Research Assistant/Associate (f/m/d) in the Area of Auditory Cognition and Voice Research (two positions open) Doctoral Candidates (f/m/d)

Weitere Informationen

The successful candidate will be employed under a regular employment contract.
The position is to be filled at the earliest possible date and offered for a fixed term of 3 years.
The fixed-term employment is possible as it constitutes one of the fixed-term options of the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (German Act on Fixed-term Scientific Contracts).
This is a part-time position (75 % of the standard weekly hours for full-time employees).
The successful candidate has the opportunity to pursue a doctoral degree in this position.
The salary is based on the German public service salary scale (TV-L).
The position corresponds to a pay grade of EG 13 TV-L.

Unser Profil

As part of establishing the Emmy Noether Research Group “UniCoRN,” led by Dr. Isabel Schiller, two doctoral positions are available. UniCoRN stands for “From Unidirectional to Interactive Communication: Revealing the Impacts of Voice and Noise on Listening and Speaking” and, starting in summer 2026, will investigate how vocal characteristics and background noise influence listening effort, speaking effort, memory performance, and communicative behavior. Methodologically, the project combines behavioral data, physiological measures, acoustic parameters, and subjective ratings in laboratory and virtual reality (VR) experiments. In doing so, it seeks to extend models of speech perception and production to better predict how acoustic environments affect cognitive processes and speaking behavior in real-world contexts.

The UniCoRN group will be based in and closely connected to the Teaching and Research Area of Work and Engineering Psychology. As a member of the group, you will benefit from an international and interdisciplinary research network with collaborations in VR research (RWTH Aachen University), digital signal processing (CAU Kiel), and voice research (Lund University, Sweden; University of Sydney, Australia). Through integration into the Institute of Psychology, which comprises seven professorships, you will have the opportunity to regularly participate in research colloquia, engage in methodological exchange, and initiate further collaborations. As a University of Excellence, RWTH Aachen University offers comprehensive programs for academic career development—among them the Doctoral Academy, IGaD (Center for Inclusion, Gender and Diversity), and the ERS (Exploratory Research Space). We explicitly encourage participation in these programs for qualification, networking, and seed funding of independent research ideas and consider them an integral part of your professional development.

Become part of the UniCoRN team and apply for one of the following positions:

Doctoral Position 1 – Listening Effort and Memory
This position examines how voice quality and speakers’ body posture influence listeners’ listening effort and memory. In ecologically valid, partly VR-based scenarios, the project analyzes how visual and auditory signals interact and draw on cognitive resources during speech comprehension. Behavioral data will be combined with physiological measures (e.g., heart rate variability, pupillometry) to identify key mechanisms of speech understanding under challenging conditions and to further develop existing theoretical models.

Doctoral Position 2 – Auditory Feedback Modulation
This position investigates how real-time changes in voice quality through auditory feedback modulation affect voice production and which vocal-motor mechanisms are involved. In addition to conducting a systematic meta-analysis, the project includes experimental studies in which vocal responses are acoustically quantified and analyzed. The aim is to advance our understanding of core processes in voice production and the role of feedback loops, both theoretically and with regard to practical applications.

Ihr Profil

Requirements

An above-average Master’s degree (or comparable) in one of the following fields is required:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Science or Neuroscience
• Linguistics or Psycholinguistics
• Engineering (with a focus on acoustics, speech, or voice processing)
• or a closely related discipline

In addition, you should have:

• a strong interest in auditory cognition and voice research
• very good written and spoken English skills
• solid knowledge of statistical analysis using R
• excellent communication skills in interdisciplinary contexts
• strong analytical thinking skills as well as a structured and reliable working style
• a high degree of personal responsibility combined with a proactive approach to work
• enjoyment of close teamwork and willingness to actively contribute
• interest in and willingness to familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of acoustics
• willingness to travel for work
• ideally, experience in programming experimental paradigms (e.g., PsychoPy)

In addition, applicants for PhD Position 1 should have:

• a strong interest in VR-based experiments
• enthusiasm for developing a new cognitive psychology paradigm
• ideally, prior experience with Unity or Unreal (training can be provided)
• ideally, experience in collecting and analyzing physiological data

In addition, applicants for PhD Position 2 should have:

• a strong interest in auditory feedback modulation
• theoretical background in one or more of the following areas: vocal motor control and feedback loops, phonetics, voice research
• willingness to learn software for feedback modulation (KiRAT)
• ideally, prior experience in analyzing acoustic data (e.g., Praat or Python)

Ihre Aufgaben

As a PhD candidate in the UniCoRN group, your responsibilities will include:

• presenting research findings at international conferences
• publishing research results in high-ranking open-access journals
• programming robust and reproducible analysis pipelines (Praat/PsychoPy/R/Git)
• contributing to the preparation of research grant proposals
• supervising and training student assistants or new team members
• planning and organizing team activities
• regularly and actively participating in team meetings and research colloquia
• supporting administrative tasks (e.g., procurement of equipment)
• teaching is generally not required but may be possible upon interest
• pursuing a PhD is explicitly intended and will be actively supported

In addition, applicants for PhD Position 1 will:

• develop and validate ecologically valid listening tasks and implement dual-task designs
• independently design and conduct cognitive psychology listening experiments in traditional laboratory and VR settings
• collect multimodal data (behavioral measures, reaction times, HRV, pupillometry, subjective ratings)

In addition, applicants for PhD Position 2 will:

• conduct a meta-analysis on the effects of auditory feedback modulation on voice production (following PRISMA guidelines)
• independently design and carry out experimental studies manipulating auditory feedback and its interaction with background noise
• quantify vocal responses using acoustic parameters (e.g., Cepstral Peak Prominence, voice SPL, and others)

We look forward to receiving your application documents in English or German. To apply, please submit the following documents as a single PDF file: letter of motivation, CV, Master’s certificate/transcript of records, Master’s thesis (or a summary thereof), and the names and contact details of two references.

Über uns

RWTH is a certified family-friendly University. We support our employees in maintaining a good work-life balance with a wide range of health, advising, and prevention services, for example university sports. Employees who are covered by collective bargaining agreements and civil servants have access to an extensive range of further training courses and the opportunity to purchase a job ticket.
RWTH is an equal opportunities employer. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from all suitably qualified candidates, particularly from groups that are underrepresented at the University. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability or age. RWTH is strongly committed to encouraging women in their careers. Female applicants are given preference if they are equally suitable, competent, and professionally qualified, unless a fellow candidate is favored for a specific reason.
As RWTH is committed to equality of opportunity, we ask you not to include a photo in your application.
You can find information on the personal data we collect from applicants in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) at http://www.rwth-aachen.de/dsgvo-information-bewerbung.

Besoldung / Entgelt

EG 13 TV-L