Research Positions

Postdoctoral Research Position in Analysis of Real World Child Language Environments The Baby Language Lab at the University of Manitoba in Canada, directed by Dr. Melanie Soderstrom, is seeking a postdoctoral researcher to conduct studies examining the real-world language environment of infants and young children. The postdoctoral researcher will make significant contributions to novel research in the lab stemming from the ACLEW project and its offshoots. ACLEW is a multidisciplinary grant funded by the Digging Into Data Challenge, led by Dr. Soderstrom. This project brought together child language researchers and experts in speech processing to develop new automated and semi-automated approaches to the study of children’s language environments across cultures, languages, and situations, using largescale audiorecording of children’s everyday experiences. This position is a unique opportunity for an early career researcher to develop collaborative ties across disciplinary and geographical boundaries, and build a distinctive skill-set in a key emerging sub-field. In addition to contributing to existing projects, the postdoctoral researcher will conduct their own studies as appropriate to their particular research interests and experience. Our laboratory includes direct access to existing full-day recordings and other data appropriate to questions about the role of: childcare environment (i.e. home or daycare), maternal age, and hearing impairment on the linguistic environment. Other research questions may be explored using these corpora and/or recordings available on public repositories. The postdoctoral researcher may also become involved in our laboratory’s infant speech perception studies, depending on the practicalities of infant research in the upcoming year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial appointment is for one year, with a flexible start date (ideally before September 2020), with a possible second year contingent on the availability of funding and successful research progress. The eligible candidate will have completed all requirements for a PhD in Linguistics or Psychology (or cognate discipline) by the start date, with evidence of interest in child language research and comfort with hands-on learning of novel data analytic approaches. The ideal candidate would also have experience with one or more of the following: *linguistic data processing tools (e.g. CLAN/Phon, Praat) *child language transcription/annotation formats (e.g. CHAT, ELAN) *programming (particularly Python) and familiarity with github *LENA-style (naturalistic) recordings *work with culturally diverse populations, low SES communities, and/or Indigenous communities To apply or for inquiries, please email M_Soderstrom@umanitoba.ca. Application materials consist of a CV, a brief 1-2 page statement of research interests, and contact information for at least 2 references.
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