The deadline for most positions has been extended to 11 May 2020
The Comm4CHILD Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network is hiring 15 PhD candidates / Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) in different domains united around the effort to optimizing the communication with, and social inclusion of children with hearing impairment.
The training network includes partners in medical and technological research as well as neuropsychology and speech therapy. The individual research projects are conceptualized within three main topics: (1) Biological diversity in plasticity and adaptation, (2) Multimodality and optimization of cognitive resources, and (3) Environment and enhancement of language skills.
The Comm4CHILD ITN is a consortium of 9 host organizations and 9 partner organizations, in the academic and non-academic field, working together to provide an optimal learning environment for the 36-month doctoral training. Each candidate will complete at least one secondment with another beneficiary or partner organization, for a duration of up to 6 months.
All ESRs will be provided with salaries, mobility allowance, social security benefits and, if applicable at the time of hiring, additional family allowance.
Latest possible starting date of each ESR project would be in September or Octoboer 2020.
We are committed to inclusive recruitment and strive for a gender balanced team of ESRs. People with disabilities, particularly hearing impairment, are encouraged to apply.
The 15 available ESR positions are:
Binaural restoration in children with SSD – located at the KU Leuven, Belgium
Individual anatomic factors in underperforming patients - hosted at HörSys, Hannover, Germany, PhD enrolment at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany
Neural mechanisms of cross-modal plasticity in Hearing Impairment (animal model) – hosted at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany
Auditory-somatosensory cross-modal plasticity – Hosted at OTIC Medical, Denmark, PhD enrolment at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany
Temporal course of auditory, labial, and manual signals in Cued Speech (CS) perception – hosted at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
The somatosensory function and perceptuo-motor loop in speech communication – hosted at CNRS – GIPSA, Grenoble, France
Improving integration of audio-visual speech cues in children with hearing impairment - hosted at the KU Leuven, Belgium
Effortful listening, cognitive energy, and learning in children fitted with cochlear implant - Hosted at OTIC Medical, Denmark, PhD enrolment at University of Oslo, Sweden
Cognitive intervention – hosted at University of Oslo, Sweden
Development of communication systems and tools related to Sign Language (SL), Cued Speech (CS), and audio-visual speech synthesis – hosted at CNRS-GIPSA, Grenoble, France
Multilingual language development – hosted at the University of Leeds, UK
Multimodal communication – hosted at the University of Leeds, UK
Spelling ability and associated skills – hosted at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Sustaining oral communicative skills in children with cochlear implant – hosted at CNRS-LPNC, Grenoble, France
The phonological body – hosted at the Centre Comprendre et Parler, Brussels, PhD enrolment at Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Benefits:
Successful applicants are paid a gross monthly salary of 3.270 €, adjusted to the host country correction coefficient. ESRs receive in addition a mobility allowance of 600€ per month and, if applicable at the beginning of the contract, a family allowance of 500€ per month. All amounts are subject to employer and employee deductions and taxes
Please note: "Family" is defined as a person linked to the ESR by marriage or a relationship with equivalent status to a marriage recognized by the country where this relationship was formalized, or dependent children being maintained by the researcher.
In addition, funds are provided to cover the cost of research, networking and training.
The funding covers the 36 months during which the ESR is enrolled for PhD studies at the host institution.
Host-specific details can be found in the individual application calls on our website comm4child.ulb.be
Please find detailed information on the project website (http://comm4child.ulb.be)
Eligibility criteria
Please see the individual positions for details of eligibility criteria and application
Candidates must have obtained a degree which formally entitles them to embark on a doctorate, either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the researcher is recruited
The candidate must not have resided or carried out their main activity (e.g. work, studies) in the country where you have been recruited for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the recruitment date. This excludes short stays such as holidays
Candidates cannot have been awarded a doctoral degree and/or completed more than four years of full-time equivalent research experience.
Additional, ESR-specific criteria apply and can be found on our website comm4child.ulb.be, in the call for application concerning the ESR position in question