PhD Fellowship in Multilingualism and Cross-linguistic Influence University of Stavanger in Norway

The University of Stavanger is offering a PhD Fellowship in Multilingualism and Cross-linguistic Influence at the Faculty of Arts and Education, Department of Culture and Language. The position is based in the research group FLUENT (Multilingual Development and Change in Contemporary Society), an interdisciplinary environment focused on multilingualism from perspectives including language acquisition, formal linguistics, and educational sciences.

This is an open call for doctoral projects on cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in bilingual and multilingual speakers. The central research goal is to deepen understanding of how languages interact in the multilingual mind, including how grammatical systems may be shared across languages and how influence varies with linguistic distance, language-specific properties, speaker type, proficiency, exposure, and language use. The project may use offline, online, or combined methodological approaches, and the department especially welcomes work on real-time language processing alongside traditional approaches.

Possible project directions include CLI across different language pairs, across linguistic domains such as syntax, morphology, vocabulary, and phonology, and across different groups such as children, adults, early bilinguals, late bilinguals, and third-language learners. Projects involving Norwegian together with one or more other languages are particularly encouraged, though other language combinations are also welcome. Stavanger's multilingual population offers strong opportunities for participant recruitment and empirical work.

The successful applicant will be admitted to the PhD programme in Educational Science and Humanities. The PhD involves an independent research project leading to a doctoral thesis, participation in national and international research communities, and dissemination of results. The dissertation will be written in English.

The appointment is for three years of pure research training or four years including research training and other career-promoting work. The position is available from 1 March 2027. Funding is provided as a salaried PhD fellowship, with salary in accordance with the Norwegian State Salary Scale (code 1017), starting at NOK 580,000 gross per year, plus pension and employment benefits.

Eligibility emphasizes a five-year master's degree in linguistics, multilingualism, psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, Nordic linguistics, English linguistics, or equivalent background, with strong grades. English language proficiency is required, and international applicants may need to document proficiency with TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge, or PTE unless exempt. Applications must include a project proposal, CV, transcripts, diploma documentation, language evidence if needed, publications, references, and other relevant documents submitted through Jobbnorge by the deadline.

UiS highlights an inclusive and ambitious research environment, free Norwegian language courses, wellbeing support, pension and insurance schemes, relocation support, sports centre membership, and other welfare benefits. The university also emphasizes diversity and inclusion in recruitment.