Research Fellow in Experimental Sociolinguistics: Accent Bias and Domestic Abuse

This fixed-term research position at the University of Southampton’s Department of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics supports the ESRC-funded project ‘Accent Bias and Domestic Abuse Victimisation (ABDAVic)’. Led by Dr Matthew Hunt, the project explores how classed and racialised accents may influence perceptions of domestic abuse victims through two experimental stages: matched guise tests with the general public and trained support workers. The successful candidate will design and implement experiments, create auditory stimuli, analyse data using R/Python, and contribute to project outputs, including lead authorship on at least one publication. The role blends experimental design, statistical analysis, and interdisciplinary collaboration, with optional remote work.

• Design and implement matched guise-style experiments to investigate accent bias in domestic abuse victimisation contexts.
• Create auditory stimuli for experimental testing, including recording and editing in Praat/Audacity.
• Conduct statistical analysis using R or Python, including mixed-effects regression and data visualisation.
• Support data collection with the general public and trained domestic abuse support workers.
• Contribute to conference abstracts, presentations, and journal articles, with lead authorship on at least one publication.
• Collaborate with the project team to disseminate findings through academic and public-facing channels.
• Optionally work remotely with occasional visits to Southampton for meetings or conferences.