Department of Psychology and Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, Chair of "Developmental Psychology: Infancy and Childhood".
Doctoral student (d/f/m)
80 % The research unit Developmental Psychology: Infancy and Childhood (Prof. Dr. Moritz Daum) offers two positions in the field of multilingual language development for doctoral students in the "Multilingualism and Communication" research area (Dr. Stephanie Wermelinger) starting August 1, 2024, or by agreement.
The research focus of the research unit is on social-cognitive development in infancy and childhood. The project focuses on multilingual language development in early childhood. Previous research shows that monolingual and multilingual children differ in the repertoire and flexibility of their communicative behavior. You will be contributing to a longitudinal project investigating what communicative experiences children have in their everyday lives and exploring the basic mechanisms of early communicative development. Behavioral methods, eye tracking and experience sampling will be used for this purpose.
Your responsibilities Scientific qualification (PhD); cumulative, quantitative with cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses:
Conception, implementation and organization of the dissertation project under the guidance of a senior researcher
Conceptualization of the research project derived from previous literature
Contacting and recruiting study participants
Coordination of personnel, resources and infrastructure
Data collection and analysis
Presentation of results (writing of scientific manuscripts, presentation at internal laboratory meetings and national/international conferences)
Writing scientific articles and publishing them in international, peer-reviewed journals, following open science practices
Assisting in the communication of research results to the general public
Supervision of Master's and Bachelor's students and teaching.
Your profile
Outstanding Master's degree in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics or a similar field
Strong research interest in quantitative research methods
Strong interest in questions of developmental psychology in early childhood, especially early multilingual development
Very good written and spoken German and English language skills (at least C1)
Strong interest in the organization of data and statistical analyses
Very good knowledge of research methods and statistics (R), programming skills are an advantage (Python, PsychoPy, Matlab)
Interest in an academic career
Efficient, flexible, self-organized and independent working style
Expertise in working in an interdisciplinary team
Very good social and communication skills in dealing with children, including their families
What we offer
Embedding in a multidisciplinary, highly committed team
Opportunity to present research findings at national and international conferences
Large network of international research contacts
Salary and employment conditions in accordance with the guidelines of the Swiss National Science Foundation
The University of Zurich strives to increase diversity in research, teaching, and administration (Promotion of diversity and prevention of discrimination) and takes this into account in the recruitment process.
Place of workUniversity of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14, Zürich, Switzerland
Start of employment August 1, 2024 or by arrangement.
Applications consist of the usual documents (CV, references, letter of motivation), the contact addresses of one or two references (e.g. Master's thesis supervisor) and a 1 to 2 page career plan. This should include highlights of previous research as well as your plans after the dissertation. Please send your application electronically only in one summarized PDF format to Stephanie Wermeligner by 09/05/2024. The position will remain advertised until filled.