The Faculty is offering one doctoral studentship and one postdoctoral research position to join the Oxford team of CURLEW (Census of Urban and Rural Language in England and Wales). CURLEW is a four-year project (from August 2026) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation as part of the International Co-Investigator Scheme with the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Researchers in Oxford, led by Professor David Willis, will collaborate with teams in Bern (David Britain (PI) and Adrian Leemann) and York (Paul Foulkes). The aim of CURLEW is to conduct a census of urban and rural language in England and Wales, providing a rich snapshot of the English language in these countries today using contemporary sociolinguistic sampling techniques, studying a broad cross-section of the population. Modelled on the Swiss Dialäktatlas, this project serves as a 21st-century counterpart to the historic Survey of English Dialects from the 1950s. The team will collect, transcribe and analyse data from over 1000 speakers using a custom-developed smartphone app.  Data will help us fully understand how socio-economic and demographic changes have steered language change.

In addition to the research post and studentship in Oxford, a range of positions is also being advertised in Bern (1 postdoctoral research position, 1 postdoctoral research and teaching position, 3 PhD positions), and York (1 PhD position). There will be day-to-day communication across the sites, as well as regular team meetings, both online and in person. If you wish to apply for more than one position, you must apply for each separately, since each position has distinct goals and tasks, and consequently different pre-requisites.

More information about CURLEW, each position and how to apply can be found here.  

To apply for the Oxford studentship, click here. To apply for the Oxford postdoctoral research position, click here.

Deadline for applications is 12.00 (GMT), 13.00 (CET) on 20 February 2026.