New PhD Positions 2025

13 Doctoral Positions in the DFG Research Training Group on Dimensions of Constructional Space at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg

The DFG-funded Research Training Group Dimensions of Constructional Space at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg is seeking to appoint 13 doctoral researchers to work on a variety of projects within the Construction Grammar framework. All the groups’ activities will be conducted in English, so knowledge of German is not required (except for projects which specifically involve the German language). 

The PhD researchers will be employed on a 65% basis on an E13 scale (which amounts to a starting salary of about €3000 per month before tax) for three years, starting 1 October 2025. 

More details about the Projects 2025 and the Research Questions can be found here.

Important dates

Application deadline: 4 May 2025

Interviews: late May 2025 (via Zoom)

Project start: 1 October 2025

Selection criteria

  • MA in linguistics or a related discipline (or, for project 9, MSc in computer science, neuroimaging, physics or biology);
  • previous academic experience relevant to the project; 
  • ability to work independently and as part of a team; 
  • fluency in English.

We particularly encourage applications from women and minority candidates. 

Application procedure

Informal enquiries and applications for the positions should be submitted by email to project-cxgram@fau.de. The subject line should have the following format: Application PhD project no. XX (alternatively, project YY and ZZ).

Applications should be in English and should contain the following:

  • an academic CV;
  • a cover letter explaining how you meet the recruitment criteria, which project you are applying for, why you are interested in this particular project, and, where appropriate, up to two additional projects that you would like to be considered for; and
  • an academic writing sample in English (e.g. MA dissertation, essay, or a review of the literature relevant to the project);
  • details (name, affiliation, email, and relationship to you) of 2-3 academic referees.

The most promising candidates will be invited to take part in the next stage of the selection process, which will involve (1) giving a presentation about their previous work and (2) a formal interview. Both of these will be conducted via Zoom.

Profile of the Research Training Group

The Research Training Group explores a relatively new paradigm in linguistics that has become known under the name of Construction Grammar (CxG). The fundamental premise of this approach is that the totality of speakers’ linguistic knowledge is represented in a network of form-meaning pairings called constructions. Constructions differ in size (ranging from morphemes through phrasal and clausal templates to discourse conventions), abstractness (fully elaborated, partially schematic, fully schematic) and entrenchment, as well as in the way they interconnect with other constructions in the network. These properties define a multidimensional space we call ‘constructional space’. 

The project will address central theoretical questions in CxG (e.g. criteria for identifying constructions and establishing links between them), apply the framework to various languages (including less studied languages such as Arabic and Haitian Creole) and different historical stages / language contact situations, and test predictions derived from CxG using a variety of methods, including traditional and ‘big data’ corpus methods, behavioural experiments and neuroimaging techniques. In addition, the project will develop an open-access database for the academic community (linguists, psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, computational linguists, etc.) in the form of a research constructicon that brings together and interconnects constructional descriptions as well as experimental results obtained in the various research projects on individual constructions and particular types of constructions. The project is interdisciplinary in that it combines insights from theoretical linguistics (both synchronic and diachronic), computational linguistics, neuroscience and psycholinguistics. What brings the individual projects together is a shared theoretical framework (CxG), which itself is to be subject of critical analysis, shared research questions and a radical commitment to empirical research.

The early-career researchers involved in the RTG will benefit from a structured research training program comprising a winter school, three bootcamps, and regular seminars and research group meetings as well as a variety of optional courses, international placement opportunities, and individual coaching. The qualification program is designed to recruit high quality doctoral candidates and to provide them with a solid foundation in linguistic theory and research methods. Each doctoral candidate will have two supervisors from different disciplines or methodological approaches and one or two additional advisors (one of whom will normally be associated with a research group outside of Germany). Candidates will also gain experience working in an interdisciplinary context, acquire a variety of transferrable skills and have opportunities to develop an extensive network of international contacts, all of which will prepare them for careers both within and outside of academia.

National and international partners

The RTG and the young researchers will be embedded in a world-wide community of scholars who share an interest in constructionist and usage-based approaches and a commitment to rigorous empirical research. The project team already has well-established academic links and ongoing collaborations with many universities, including Austin (H. Boas), Birmingham (D. Divjak), Case Western Reserve University (M. Turner), Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (T. Hoffmann), Université d’État d’Haïti (R. Govain), Lancaster (T. McEnery), Louvain-la-Neuve (G. Gilquin), Milan (F. Mollica), Murcia (P. Cantos Gómez), Pisa (A. Lenci), Princeton (A. Goldberg), Zheijiang University (E. Pascual) as well as the German Constructicon project related to FrameNet (A. Ziem, Düsseldorf). They provide an excellent environment for international placements, ensuring a smooth continuation of supervision during this time. All doctoral researchers will have an opportunity to meet with these internationally renowned experts (e.g. during research visits at FAU), obtain feedback on their research, and start building up their own academic network.

Infrastructure

The FAU Linguistics Lab provides all necessary equipment for experimental studies, including a portable eye tracker, two portable ERP headsets, and a testing suite with laptops and response boxes. Further equipment (EEG, MEG, fMRI, ECoG) can be accessed via a collaboration with the University Hospital.

The Linguistics Lab also has high-grade servers and more than 100 TB of storage space for corpus analysis, as well as a rich software infrastructure and large collection of corpus resources. For big data approaches, the Tier3 high-performance computing (HPC) cluster of the local computing centre (RRZE) can be used.