NEW 1+3 PHD STUDENTSHIP (STARTING IN 2008
A 4 year PhD studentship linked to the British Sign Language (BSL) Corpus Project is now available. The studentship is a 1+3 award (1 year Master’s degree programme and 3-year PhD). The funding will cover UK/EU student fees and a standard bursary (£14,300 per year). The studentship may be based EITHER at University College London OR at Bangor University (see options 1 or 2 below).
Applicants should have appropriate undergraduate degree qualifications, and should have undergone relevant research training (for example in linguistics, sociolinguistics or psychology). Competence in BSL is a strong advantage, though training in BSL will be offered if required. Data collected as part of the BSL Corpus Project will be available, and the student is expected to make a significant contribution to the annotation, tagging or other manipulation of the data, depending on expertise.
Option 1 (Sociolinguistic variation and change in BSL): University College London.
This studentship will be based at the ESRC Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL) at University College London. The student will first complete the 1 year interdisciplinary MRes in Speech, Language and Cognition programme. The 3 year PhD project will focus on a topic related to sociolinguistic variation and change in BSL.
To apply for studentship 1, please complete the Postgraduate Application Form, accompanied by a CV and a 500-word outline of your proposed research topic. Please send your application by 18 June 2008 to Adam Schembri, DCAL Research Centre, University College London, 49 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PD, United Kingdom or by email to a.schembri@ucl.ac.uk.
For more information about DCAL, please visit the website.
Option 2 (Language contact and BSL): Bangor University
This studentship will be based at the ESRC Centre for Bilingualism at Bangor University. The student will first complete the 1 year MA in Billingualism programme. The 3 year PhD research will link up to the work of the corpus-based group at the Centre for Research on Bilingualism at Bangor University and will investigate the outcomes of language contact between BSL and English. This could include the use of mouthing and fingerspelling as well as code-switching between signing and speaking.
To apply for studentship 2, candidates should request a place on the PhD in Bilingualism in the School of Linguistics and English Language by sending a CV and a cover letter to the Administrator, ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism in Theory and Practice, Bangor University, College Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DG, United Kingdom or by email to Mrs. Ruth Ab Ieuan, r.a.ieuan@bangor.ac.uk, to arrive by 18 June 2008.
For more information about new ESRC Centre for Bilingualism at Bangor University, please visit the website.
Who may apply?
EU/UK citizens who have been resident in the UK for three years are eligible to receive the full grant (i.e., the fees and the bursary). Other EU nationals are eligible to receive the fee element only.
Informal enquiries for either studentship 1 or 2 can be made to the BSL Corpus Project director Adam Schembri: a.schembri@ucl.ac.uk.