Job Location: Ile-de-France, France
Job Title: Postdoctoral Researcher in Formal and Experimental Pragmatics
Job Rank: Post Doc

Specialty Areas: Cognitive Science; Pragmatics; Psycholinguistics; Semantics

Description:

Institut Jean Nicod (Ecole Normale Supérieure-PSL, CNRS, EHESS) aims to hire a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in formal and experimental semantics and pragmatics. The position is initially for one year, but is renewable for another year. It will start from 2025, Sept 1 to Nov. 1, 2025, with the exact date to be determined.

This position is funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) project 'Communicative Efficiency, Cognitive Constraints, and Lexical Meaning'. One central goal of this project is to understand how non-communicative cognitive constraints interact with pressures for communicative efficiency in shaping lexical meaning and the building blocks of semantic composition in natural languages. The project is coordinated by Benjamin Spector (https://sites.google.com/site/bspectorpage/Home), and also involves Olivier Morin (https://sites.google.com/site/sitedoliviermorin/), Emmanuel Chemla (http://www.emmanuel.chemla.free.fr/) and Mora Maldonado (https://moramaldonado.github.io/). 

The postdoctoral researcher is expected to conduct research in formal and experimental semantics and pragmatics, both collaboratively and independently. The postdoctoral researcher should have a strong background in formal semantics/pragmatics, experimental design, and statistical analyses. Familiarity with probabilistic models of pragmatics, such as the Rational Speech Act model, is welcome but not required. 

The net salary will range from 2500 to 3000 euros/month, depending on past experience. The successful candidate must have *defended and filed* their PhD dissertation at least two months before the position starts, and  possibly earlier if a visa application is required.

Application procedure: applications should be submitted by email. Applicants should use 'SemPrag Postdoctoral Position Application' as the email subject line. The application file should contain:

(a) A CV including a list of all publications, links to at least two papers as writing samples, and the names of two potential references.
(b) A short research statement outlining past work and research interests (from 1 to 2 pages).

For full consideration, applications should be submitted by April 25, 2025.

Application Deadline: 25-Apr-2025
Email Address for Applications: [email protected]
Application Instructions:
Applications should be submitted by email to [email protected]. The subject line should be "SemPrag Postdoctoral Position Application."
The application file should contain:
(a) A CV with a list of all publications, links to at least two papers as writing samples, and the names of two potential references.
(b) A short research statement outlining past work and research interests (1–2 pages).
Contact Information:
Benjamin Spector
Email: [email protected]