PhD Studentship

Post Status: Fixed-term full-time studentship

Research Group / Department / School: School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin 

Location: Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland 

Reports to: Prof. Irena Yanushevskaya 

Terms & Conditions: 4-year fixed term studentship, including an annual €25,000 tax-free stipend and student fees 

Expected start date: 1st September 2026 

Hours of Work: Full-time 

Closing Date: 12:00 (noon) June 18th 2026

Post Summary 

Applications are invited for a 4-year fully funded PhD studentship to work on the project ‘The role of ‘baseline’ voice quality in prosodic marking’. The project is funded by the Trinity Doctoral Research Award (PI-led) to Prof Irena Yanushevskaya. Rather than treating speakerspecific voice quality variations as experimental noise to be averaged out, the project investigates whether and to what extent individual ‘baseline’ voice quality differences condition the realisation of prosodic prominence. Using acoustic analysis of the voice source of speakers with distinct phonatory profiles (e.g., modal, breathy, tense, creaky), the project examines whether prosodic signalling of focus and prominence is realised through similar relative changes or through ‘baseline’-specific cue strategies. 

The successful candidate will undertake doctoral research focused on the collection, auditoryperceptual and acoustic analysis of speech data reflecting ‘baseline’ voice quality variation in prosodic signalling. The PhD will be supervised within the Department of Linguistics, School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences.

Qualifications 

Essential 

• A first-class or upper second-class honours degree (or equivalent) in linguistics, phonetics, speech sciences, or a closely related discipline 

• Master’s degree in linguistics, phonetics, speech sciences, or a closely related discipline 

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; for non-native speakers of English - high competence in the English language level in one of the examination systems recognised by Trinity College Dublin (https://www.tcd.ie/study/english-language-requirements/)