Writing systems and geolinguistics

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Get yourself trained in Ur-writing system(s): for Semitic Babylonian which goes into Aramaic, Hebrew, Geez, eventually Greek and Latin; Sanskrit for Indian languages. Then, there is Chinese. You then might get a good graduate fellowship for your doctorate. Also, your general interest seems to touch on the neurology of reading and writing. The French scholars are into this aspect. Look at "Reading in the Brain" by Stanislaus Dehaene (Viking,2009) with an extensive bibliography. Go study in Paris!

It's kind of a roundabout way, but one place to look is the journal "Writing Systems Research":

http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/pwsr20

You could look at the editorial board and see what universities they're at. As editors for the journal, they are likely to be especially knowledgeable about the field. You could also do the same for the various researchers who have submitted work to the journal. In fact, if you search the journal for a few terms, perhaps you can find some researchers who have worked on topics that you are also interested in, then track down where they are at.

Good luck!