Fully Funded 3-year PhD Studentship in the School of Psychology and Sport Science

Neural mechanisms underlying accent processing in naturalistic conversations: Insights from brain oscillations and functional neuroimaging

Prof. Guillaume Thierry

Applications are invited for a three-year fully funded PhD studentship within the School of Psychology and Sport Science, Bangor University. The studentship covers the full cost of tuition fees for PhD students, plus a salary and a mobility allowance. The studentship can commence between January and May 2026, with a preferred start in February 2026.

Note: Final amounts will be confirmed according to Marie Skłodowska-Curie rules, the UK correction coefficient, and UK employment regulations.

Project summary

Accents affect comprehension, cognitive effort, and social judgements, yet the neural mechanisms of accent adaptation in real-life conversations remain poorly understood. Using EEG and fNIRS, this project will investigate how listeners adapt to foreign-accented speakers and how social attitudes modulate neural processing.

This studentship is part of the EU-funded HUM.AI.N-ACCENT Doctoral Network, an interdisciplinary consortium of 13 labs and 24 partners across Europe, Canada, and the US. The successful candidate will benefit from international training schools, workshops, and conferences, and will complete two secondments abroad with partner organisations.

Essential skills

• First or upper-second class undergraduate degree in psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, or related subject.
• Excellent written and verbal English communication.
• Strong interest in speech perception and social cognition.

Desirable skills

• Master’s degree or equivalent.
• Experience with EEG, fNIRS, or behavioural experiments.
• Programming and data-analysis skills (e.g., MATLAB, Python, R).

Funding: This position is funded by the EU-funded HUM.AI.N-ACCENT Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (MSCA-DTN).

• Gross salary: about £55,000 per annum
• Mobility allowance: about £6,000 per annum
• Family allowance (if applicable): about £5,500 per annum

Plus research, training, and networking contributions in line with Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network rules.

Residency requirement

Applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, study, etc.) in the UK for more than 12 months in the 36 months prior to recruitment and must not already hold a doctoral degree.

How to apply

Please click 'Apply’ button above to be redirected to our application page.

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