Student Assistant Acoustics of Child Speech

Do you have a talent for speech acoustics and do you want to use those skills in an ongoing research project Are you interested in how children across languages develop their speech production Would you like the opportunity to work in the University of Amsterdam Speech Lab and with international partners Then we may have the perfect Research-Assistant position for you.

Help us acoustically analyse how children become fluent speakers!

As part of a project investigating childrens developing planning and control of their speech in a team also consisting of Dr. Titia Benders and local and international researchers you will be responsible for making the acoustic annotations of childrens speech. You will do the individual annotation work in the UvA Speech Lab using the Praat software and you will also join group meetings about the progress and project.

This is what you will be doing

Your primary task will be to acoustically annotate the speech of young children (and some adults) distributed across multiple flexibly scheduled sessions per week. You will receive training for the specifics of the task and will be part of a team that shares ongoing feedback. You may also be training others in this role.

This is what we ask of you

• You have received initial university-level training in speech acoustics including working with Praat. For example you have successfully completed the course Phonetics in the BA Linguistics. After a refresher you can identify events in a waveform and spectrogram and recognize deviations from the usual patterns.
• When you work on a task alone and for an extended period you know how to stay motivated and focussed on the details. You organize your schedule to ensure that project goals and your other responsibilities are fulfilled.
• You welcome feedback as an opportunity to learn and better meet project goals. During teamwork you give others space make yourself heard and aim to arrive at the shared best possible outcome. You let others know what you need and respond constructively to others. You will celebrate each persons contribution as well as team efforts.
• You speak one or more of the following languages: Dutch (for communication within the University of Amsterdam) French (for communication with team members in Cameroon) English (for communication with other international team members and work on English data) Basaa (for work on Basaa data).
• You expect to be enrolled at the University of Amsterdam for the academic year 2025-2026 and are available to start the position around December 15 (or a later date in consultation). You are available for individual annotation sessions as well as regular meetings on weekdays in the Speech Lab in the Bushuis (scheduling is flexible the location is not).

This is what we offer you

This position offers the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in being part of an international research team with ample opportunities for expanding your hard and soft research skills.

The start date is to be discussed but preferably between December 15 and January 1. Depending on relevant experience the salary at the start of the contract is 3084.00 to 3141.00 gross per month based on full-time employment (38 hours per week) according to salary scale SA. This does not include 8% holiday pay and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. The Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities applies.

This is where you will be working

You will become part of a research project team at the University of Amsterdam Speech Lab where you will have a (shared) desktop to complete your work. You will work together with and receive all the help you need from your direct supervisor (Titia Benders) the members of the (international project) team and the Speech Lab technician. The local and the international project teams will meet on a regular basis to share ideas challenges and feedback and to celebrate productive failures and successes alike.

For questions about the position or department you can contact us during office hours at:Titia Benders Assistant Professor in Linguistics and Project Lead.

If you recognize yourself in the profile and are interested in the position we look forward to receiving your application. Please send your cover letter and CV as a single PDF file.

In the cover letter please address the following:

• your interest in the position in the context of your current education and future interests
• a point-by-point response to the requirements listed under this is what we ask of you. For the requirements that you do not (yet) fulfil please outline why you are enthusiastic about developing in this direction
• your comprehensive availability for a one-hour trial session in the Speech Lab (Bushuis) on 10 11 or 12 November in the afternoon

The vacancy closes on November 3 2025. The interview/trial will take place on November 5 or 6 2025.

Selections for thisposition will be based on:

• a combination of how the role matches the candidates current abilities interests and experiences while also providing scope for development that the candidate is enthusiastic about;
• (if a candidate is invited to the interview/trial) the candidates ability to learn and respond to feedback in a trial task that closely resembles the research assistant work. It is expected that candidates similarly use the trial task as an opportunity to assess whether the work will be of interest and suitable to them.