Together with the International Institute of Social History and Huygens ING, the Meertens Instituut is part of the Humanities Cluster of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), in which humanities research (history, ethnology, literary studies, linguistics) is carried out using advanced methods, with an important role for computer science.

The Meertens Instituut is a Dutch national institute for the study and documentation of Dutch language and culture, and language and culture in the Netherlands. Research in the institute is carried out in the Ethnology group and the Variational Linguistics group, which both have leading positions in international research of everyday language and culture.

Research within the Variational Linguistics group is aimed at linguistic research into the languages in the Netherlands, and the Dutch language in the world. The group uses various methodologies and empirical resources, and unique for this institute -especially within the Netherlands – is the use of large corpora of (online and offline) elicited language data in the form of questionnaires and surveys.

Within the Variation Linguistics group we are looking for two

Researchers
(full-time or part-time)
At the Postdoctoral/senior level.

Job description

Our ambition is that the group will grow and continue to consist of researchers representing (at least) the following five main strands of research into language variation: computational linguistics, phonology, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics and syntax. Together, the team will initiate new research into language variation in the Netherlands in the past and present, and into the insights this variation provides into the phenomenon of human language in general. We are thus looking for researchers who have a demonstrable interest in collaborations across the boundaries of their own specialism.

At present we are seeking to expand the group with two researchers with a PhD degree. Both positions can be taken by junior and senior researchers, full-time as well as part-time. If the applicant currently has a permanent position with a university, we prefer a construction in which the researcher maintains the current university affiliation in part-time.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for candidates with a transdisciplinary vision who feel comfortable working with colleagues with different backgrounds and shared goals. You have a PhD in the area of variational linguistics in particular from the perspective of sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and/or computational linguistics. You have a talent in conveying research results orally, both in professional and public-oriented contexts, and you have a strong publication record. You have a vision on the research that you would like to conduct in transdisciplinary collaboration and you have demonstrable experience with this type of collaboration.

What do we ask?

Are you about to receive your PhD or do you already have a doctorate and do you aspire to a challenging research position in a transdisciplinary environment within a national research institute? We expect that you have been working on personal and thematic research applications, and that you have been building a national and international peer network.

Are you a senior researcher who would like to combine a current appointment with a part-time appointment as a researcher at the Meertens Instituut? We expect experience in applying for research grants of different types (personal, thematic/open, European), and experience in supervising PhD students. You have an active network nationally and internationally, in the scientific field, but preferably also in professional and public communities.

In return we offer:

An appointment at the Meertens Instituut for an initial period of one year. If the evaluation is positive after one year, an extension of three years is possible.

Depending on the position and relevant work experience, the salary is minimally €3,746 per month and maximally €5,826 (scale 11/12 Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities) for a 38-hour working week.

The KNAW also offers attractive additional benefits, such as an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, an 8% holiday allowance, a good pension scheme, 6 weeks of annual holiday and the option to buy/sell holidays. Flexible working hours are possible.

Response

You can send your application, including a motivation letter, curriculum vitae before [deadline] to the e-mail address: Applications@bb.huc.knaw.nl, stating in the subject line: Researcher Variational Linguistics. For more information about the vacancy, please contact Antal van den Bosch (director of the Meertens Institutut via email antal.van.den.bosch@meertens.knaw.nl).

More information about the Meertens Instituut can be found at https://www.meertens.knaw.nl/ .