PhD Positions
Sixteen PhD positions are available in the combined Marie Sklodowska-Curie-UKRI Doctoral Network “SCALA – Spatial Communication and Ageing across Languages”. SCALA will i) identify, catalogue, and understand the causal origins of spatial communication differences in the later lifespan across speakers of different languages and across varying spatial environments, and ii) develop technological systems for spatial communication that have the potential to improve quality of life for older adults. SCALA embraces a consortium of high-profile universities, research institutions and companies located in Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark and Norway.
Doctoral candidates (DCs) will benefit from an excellent training programme, built on innovative PhD training skills approaches, with a unique coaching programme for a tailored individual skills development plan, peer-support, and student-centred cohort activities, conjoined with a strong transferable skills programme for continuous professional development. Internationally leading experts will deliver the training, using blended learning approaches, maximising available technologies to enhance training where optimal to reduce the carbon footprint. Synergies between the academic and non-academic partners and associated partners will provide a unique training opportunity, with enhanced employability prospects for DCs in both the academic and non-academic sectors.
See more information about the 16 different topics below. For more information about how to apply, please visit the recruitment page.
Describing object location in typical ageing (DC13)
This project focuses on spatial communication and typical ageing using a combination of linguistic and experimental approaches to spatial language. It will systematically test demonstrative and adposition comprehension and production to chart for the first time how spatial language changes across the later part of the lifespan and across spatial scales (e.g., table-top space to geographical space). It will also collect data on established and novel linguistic and non-linguistic measures to assess the predictors of spatial language understanding in ageing.
Motion encoding in typical ageing (DC1)
This project will map out developmental trajectories in the comprehension and production of biological motion terms and track their processing and use in ageing. It will build on experimental designs with the use of eye-tracking and fNIRS and will include correlations with non-verbal spatial cognition and processing. One goal will be to examine the relationship between acquisition of spatial terms in childhood and decline in spatial language in later life.
Spatial communication in sign languages in typical ageing (DC2)
This project will consider spatial communication in Sign Languages across the later lifespan using a combination of linguistic and experimental approaches, focusing on arbitrary (referential or syntactic) space and motivated (topographic or surrogate) space, involving mapping of locations of concrete referents onto the signing space. This project will systematically test Topological Space, Pronominalization, and Spatial Verbs in Italian Sign Language comprehension and production in order to chart for the first time how spatial language changes across the lifespan. Data will also be collected on a range of linguistic and non-linguistic measures to assess predictors of spatial language performance in Sign Languages in older adults.
Understanding the relative importance of pointing, eye gaze and language in object reference in spoken and sign languages in older adults (DC3)
This project will consider the relative importance of gesture, gaze and language in directing the attention of a conspecific to objects in the environment, with a focus on comparing hearing and deaf people with or without proficiency in sign language: hearing signer and non-signers and deaf signers and non-signers (deaf people with cochlear implants) on spatial reference understanding as a function of these various deictic cues. There is preliminary work suggesting that verbal means of directing attention to regions of space (e.g. demonstratives) are less effective than pointing and eye gaze, with pointing the most decisive factor. However, nothing is known about the relative importance of these modalities in the context of auditory loss and use or not of a sign language. This project will examine the relative role of these “deictic pointers” in people varying in their auditory status and in their gestural, verbal and signed language production and comprehension capabilities.
Egocentric spatial language across ages and generations (DC4)
This project investigates egocentric and allocentric strategies of spatial description from a cross-linguistic perspective. Using methods from corpus and computational linguistics, the project will examine how different types of spatial expressions are used and organized in a variety of languages and how they develop from early childhood to old age. The doctoral candidate must have a solid background in corpus- and/or computational linguistics and should be familiar with advanced statistical methods. The ideal candidate will also have a background in psycholinguistics and/or linguistic typology and some experience with experimental methods.
The neural correlates of spatial communication in typical and atypical ageing (DC5)
This project investigates how the neural underpinnings of spatial language across different spatial scales are modulated by ageing. Structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used to test if brain regions known to be involved in linguistic and non-linguistic spatial processing are structurally and functionally different across groups of young adults, middle aged and both typical and atypical older adult populations.
DC5 & DC8 investigate how the neural and behavioral underpinnings of spatial language and mental body maps are modulated by ageing and how these effects are distributed. Structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in combination with magnetoencephalograpy (MEG) is used to map the structural and functional variability of brain regions known to be involved in linguistic and non-linguistic spatial processing. MR is used to map the spatial processing variability while MEG is used to map the temporal processing variability, thus providing a map of the distribution of ageing effects in the neural and behavioral underpinnings of spatial communication and their underlying conscious and nonconscious body maps.
The two PhDs will collaborate throughout, but PhD1 will have a focus on the normal ageing brain while PhD2 will have a focus on Parkinson’s disease (PD), a brain disease characterized by rigidity and slowness of movements, likely affecting spatial processing and body maps.
Applicants are automatically considered for both positions. In their application, applicants are asked to provide a plan for two experiments, one conducted on a normal ageing sample and one on a PD sample. One experiment should use neuroimaging (MR/fMRI/MEG), and one should be a behavioral/introspective report study. For more information, please contact Mikkel Wallentin (mikkel@cc.au.dk) and/or Andreas Højlund (hojlund@cc.au.dk).
Spatial communication, orientation and memory in people at-genetic-risk of dementia (DC14)
This project will consider spatial communication in an atypical ageing population using a combination of spatial language, orientation and memory paradigms. Specifically, we will test people at-genetic-risk of dementia via the APOE genotype. APOE is the most common risk factor for dementia, with around 20% of the population carrying this at-risk gene. At the same time, spatial disorientation is a key diagnostic factor for dementia, hence investigating spatial communication, orientation and memory changes in this population will elucidate how “at-genetic-risk” affects these processes. We have previously shown that spatial orientation is affected in APOE carriers but this is currently not established for spatial communication.
Describing object location in atypical ageing (DC6)
This project will consider spatial communication in atypical ageing and disease. Visuospatial abilities are, besides memory, among the first cognitive functions to decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, which is by far the most common cause of dementia among older adults. Similarly, visuospatial deficits are key features of autoimmune limbic encephalitis, a rare disease primarily affecting older adults. It is hypothesised that communicative abilities referring to spatial aspects diminish in both patient populations compared to controls and other causes of dementia such as frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Spatial functions will be measured by visuoconstructional and perceptual tasks and tests of apraxia and placed in relation to performance in language tasks and tests of social cognition and executive function.
Spatial communication and sensory loss in ageing (DC15)
Late blindness is one of the most common forms of sensory loss in ageing. This project will investigate spatial communication across spatial scales in late blindness for the first time. Using novel tactile versions of spatial language tasks, sighted, blindfolded sighted and late blind older adults will be compared on tasks across spatial scales to understand the impact of sensory loss on spatial communication. Verbal and visuo-spatial skills will also be tapped. This project will be in collaboration with (associated partner) MIPsoft, which produces BlindSquare, the leading navigation aid for the visually impaired used by over 60,000 people in 185 countries.
Spatial communication in older adults with ASD (DC7)
This project will examine spatial language abilities in intellectually high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorder in the latter half of the lifespan. There is very little work that has examined spatial communication abilities in people with high functioning autism. A recent study has presented the first comprehensive evidence that spatial naming abilities in children and young adults with ASD show selective difficulties in the production and comprehension of spatial terms in high-functioning ASD relative to typically developing controls, with the intensity of ASD traits predicting spatial communication performance. However, the vast majority of work on autism as a whole is in the early part of the lifespan, and no studies to date have examined spatial communication in older adults with ASD. This is critical, as it has been shown that there is a decline in spatial naming in typical development in older adults, precipitating the need to examine the severity of this decline in a population where there are already spatial communication deficits earlier in development.
The effect of changes in the mental body map due to ageing, disease and context on spatial communication (DC8)
This project investigates how the conscious and non-conscious mental representation of peripersonal space (the space within reach) is affected by normal ageing or Parkinson’s disease, a brain disease characterised by rigidity and slowness of movements. Both ageing and Parkinson’s disease are accompanied by a reduction in bodily function, affecting physical reach, which likely changes the mental body map and its relation to spatial communication. In a series of experiments, we will investigate the shape of the mental body map, as measured by a combination of introspective reports and behavioural responses, and how this map is affected by physical (approaching/avoiding), social (e.g., helping/competing) and communicative (e.g., informing/directing) interactions and how normal ageing and Parkinson’s disease affect those interactions. Moreover, we will tap the relationship between the body map and spatial communication (e.g., spatial demonstratives) via these populations.
DC5 & DC8 investigate how the neural and behavioral underpinnings of spatial language and mental body maps are modulated by ageing and how these effects are distributed. Structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in combination with magnetoencephalograpy (MEG) is used to map the structural and functional variability of brain regions known to be involved in linguistic and non-linguistic spatial processing. MR is used to map the spatial processing variability while MEG is used to map the temporal processing variability, thus providing a map of the distribution of ageing effects in the neural and behavioral underpinnings of spatial communication and their underlying conscious and nonconscious body maps.
The two PhDs will collaborate throughout, but PhD1 will have a focus on the normal ageing brain while PhD2 will have a focus on Parkinson’s disease (PD), a brain disease characterized by rigidity and slowness of movements, likely affecting spatial processing and body maps.
Applicants are automatically considered for both positions. In their application, applicants are asked to provide a plan for two experiments, one conducted on a normal ageing sample and one on a PD sample. One experiment should use neuroimaging (MR/fMRI/MEG), and one should be a behavioral/introspective report study. For more information, please contact Mikkel Wallentin (mikkel@cc.au.dk) and/or Andreas Højlund (hojlund@cc.au.dk).
Embodied cognitive robotics modelling of spatial cognition development and ageing (DC16)
This project will develop a cognitive robotic model of spatial cognition and spatial language, investigating the role of embodied factors (e.g., representation of space/body) and contextual factors (e.g., geometric/functional properties of objects) in the development and ageing of spatial knowledge and skills. The modelling methodology of developmental robotics and grounded cognition will simulate the development and grounding of spatial cognition/language in humanoid robots capable of spatial communication with human users, and especially older adults. The robot’s control architecture will be based on a neural network cognitive architecture, trained on object location manipulation and description tasks. The modelling approach will manipulate the role of embodied factors in spatial cognition, with a focus on effects of ageing (e.g., lesioning studies) in the robot’s neuro-cognitive system.
Adaptive behavioural models of robotic systems based on brain-inspired AI cognitive architectures (DC9)
This project will develop adaptive behavioural models of robotic systems based on brain-inspired AI cognitive architectures to enhance spatial communication capabilities in robots to interact with humans with different cognitive and motor capabilities. Moreover, a geriatric model of the motor-cognitive condition of humans based on features and patterns extrapolated during the spatial communication will be developed, enabling the possibility to classify and rank different stages of motor-cognitive decline.
Spatial communication in mixed reality across the lifespan (DC10)
This project will investigate how spatial communication in mixed reality (MR) varies across the lifespan. Comparison and elicitation studies will set the foundation for gaining an understanding of how spatial language use varies across ages, genders and different types of MR (augmented reality, virtual reality, augmented virtuality). The outcomes of this study will provide a first complete picture of spatial language use in such settings and will afford the development of effective means of interaction with/through MR settings. The DC will employ a human-centred design approach to design, implement and evaluate verbal interfaces (e.g., voice overs, voice annotations, cross-modal cueing) for MR settings that enable and facilitate effective interaction and communication for users of different age groups and gender.
Verbal navigation support for bicyclists of different ages (DC11)
This project will identify and characterise complex navigational scenarios for bicyclists (e.g., roundabouts, multiple crossings, shared areas for pedestrians and bicyclists) and use a human-centered design approach to develop verbal mechanisms and interfaces to effectively communicate directions for bicyclists across ages and genders, focusing on older adults. The DC will evaluate the developed mechanisms and interfaces through questionnaires, field studies and controlled user studies. The route planning and navigation app “Naviki”, operated by beemo and widely used throughout Europe, with its high number and broad age spectrum of active users, offers opportunities for significant in-the-wild studies and split-run tests. This will result in a descriptive model, linking environmental properties, for an effective, attractive and fully comprehensible provision of verbal navigation for cycling that makes cycling even more attractive and thus contributes to the transport transition. The studies will contribute to the overarching goal of increasing bicycle-usage among different age groups for all travel purposes. Application scenarios (e.g. navigation, urban planning) will be shared with other DC projects.
Spatial communication in virtual and physical excursions (DC12)
This project will investigate how spatial communication in virtual and physical excursions varies across the lifespan. Excursions or site visits play an important role in domains such as education and research. They frequently require a deep engagement with specific objects on site, e.g. plant species, and ways to precisely refer to their spatial location and properties. Through a series of comparison studies, this project will systematically investigate how spatial language use varies across ages, gender and between a virtual setting and a physical setting when participating in an excursion. For the virtual excursion, we will use the Immersive Video Environment while also contrasting interaction with virtual and physical objects in this setting. This will provide first insights into the specific impact of interacting in virtual reality vs. in physical reality on spatial communication, and how this is affected by age and gender.