Departmental Research Opportunities

The department runs a weekly colloquium series. This involves both external and internal speakers who present their latest research. This is a great opportunity for you to be exposed to cutting-edge linguistics research, and you should attend talks regularly, even if they are not directly related to your research area. You can learn a lot about research methods and presentation methods, and develop your knowledge and critical abilities by attending colloquium talks. There are also regular calls for shorter talks from PGR students - if this is something you are interested in you should speak with your supervisor. Each colloquium includes time for questions, followed by a chance to chat with the presenter and other members of the department over drinks at the end. Research students are warmly invited to attend the post-colloquium drinks, as well as the colloquium itself.

If you have a suggestion for a speaker you would like to hear, do let the colloquium coordinator know.

The colloquium coordinator for 2022-23 is Dr Catherine Laing.

The Department organises two presentation days during the year, one in the summer term for taught MA students and research students, and one in the summer vacation for taught MSc students and research students in Forensic Speech Science. Each PhD student is expected to give at least two presentations at these conferences, over the three years of their degree – normally, one as a poster, the other as a short talk (20 minutes, with 10 for discussion). MA by Research students will also normally present a poster but may request permission to give a talk.

Research students in the department have the opportunity to gain experience of organising a national postgraduate linguistics conference called PARLAY (Postgraduate and Academic Researchers in Linguistics at York), which is usually held annually in September. This is also a good venue for you to submit and present a conference paper, whether or not you get involved in organizing the conference. Follow PARLAY on Twitter: @PARLAYConf.

Note that the conference doesn’t run if no-one responds to the call for volunteers to organise it, so do volunteer, if possible, when the call comes.

York Papers in Linguistics (YPL) is an online journal that welcomes submissions by researchers in or connected with the department. This is an excellent place to publish an early paper. You can also gain experience in editing a journal by becoming a member of the editorial team. Submissions are welcome at any time, but calls for papers for the next issue will be sent to you by email via the linguistics_info group (which you will automatically be a member of). Follow YPL on Twitter: @YorkLingPapers.