PhD Studentship: Language Access and Conceptual Development in Deaf and Hearing Infants

Primary supervisor - Dr Teodora Gliga, t.gliga@uea.ac.uk

Secondary supervisor – Prof Larissa Samuelson 

A fully funded PhD position is available with the Baby Language and Conceptual Knowledge Study (BLoCKS), led by Dr Teodora Gliga. You will investigate the interplay between language access and concept acquisition, in deaf and hearing infants. This longitudinal project will help us chart the acquisition of conceptual knowledge, using new eye-tracking and EEG paradigms as well as reveal linguistic and non-linguistic strategies that caregivers may use for promoting conceptual development. You will work along-side a small team of doctoral and post-doctoral researchers and in collaboration with charities and teachers of the deaf that help us establish meaningful relationships with our study participants. You will interact regularly with members of an international network for the study of early deafness. You will have access to and opportunity to learn new state-of-the-art technologies (e.g. EEG, eye-tracking, fNIRS). You will be part of a world-leading multi-disciplinary Developmental Science research group at UEA as well as of a thriving community of PhD students.

Entry requirements

Bachelors 2:1 (Biology, Psychology, Neurosciences, Linguistics) and Master’s degree in Psychology, Developmental Sciences or Neurosciences (or equivalent research experience).

Start date: October 2024

References

1. Pomiechowska, B., & Gliga, T. (2021). Nonverbal category knowledge limits the amount of information encoded in object representations: EEG evidence from 12-month-old infants. Royal Society open science, 8(3), 200782.
2. Pomiechowska, B., & Gliga, T. (2019). Lexical acquisition through category matching: 12-month-old infants associate words to visual categories. Psychological Science, 30(2), 288-299.
3. Delcenserie, A., Genesee, F., & Champoux, F. (2024). Exposure to sign language prior and after cochlear implantation increases language and cognitive skills in deaf children. Developmental Science, e13481.
4. Arunachalam, S., & Waxman, S. R. (2010). Language and conceptual development. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 1(4), 548-558.

Additional Funding Information

This PhD project is funded by the Faculty of Social Sciences for 3 years. Funding includes tuition fees at Home-fee rate, an annual stipend of £19,237 per annum (2024/25 rate) and £1,000 per annum to support research training.

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