Leverhulme Trust PhD studentship at University of Edinburgh 2026

This three-year Leverhulme Trust-funded PhD studentship (starting in September 2026) will focus on the interaction between input and uptake in primary school-aged Mandarin-speaking monolingual and heritage bilingual children with and without DLD in China and in the UK. The PhD student will be responsible for developing and administering structural priming experiments in Mandarin, as well as for recruiting and testing neurotypical children and children with DLD in the UK and in China, analysing and writing up results.

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirements
• Interview Process
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineJanuary 15, 2026
• Study LevelPhD
• SponsorUniversity of Edinburgh
• City to studyEdinburgh
• School to studyUniversity of Edinburgh
• Eligible CountryAll Countries

Benefits

The successful applicant will receive a scholarship to cover tuition fees as well as a stipend at the UKRI minimum stipend rate (for 2025/2026 this is currently £20,780) for 3 years subject to satisfactory progress. 

Requirements

• The award is open to UK and overseas students applying to start their first year of study for an on-campus PhD in Linguistics and English Language in academic year 2026/2027.
• This award cannot be held concurrently with any other fully- or partially-funded scholarships.
• Applicants who have already obtained a PhD, or formal equivalent, as a result of direct research training will not be considered for this award.
• Applicants must be of outstanding academic merit and research potential. Candidates must have, or expect to obtain, at least a UK 2:1 honours degree or higher at undergraduate level or the international equivalent, or an MSc/MRes in Linguistics and/or Psychology. Other factors such as financial status and/or nationality are not taken into account.
• Applicants require (near) native knowledge of Mandarin and excellent grounding in Mandarin linguistics and experimental methods. 
• If English is not your first language, you will require a valid English certificate equivalent to IELTS 7 overall with a minimum score of minimum score of 6.5 in each of Writing, Listening, Reading and Speaking). 
• Experience with designing structural priming experiments and/or state-of the-art statistical methods using R (generalised mixed-effects models, Bayesian statistical analysis), and/or with testing children will be highly desirable.
• Candidates are expected to start on 1st September 2026.

Selection Process

The Leverhulme Trust project PI and Co-Is will rank eligible applications primarily in terms of the academic quality of the applicant. The five highest ranked applicants will be invited to an interview with the project leads. Interview invitations will be sent out in late January/early February 2026. Applicants will be informed by early March 2026.

Application Deadline

How To Apply

Applicants must submit an application to PPLS PG Enquiries ([email protected]) by Thursday 15th January 2026. The application package must include:

• a personal statement stating reasons for applying for this post, and relevant qualifications that render the applicant suitable for this role,
• a two-page CV,
• official degree certificates (diplomas) and transcripts for undergraduate degree(s) and postgraduate degree(s) if applicable,
• official translations of the certificates and transcripts if not in English,
• two academic references. 

To formally apply for this position, please send your application package to PPLS PG Enquiries ([email protected]) citing the reference number 14291054LT in the message subject. Please ensure that you include this reference number and your surname in all file name extensions attached to your application.

For more details, visit University of Edinburgh Scholarship webpage