Publisher
source

University of Louvain

PhD Fellowship in Second Language Acquisition and Conversational AI University of Louvain (UCLouvain) in Belgium

Degree Level

PhD

Field of study

Computer Science

Funding

Full-time 100% PhD fellowship initially for two years, renewable up to four years total. Doctoral fellowship grant starting at approximately EUR 2,515 net per month. Residence in Belgium is required for the duration of the mandate; non-EU applicants must obtain visa/permits with HR assistance.

Deadline

Expired

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Country

Belgium

University

University of Louvain

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Keywords

Computer Science
Education
Natural Language Processing
Second Language Acquisition
Pragmatic

About this position

PhD fellowship opportunity in Second Language Acquisition, Conversational AI, learner corpus research, and computer-assisted language learning at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain).

The project, part of “How Generative AI is shaping human language: insights from post-AI language use, learning and critical literacy”, will study the longitudinal effects of interacting with Generative AI chatbots on the development of French as a second language, with a focus on vocabulary and pragmatics. The research combines quasi-experimental studies and longitudinal corpus analysis of conversation logs, and may involve cohorts of L2 French learners in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The doctoral researcher will join an interdisciplinary consortium with other PhD students, a postdoctoral researcher, and five academic supervisors spanning linguistics, SLA, NLP, translation studies, and communication sciences. The broader aim is to understand how GenAI-produced language may reshape human writing and learning, while also supporting critical AI literacy and reflective, ethical use of AI tools.

Eligibility highlights: Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics, Language Sciences, Romance Studies, Educational Sciences, NLP, or a closely related field; excellent academic record; strong French and English; analytical rigor; teamwork; and interest in SLA/CALL, learner corpus research, quantitative methods, experimental design, and/or R or Python.

Funding: Full-time 100% PhD fellowship, initially for two years and renewable up to four years total, with a doctoral grant of approximately EUR 2,515 net/month.

Application deadline: 7 August 2026. Applications must be submitted as a single PDF by email to the two supervisors. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed between 17 and 21 August 2026.

Funding details

Full-time 100% PhD fellowship initially for two years, renewable up to four years total. Doctoral fellowship grant starting at approximately EUR 2,515 net per month. Residence in Belgium is required for the duration of the mandate; non-EU applicants must obtain visa/permits with HR assistance.

What's required

Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics, Language Sciences, Romance Studies, Educational Sciences, NLP, or a closely related field; excellent BA and MA record; excellent French (B2 minimum, C1 ideal) and English (B2 minimum, C1 desired); strong analytical skills, scientific rigor, intellectual curiosity, autonomy, teamwork, and ability to collaborate across disciplines. Preferred assets include background or strong interest in second language acquisition and/or computer-assisted language learning, familiarity with learner corpus research, quantitative methods or experimental designs, knowledge of R or Python, interest in generative AI and its educational applications, and willingness to travel for conferences and possibly Hanoi data collection.

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