Germany 2025 | Top 5 Fully Funded PhD and Postdoctoral Opportunities at the University of Tübingen (Deadline: Multiple Varies)

The University of Tübingen, a renowned hub for interdisciplinary research, offers a range of fully-funded PhD and postdoctoral positions across diverse fields such as linguistics, psychology, physics, computer science, and religious studies.

These opportunities, primarily within Collaborative Research Centers (CRCs) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and other prestigious programs, provide an excellent platform for early-career researchers to advance their academic careers in a vibrant, international environment.

How to Apply

To apply for these positions, carefully review the eligibility criteria and application requirements for each project. Most applications require a motivation letter, a detailed CV, academic transcripts, and contact details of two or three referees. Some may also request a writing sample, such as a Master’s thesis or publication.

Applications are typically submitted via email to the specified contact, with all documents combined into a single PDF file. Ensure you address the specific project leader and meet the stated deadlines. For detailed instructions, refer to the application links provided for each position.

1. PhD Researcher in Linguistics

This PhD position is part of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1718 “Common Ground: Cognition – Grammar – Communication” at the University of Tübingen. Project C5, “Multiple Common Grounds – Linguistic Mechanisms for Literary Meaning,” explores pragmatic mechanisms in interpreting literary texts, focusing on semantic and pragmatic analysis of utterances relative to Common Ground.

Eligibility

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Linguistics or a related Language Science field by 01 October 2025.
• Strong familiarity with compositional semantics and formal pragmatics.
• Research interest in the semantics/pragmatics interface (e.g., speech acts, presupposition, implicature).
• Interest in analyzing literary texts as a data source.

Application

Apply for this project: PhD Researcher in Linguistics
Deadline: 04 August 2025

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE & APPLY

2. PhD Positions in Linguistics (CRC 1718, Irony Project)

This opportunity includes two PhD positions within CRC 1718 at the University of Tübingen, focusing on the study of irony through experimental, developmental, and computational approaches. The project investigates how children acquire irony comprehension and models irony using probabilistic pragmatics (e.g., RSA). PhD project 1 examines irony acquisition in German-speaking children, while PhD project 2 develops a computational model of irony.

Eligibility

• M.A. or equivalent in Linguistics, Cognitive Science, or related disciplines.
• Solid background in formal linguistics (semantics and pragmatics).
• Lab experience with psycholinguistic or psychology experiments (for PhD project 1).
• Fluency in English (writing and speaking).
• Fluency in German (for PhD project 1).
• Interest in computational modeling of pragmatic reasoning.
• Familiarity with experimental design and analysis in R (preferred).
• Programming skills (JavaScript, CSS, HTML) or willingness to learn (preferred).

Application

Apply for this project: PhD Positions in Linguistics
Deadline: 20 July 2025

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE & APPLY

3. PhD Position in Linguistics (CRC 1718, Project A3)

Part of CRC 1718 at the University of Tübingen, Project A3, “Common Ground Make-Up: Attitudes and Types of Propositional Information,” empirically investigates and models the effects of uncertain information on Common Ground. It focuses on epistemic and evidential marking and explores non-Stalnakerian models of Common Ground.

Eligibility

• Master’s degree in Linguistics or a related field by 01 October 2025.
• Fluency in German and English.
• Experience in experimental and/or corpus work (preferred).

Application

Apply for this project: PhD Position in Linguistics
Deadline: 20 July 2025

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE & APPLY

4. PhD Researcher in Psychology

This PhD position, part of CRC 1718 at the University of Tübingen, is within Project A6, “Developing Common Ground Across Age and Language Proficiency.” It investigates perspective-taking and linguistic abilities in child first language learners (aged 2–6), adult second language learners, and L1 adults, using memory and eye movement studies in collaboration with a linguistics doctoral student.

Eligibility

• Master’s degree in Psychology, Cognitive Science, or Linguistics by 01 October 2025.
• Experience in empirical-experimental research in psychology or psycholinguistics.
• Near-native German proficiency and fluency in English.

Application

Apply for this project: PhD Researcher in Psychology
Deadline: 20 July 2025

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE & APPLY

5. PhD Researcher in Computational Linguistics

This position, within CRC 1718 at the University of Tübingen, is part of Project C2, “Signaling and Interpreting Defectivity in Common Ground.” It examines cues (verbal, prosodic, gestural, textual) for signaling and interpreting irony across communication modalities, involving corpora development, machine learning for irony detection, and data correlation analysis.

Eligibility

• Master’s degree in Computational Linguistics, Computer Science, or related fields.
• Solid background in Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing.
• Experience with corpus collection and annotation.
• Familiarity with experimental design and statistical analysis.
• Fluency in English.
• Familiarity with speech processing or multi-modal machine learning (preferred).
• Knowledge of formal linguistics (semantics and pragmatics) (preferred).

Application

Apply for this project: PhD Researcher in Computational Linguistics
Deadline: 24 July 2025

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE & APPLY