Researcher Irony Re-examined in Interactive Settings (IRIS)

Description of the workplace
The position is hosted by the Cognitive Science Unit (LUCS) within the department of Philosophy. LUCS provides an intellectually stimulating environment with active research on several facets of human and animal cognition, as well as educational technology, robotics, among others.
The experimental work of IRIS will be conducted at Lund University’s Humanities Lab, which provides state-of-the-art facilities, equipment and technical support.
For more information on LUCS: https://www.lucs.lu.se/
For more information on the Humanities Lab: https://www.humlab.lu.se/
Description of the project
The position is for a 3-year period and is based at the department of philosophy at Lund University. It is embedded in a research team working on the project “Irony Re-examined in Interactive Settings (IRIS)”, which is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and led by Camilo R. Ronderos.
IRIS seeks to bring about a paradigm shift in the experimental study of pragmatics by studying differences in the derivation of inferences between addressees and overhearers, focusing on irony as a test case. The main hypothesis of the project is that addressees and overhearers use different comprehension strategies when understanding irony, with repercussions for irony processing, the development of irony comprehension, and how comprehenders hold ironic speakers accountable for the meanings that they convey. IRIS will develop a novel experimental paradigm that studies both addressees and overhearers, combining accuracy and rating-scales measures with recent technical advances in cognitive pupillometry.
Tasks and responsibilities
The holder of the position will lead the creation of experiments to study how differences in conversational roles (i.e., addressees and overhearers) impact the derivation of pragmatic inferences on adult participants. This includes:
Leading the development of the IRIS experimental paradigm, which involves studying language processing during interactive communication using pupillometry and other behavioural measures collecting data from Swedish-speaking adults analysing the data obtained from the experiments training research assistants
Writing up the results for publication in scientific journals contributing to the organization of project workshops and a special issue.
Mentoring students and actively participating in project meetings and reading circles.

Qualifications

Requirements

for the position are:
Doctoral degree or equivalent international degree in psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, philosophy or a closely related field.
Good ability to develop and carry out high-quality research.
Documented experience designing and running interactive behavioural and/or neurocognitive experiments to study human cognition
Documented experience analysing experimental data, including expertise in mixed-effects regression modelling in R.
Excellent command of English, spoken and written.
Ability to work independently, in a structured way, and to collaborate in a team.
Merits for the position are:
Knowledge of theories and methods in experimental pragmatics Experience with eye-tracking and/or pupillometry. Research experience in pragmatics and/or figurative language. Knowledge of Swedish or another Scandinavian language, as the experiments are conducted in Swedish. Experience of supervising students and/or coordinating research assistants.

What we offer

Lund University is a government agency, which means that you get special benefits, generous holidays and a favourable occupational pension.
Find out more on the University website about working with us
Work for us

How to apply

You will need to apply for this position via the university’s recruitment system. The application should include:

• A cover letter, explaining why you are interested in the position and how your profile matches the description of the position
• A CV
• 1 page description on how you would approach this research (which resources would you use, how would you structure work on this project?)
• Two writing samples (published or unpublished articles)
• Details of two referees (will not be contacted until you are invited for an interview)