Call for two PhD positions

We are looking for two PhD candidates within the project “Prosoflip – French-German L2 Prosody: from the Lab into Practice” [1, 2, 3], a collaboration of partners at the Université de Lorraine in Nancy (France), Universität des Saarlandes in Saarbrücken and Universität Trier (both Germany). This Franco-German project includes international partners in France, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
The PhD positions are based in Nancy and in Saarbrücken, respectively. The duration of the entire project (including the PhD projects) is three years, starting in September 2026. The Project investigates French-German L2 prosody and evaluates different approaches to training, with the goal of translating research insights into practical classroom materials.

Description of the thesis topic
The successful candidate will contribute to the study of the effectiveness of linguistically informed prosodic training in facilitating the acquisition of L2 prosody. In doing so, the candidates help to yield deeper insights into L2 prosody within the German-French language pair. Subsequently, the person will contribute to release the evaluated materials as CC-licensed Open Educational Resources (OER), ensuring accessibility for language educators, learners, and other stakeholders such as publishers or app developers.

Your responsibilities:
• Working towards a PhD
• Contribution to the objectives of the ANR-DFG project “Prosoflip” in collaboration with all project partners at three universities, in Saarbrücken and Trier (Germany), and in Nancy (France), as well as the associated international researchers
• Recruit, communicate with and test participants in Germany and France
• Prepare, conduct, and analyze production and perception experiments (such as ratings, reaction times, scripted speech, spontaneous speech, multiple choice)
• Contribute to the dissemination of research results (e.g., conference presentations, joint journal publications, and outreach events)

Your competencies:
• An excellent MA degree in linguistics, phonetics, applied linguistics or equivalent
• Written and oral skills in preferably all three languages: German, French, and English (at least two languages; English is a must, plus either German or French, and a willingness to learn the missing language)
• A clear background in linguistics (particularly in the areas of prosody and second/foreign language acquisition) as well as a keen interest in issues related to language teaching
• Background in conducting acoustic analyses (incl. relevant software, e.g., Praat)
• Experience with experimental research paradigms and practices (incl. relevant software), statistical data analysis (R, RStudio) is a plus
• Proactive attitude and ability to work both independently and as part of a team

Desirable additional skills:
• Experience in the field of multimodality (such as speech, facial expressions and gestures)
• Experience in designing teaching materials and open educational resources (OER)
• Experience with programming languages (e.g., Python)
• Work experience in research projects
We offer:
• The opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. as part of an international research project bringing together leading experts in the field; the possibility of cotutelle can be discussed
• An open-minded and motivated research team
• Integration into a doctoral program that promotes professional training and facilitates interaction with other doctoral students (only valid for Nancy)
• Multifaceted career coaching

How to submit your application
Shortlisted candidates will participate in an online interview.Applications must contain a single PDF file containing all the documents listed below:
• Cover letter explaining your interest in pursuing a PhD and the ANR-DFG project (1–2 pages)
• Curriculum vitae (including own publications, if available)
• Transcripts for the first and second years of the Master’s program (or, if applicable, a provisional certificate of completion for the second year of the Master’s program)
• Copy of the master's thesis (final version; if ongoing, please send a one-page abstract)
• If available, a published paper on a topic relevant to the project
• Two names of contacts (with their contact information) to serve as references
Applications for the position in Nancy must be submitted through the website Portail Emploi CNRS: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Doctorant/UMR7118-SABMAR-030/Default.aspx (Please be aware that the correct deadline of June 19 will not appear on the Portail Emploi CNRS website until June 8.) ; applications for the position in Saarbrücken must be submitted via e-mail to <trouvain@lst.uni-saarland.de>.
Deadline: June 19th, 2026

For further information, please contact: Prof. Dr. Ingo Feldhausen (ATILF, CNRS & Université de Lorraine) <ingo.feldhausen@univ-lorraine.fr> or Dr. Jürgen Trouvain (Universität des Saarlandes, Germany) <trouvain@lst.uni-saarland.de>.

[1] www.prosoflip.uni-trier.de
[2] https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-25-FRAL-0008
[3] https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/567403450