. PhD3 – Subject clitics in contact

The three PhDs will have to conduct fieldwork across the three main Italian emigration countries in America where Romance languages are spoken: Argentina, Brazil, Canada/Québec. Each PhD will be responsible for an area, and will conduct fieldwork for the whole project in that area. The interaction, collaboration and sharing of data with the other PhDs and the Postdoc is therefore expected. The PhD candidates and the Postdoctoral Researcher will of course have the opportunity to fill in the details of these projects or expand them, based on their expertise, the data they gather and their own research ideas, in consultation with the principal investigator.

Tasks for the three PhD candidates will include:

• completion and defence of a PhD thesis within four years;
• carrying out fieldwork in one of the countries listed above, in agreement with the Supervisor and Division of Labour within the team;
• regular presentation of intermediate research results at workshops and conferences;
• publication of at least two peer-reviewed articles in established international journals;
• co-organisation of workshops and conferences;
• participation in all training programmes and expert meetings scheduled for the project;
• participation in selected training programmes scheduled for the Research Institute, Graduate School and the National Research School.

• a (soon to be completed) (research) Master’s degree in linguistics or Romance linguistics, with a focus on generative syntax;
• excellent English oral proficiency, academic writing and presentation skills;
• fluency in one or more of the contact languages of the project: French, Spanish, Portuguese;
• knowledge of at least one of the following Italian regional languages: Abruzzese or Neapolitan; Piedmontese; Salentino or Sicilian; Veneto;
• an outstanding record of work in the Master’s degree;
• ability to meet deadlines and work both as an independent researcher and as part of a team;
• ability to work in an international, interdisciplinary team;
• excellent organizational, social and communication skills.

Fieldwork experience and/or knowledge of Italian are a plus.

Utrecht University offers a pension scheme, a holiday allowance of 8% per year, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% and terms of employment. Conditions are based on the Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch Universities. More information: working at Utrecht University.

The Faculty of Humanities has approximately seven thousand students and nine hundred staff members. It comprises four Research Institutes: The Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Institute of History and Art History, Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICON), and the Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS (UiL OTS). With its research and education in these fields, the Faculty aims to contribute to a better understanding of the Netherlands and Europe in a rapidly changing social and cultural context. The enthusiastic and committed colleagues and the excellent amenities in the historical city centre of Utrecht, where the Faculty is housed, contribute to an inspiring working environment.

The Department of Language, Literature and Communication offers BA and MA programmes in literary studies, linguistics, communication studies, translation, as well as Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and (uniquely in the Netherlands) Celtic languages.

Researchers at UiL OTS are distributed across 6 research groups, focusing on the following range of linguistic subdomains: Language Variation (to which the current project belongs), Language, Logic and Information, Linguistic Theory and Language Acquisition, Language Processing and Language Pathology, Language and Education, Language and Communication. It comprises approximately 20 full professors, a dozen postdocs and roughly 40 PhD students.

• a letter of motivation;
• a research statement of about 1000 words, explaining why and how you plan to conduct this research;
• a CV;
• certified copies of relevant diplomas and grade transcripts;
• you Master’s thesis and any other publication you can provide;
• names and full contact details of two academic referees.

Please include your name and a reference to the position you are applying for in the filenames and use the application button below to apply.

Interviews will be held during the last 2 weeks of March 2017.

You can apply here