Doctoral scholarship

University of Antwerp is advertising a fully funded PhD position in Dutch Linguistics within the Department of Linguistics, Arts Faculty. The project focuses on second language acquisition, especially how learners acquire sentence structures in L2, and combines psycholinguistics, experimental linguistics, computational modeling, and quantitative data analysis.

The doctoral researcher will investigate the acquisition of sentence structures such as passive sentences, run sentence production experiments with Ukrainian learners of Dutch and Dutch learners of Ukrainian and Swedish, and test which computational models best simulate the learning process. The role also includes publishing scientific articles and limited teaching support tasks related to the research topic.

Eligibility highlights: a Master’s degree in Linguistics, Digital Text Analysis, Experimental Psychology, or a related field; excellent grades; interest in language acquisition and research; basic statistical and/or programming skills; willingness to receive further training; and knowledge of Dutch plus Ukrainian or another Slavic language as an advantage.

Funding: a 4-year doctoral scholarship, initially a one-year contract extendable after positive evaluation, with monthly scholarship pay according to University of Antwerp rates. Benefits include ecocheques, internet allowance, and either bicycle allowance or full public transport reimbursement.

Application window: apply online by 12 May 2026 (midnight Brussels time). Submit a motivation letter and CV, and mention relevant research experience. Interviews are scheduled for 3–4 June.