Doctoral student (d/f/m)

Doctoral student (d/f/m)

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.

Doctoral student (d/f/m)

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.

• 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

• 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.

Dr. Stephanie Wermelinger