Spoken Language Processing Professors and Supervisors

Marta Urszula Chyb-WinnickaView profile

Assistant Professor

Opole UniversityPoland

Marta Urszula Chyb-Winnicka is an Assistant Professor at the University of Opole, working at the Institute of Polish Language and Culture Studies. She holds a doctorate obtained in 2021 and specializes in linguistics, with a particular focus on Polish language didactics both as a native and foreign language. Her research interests primarily revolve around effective listening skills development in language education. Key areas include: Diagnosis and prophylaxis of effective listening in Polish as a native language Active listening skills development in multilingual educational environments Textual mediation in teaching Polish as a second language Development of interactive skills through listening activities Listening comprehension in primary and secondary education Dr. Chyb-Winnicka has published extensively on these topics, with a monograph titled "Effective listening in Polish as a native language – diagnosis and prophylaxis" (2024) being one of her major contributions. Her research shows a consistent focus on practical applications of listening skills in educational settings, with particular attention to diagnostic methods and teaching techniques that enhance students' auditory perception abilities. She has analyzed numerous textbooks and curricula to understand how listening skills are developed across different educational stages. Her scientific achievements include 18 publications and a ministerial score of 571, though her h-index remains at 0 according to both Scopus and Web of Science citations. This may reflect the relatively recent completion of her doctorate in 2021 and the specialized nature of her research within the Polish academic context. Dr. Chyb-Winnicka actively contributes to the field through empirical research involving primary school students, with studies examining listening skills in fourth graders and eighth graders. Her work bridges theoretical linguistics with practical language teaching methodologies, making significant contributions to Polish language education pedagogy.

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Félix San VicenteView profile

Professor

University of BergamoItaly

Félix San Vicente serves as Professor of Spanish Linguistics at the University of Bologna's Forlì campus and directs CLIRO (Centro Linguistico dei Poli Scientifici-Didattici della Romagna), the Language Centre for Science and Education Campuses of Romagna. His academic position centers on Spanish language studies with institutional leadership in language resource development. San Vicente's primary research focuses on synchronic and diachronic Spanish lexicography, Spanish-Italian contrastive grammar, and language for specific purposes across political communication, social sciences, and artistic-cultural domains. He has extensively investigated new technologies in distance language learning, developing e-learning applications for Spanish as a second language. His work bridges theoretical linguistics with practical pedagogical applications, particularly in bilingual lexicography and grammatical description. Analysis of his recent publications reveals consistent emphasis on historical lexicography, grammatical description, and contrastive studies between Spanish and Italian. His work demonstrates methodological integration of historiographical approaches with contemporary language analysis, particularly regarding dictionary compilation and grammatical norms. Significant patterns include examination of 16th-18th century grammatical traditions and modern applications in language teaching. No scientific awards were documented in the source materials. Regarding academic advising and research funding, the available information does not specify doctoral students, major grants, or sponsored research projects. As CLIRO director, San Vicente leads institutional language services across Romagna campuses, overseeing initiatives in language certification, curriculum development, and digital learning resources that support both academic and professional language development for students and faculty.

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Vitoria PiaiView profile

Research Professor

Max Planck Institute for PsycholinguisticsNetherlands

Vitoria Piai is a Principal Investigator specializing in language function and dysfunction at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands. With over 135 publications and 2,595 citations, her research focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying language production using electrophysiological methods including EEG and MEG. Dr. Piai's research interests center on speech production, particularly examining the temporal dynamics of lexical and phonological processing. Her work investigates how brain oscillations relate to different stages of speech planning, how cognitive control mechanisms operate during language production, and how language networks adapt following brain damage. She employs various paradigms including picture-word interference, context-driven word production, and sentence comprehension tasks to explore these questions. Analysis of her recent publications (2024-2025) reveals consistent focus on neural oscillations during speech production, particularly examining alpha and beta band activity. Her work increasingly bridges cognitive neuroscience with clinical applications, investigating language production in aging populations, individuals with aphasia, and those with neurological conditions. She frequently employs multimodal approaches, combining behavioral measures with electrophysiological recordings to provide comprehensive insights into language processing. Dr. Piai has established significant research collaborations across institutions, particularly with colleagues at Radboud University, University of California Berkeley (where she completed postdoctoral work), and various clinical centers. Her work contributes to both theoretical understanding of language production mechanisms and practical applications for language assessment and rehabilitation.

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Sebastian HoffmannView profile

Professor

University of TrierGermany

Sebastian Hoffmann is a distinguished academic affiliated with the University of Trier , where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Languages, Literatures and Media Studies from 2017 to 2023. He has held significant roles, including Visiting Professor at the University of Tampere (2014–2017) and Lecturer in English Linguistics at Lancaster University (2006–2009). His expertise lies in Corpus Linguistics , with a focus on World Englishes , Syntactic Change , and Corpus Methodology . He co-developed BNCweb , a widely used web interface for the British National Corpus. PhD from the University of Zurich His research explores usage-based approaches to language study, including syntactic evolution , phonological patterns (e.g., intrusive /r/), tag questions , and verb complementation . Recent work highlights the role of Internet-derived data in corpus linguistics and the fixedness of collocations . His publications span Corpus Methodology , Historical Linguistics , and Phraseology , with key works such as Corpora and Lexis (2018) and Grammaticalization and English Complex Prepositions (2005). He has contributed extensively to journals like the International Journal of Corpus Linguistics and Journal of English Linguistics . Hoffmann has been recognized for leadership in professional organizations, including Chair of ICAME (2017–2023) and Vice-President for the Profession of the International Society for the Linguistics of English (2018–2023). He teaches courses such as The History of the English Language and Transcribing and Analyzing Spoken Language .

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Mairead MacSweeneyView profile

Professor

University College LondonUnited Kingdom

Professor Mairead MacSweeney is a leading cognitive neuroscientist at University College London's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, where she serves as Deputy Director. She was previously the Director of the UCL Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL) from 2017-2023 and currently holds a prestigious Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship (2022-2028). Her work bridges the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience with the DCAL research center, contributing significantly to UCL's reputation in neuroscience and deaf studies. Her educational background includes a Doctor of Philosophy from University College London (1998) and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle (1993). Her academic career trajectory shows progressive responsibility, starting as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UCL in 1998, then advancing through various Wellcome-funded fellowships before reaching her current professorship. MacSweeney's research fundamentally explores how the brain processes language in people born profoundly deaf, examining how altered sensory experiences shape neural organization. Her work demonstrates that 'auditory' brain regions can process visual input when hearing is absent from birth, and that signed and spoken languages engage similar neural networks. This research has significant theoretical implications for understanding brain plasticity and practical applications for deaf education. Her methodology combines functional MRI (fMRI), behavioral analysis, and electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate language, literacy, and cognitive processing in deaf populations. Her recent publications reveal a consistent focus on language processing in deaf individuals, with increasing attention to developmental trajectories from infancy through adulthood. The research shows interdisciplinary connections between cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, developmental psychology, and education, with particular emphasis on bimodal bilingualism (spoken language plus sign language), cross-modal plasticity, and the neural basis of reading in deaf populations. Her work increasingly incorporates longitudinal designs and comparative approaches between deaf and hearing populations. Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow (2022-2028) Professor MacSweeney actively supervises undergraduate and MSc research projects and teaches across multiple Masters-level courses in the Faculty of Brain Sciences and Faculty of Population Health Sciences. Her research program is substantially supported by Wellcome Trust funding, indicating major institutional investment in her work on sensory and language experience effects on neural systems. She has secured continuous research funding through multiple competitive Wellcome fellowships since 2001, demonstrating sustained research excellence. MacSweeney leads research within the Visual Communication research group at the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and has been central to DCAL's research activities. Her work connects with broader initiatives studying British Sign Language and deaf cognition, contributing to DCAL's mission of conducting world-class research to empower deaf people. She collaborates with researchers across UCL departments including Linguistics, Experimental Psychology, and Language and Cognition, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of her work.

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Kate RowleyView profile

Lecturer

University College LondonUnited Kingdom

Dr. Kate Rowley is a Lecturer in Deafness, Cognition & Language at University College London (UCL), where she also serves as deputy director of the UCL Deafness, Cognition & Language Research Centre (DCAL) since February 2023. A Deaf researcher raised in a deaf family in Cornwall, Dr. Rowley brings both personal and professional expertise to her work, maintaining active involvement in the deaf community. Her research and teaching focus primarily on language and literacy development of deaf children, with strong advocacy for bilingual education approaches that recognize both sign language and written/spoken language as essential components. Dr. Rowley's educational background includes: Bachelor of Science in Deaf Studies from University of Bristol (2004) Master of Arts in Linguistics from University College London (2006) Master of Science in Psychology Research from University College London (completed with merit) PhD in Experimental Psychology from University College London (2018), with thesis titled 'Visual Word Recognition in Deaf Readers: the interplay between orthographic, semantic & phonological information' Her research spans language acquisition and literacy development among deaf children, examining how deaf children learn and process British Sign Language (BSL) and English. Dr. Rowley has conducted significant research on language attitudes within the British Deaf community, regional variations in BSL, and the impact of external factors like face masks on deaf communication. Her work consistently bridges theoretical psycholinguistics with practical applications for deaf education. Dr. Rowley's publication record demonstrates sustained focus on deaf language development across multiple dimensions, integrating experimental methods with community-based research to ensure practical relevance. Her recent work shows increasing attention to language attitudes, sign language variation, and the social dimensions of deaf communication alongside her foundational work on reading processes in deaf individuals. Dr. Rowley has secured significant research funding, including leading the ESRC project 'Language Comprehension in Deaf Children' (2021-2024), which collected data from 200 deaf people across the UK. She is also collaborating as co-investigator on another ESRC project 'Understanding Variation in Reading Progress in Deaf Children' (commencing April 2024). She provides consultancy services through Language Wise Consultancy and develops language modules for professionals working with deaf children. As an active community member, Dr. Rowley serves as governor for Hamilton Lodge (a deaf school in Brighton), maintains strong relationships with deaf schools in Southeast England, and regularly delivers training on sign language acquisition, cognitive development, and literacy intervention strategies. She is on the editorial board of First Language journal and serves as trustee for several deaf community organizations.

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Eva Gutierrez-SigutView profile

Senior Lecturer

University of EssexUnited Kingdom

Dr. Eva Gutierrez-Sigut is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex, where she has been employed since July 2019. Her academic journey includes a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of La Laguna (Spain), followed by postdoctoral research at the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California Davis, a research fellowship at the UCL Deafness, Cognition and Language research centre, and an independent research fellowship at the University of Valencia. Her research primarily focuses on how atypical language development due to early onset deafness impacts language and reading skills at both behavioral and neuropsychological levels. She investigates how deaf individuals process language and reading, with particular interest in phonological and semantic properties of language and their influence on reading attainment in deaf people. Her work explores the connections between visual-orthographic and semantic levels of language processing, which appear to have a stronger influence than phonological processing on deaf people's reading ability. Analysis of her recent publications reveals consistent themes across cognitive neuroscience, psycholinguistics, and deaf studies. Her research demonstrates that deaf readers automatically access phonological information but that this doesn't necessarily contribute to reading comprehension attainment. She has also shown that skilled deaf readers have stronger connections between orthographic and lexical-semantic processing levels. Her work on sign language processing indicates that deaf signers process both phonological and semantic information using similar—but not identical—mechanisms as hearing people. 2020: British Academy grant for 'COVID-19 and reduced access to communication: the challenges experienced by deaf people' Dr. Gutierrez-Sigut currently supervises at least one PhD student, Max James Handley. Her teaching responsibilities include Cognitive Psychology and Economics (EC956), Thinking and the Mind (PS104), Applied Psychology (PS118), Cognitive Psychology (PS425), MSc Psychology Research Project (PS900), Neurocognition of Human Interaction (PS935), and Advanced Cognitive Psychology (PS952). Her research has important implications for developing tools to identify deaf children who struggle with literacy and for creating training programs for deaf readers.

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Gabriella ViglioccoView profile

Professor

University College LondonUnited Kingdom

Gabriella Vigliocco is a Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at University College London, where she conducts research at the intersection of cognitive science, linguistics, and neuroscience. Her work focuses on psychological and neural mechanisms of human language use, with particular emphasis on how conceptual and linguistic information are integrated. Her educational background includes: Doctor of Philosophy from Universita degli Studi di Trieste (1995) Bachelor of Science from Universita degli Studi di Trieste (1990) Vigliocco's research spans cognitive and computational psychology, linguistics, neurosciences, applied and developmental psychology, biological psychology, and social and personality psychology. Her laboratory has made significant contributions including development of a theoretical framework for sentence production and explicit computational models of lexical semantic representation informed by cognitive science and neuroscience. Current research projects address the relationship between language and thought in spoken and signed languages, and the representation of abstract knowledge. Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong focus on multimodal language processing, ecological approaches to cognition, and the integration of linguistic and conceptual information. Her work frequently examines how gesture and speech interact in communication, with particular attention to developmental contexts and language disorders. The research demonstrates interdisciplinary collaboration across psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, and computational modeling. Vigliocco leads the Doctoral Programme for the Ecological Study of the Brain at UCL since October 2018, mentoring the next generation of researchers in this emerging field. Her laboratory maintains active research in language processing, conceptual representation, and multimodal communication, with numerous publications spanning top journals in psychology, linguistics, and cognitive science.

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Merle MahonView profile

Associate Professor

University College LondonUnited Kingdom

Dr. Merle Mahon is an Associate Professor in the Language & Cognition department within the Division of Psychology and Language Science at University College London. She also serves as the DMEC Chair for the ImPACT Trial at the University of Nottingham starting July 2025. Her academic career spans several decades with continuous contributions to deaf education and language development research. Her educational background includes a PhD from University College London (1998), a BA (Hons) from the University of South Africa, Pretoria (1978), and a BA from the University of the Witwatersrand (1972). She holds professional certifications including Stage I Communication Skills with Deaf People (1985) and a Certificate of Advanced Clinical Studies in Speech Therapy for Deaf People. Dr. Mahon's research program focuses on deaf children's spoken language development, the role of gesture in language acquisition, and bi/multilingualism, particularly examining how children learn spoken English when it's an additional language at home. She employs both qualitative and quantitative methods including Conversation Analysis, questionnaire techniques, and experimental designs, with significant emphasis on longitudinal video data collection and analysis. Her publication record reveals consistent research productivity with 61 outputs, including numerous high-impact studies published in leading journals. Her work demonstrates strong thematic continuity in deaf education, cochlear implant outcomes, and language development, with recent expansion into virtual reality rehabilitation approaches through the BEARS project and international comparative studies in Chile. Member of UCL Academic Board and Research Degrees Committee (since 2023) Departmental Graduate Tutor at UCL (since 2016) Member of Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism CeLM, Reading University (since 2013) Associate Member of British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (since 2012) Founding member of Consortium for Research in Deaf Education (CRIDE) (since 2007) Editorial board member for Deafness and Education International (since 2005) Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (since 1977) As Departmental Graduate Tutor, Dr. Mahon supervises PhD students including Mario Bustos (with Dr. Fiona Kyle) and Disa Witkowska (with Prof. Courtenay Norbury). She currently leads the multi-centre BEARS study funded by the NIHR, examining outcomes for deaf children and teenagers who use bilateral cochlear implants. Her collaborative network spans institutions including Cambridge University, Imperial College London, and Guys and St Thomas' Hospitals Trust.

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Jim MagnusonView profile

Professor

University of ConnecticutUnited States

Jim Magnuson is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Connecticut, affiliated with the Language & Cognition PhD program within the Perception-Action-Cognition division. He concurrently serves as Group Leader and head of the Computational Neuroscience group at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, & Language (BCBL) in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain, holding an Ikerbasque Research Professor position through the Basque Science Foundation. His educational background includes an AB in Linguistics from the University of Chicago (1993) and a PhD in Brain & Cognitive Sciences from the University of Rochester (2001), completed under advisors Mike Tanenhaus and Dick Aslin. Research spans neurobiological and cognitive mechanisms of language, emphasizing speech perception, word/sentence processing, developmental/acquired disorders, and lifespan language plasticity through computational modeling and interdisciplinary collaboration. His work integrates cognitive, neural, and genetic perspectives to build comprehensive theoretical frameworks. As principal investigator, he leads the CCNLL initiative and an NSF-funded Research-Traineeship program (Science of Learning & Art of Communication), while co-directing the Cognitive Science Shared Electrophysiology Resource Lab (CSSERL).

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Urs MaurerView profile

Associate Professor

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)Hong Kong SAR

Urs Maurer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His office is located in Room 325, Sino Building. With a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich, Professor Maurer specializes in cognitive and neural aspects of language processing, with particular expertise in reading development and dyslexia. Education: Ph.D., University of Zurich Professor Maurer's research focuses on cognitive and neural aspects of spoken and written language processing, with special emphasis on reading acquisition, dyslexia, and second language learning. His work aims to use neural markers of language processing to inform screening and intervention practices for dyslexia. His methodology combines behavioral approaches with functional neuroimaging techniques, particularly EEG and fMRI, and he has pioneered work on combining EEG with eye tracking data for more comprehensive analysis of language processing. Analysis of Professor Maurer's recent publications (2021-2025) reveals a consistent focus on neural mechanisms underlying reading and language processing, with particular attention to dyslexia in Chinese-speaking populations. His work spans multiple methodologies including ERP studies, EEG-fMRI integration, and meta-analyses of reading interventions. A notable trend is his increasing focus on Chinese language processing, reflecting both the local context of his research at CUHK and the linguistic uniqueness of Chinese as a logographic writing system. Professor Maurer teaches PSYC2350 (Memory and Cognition) and PSYC5140 (Cognitive Psychology) across multiple academic years (2021-2025). His research appears to be conducted through the Cognitive Neuroscience of Language Laboratory, as indicated in the university's research infrastructure.

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Konstantin SeringView profile

Researcher

University of TübingenGermany

Konstantin Sering is a researcher at the University of Tübingen within the Faculty of Philosophy, specifically working at the Seminar for Linguistics as part of the Quantitative Linguistics group. His academic journey bridges physics and psychology with computational linguistics, culminating in his 2023 PhD thesis on the PAULE (Predictive Articulatory speech synthesis Utilizing Lexical Embeddings) model. He maintains active collaborations with the Cognitive Modeling Group led by Martin V. Butz and the Quantitative Linguistics Group led by Harald Baayen. Sering's research interests center on the computational modeling of human speech production, with particular focus on the articulatory aspects of language. He approaches spoken language from the perspective of computer-aided modeling and simulation, extending the VocalTractLab model to produce spontaneous human speech. His work emphasizes the information-bearing nature of language over its meaning-bearing aspects, investigating how language signals contextual states and conditions. He combines artificial neural networks with predictive forward approaches to model vocal tract control parameters across multiple target spaces, including meaning and acoustic representations. Analysis of Sering's publication record reveals a consistent trajectory in articulatory speech synthesis and quantitative linguistics. His work demonstrates increasing sophistication in modeling the human speech apparatus, with recent publications focusing on improving the PAULE model through speech/non-speech classification, somatosensory feedback integration, and benchmarking methodologies. His research spans both theoretical computational linguistics and practical applications, with strong connections to cognitive science and psycholinguistics. The publications show interdisciplinary collaboration across linguistics, computer science, and cognitive psychology. Sering actively contributes to the academic community through teaching and software development. He has taught courses including Introduction to Psycholinguistics, Physics of Human Speech Production, and seminars on Predictive Articulatory Speech Synthesis. As software author and maintainer, he has developed several important tools for the field: Articubench (an articulatory speech synthesis benchmark), PAULE (his namesake speech synthesis model), create_vtl_corpus, and contributions to pyndl and other packages. His technical expertise spans Python, R, and specialized instrumentation for speech analysis. Based in room 188 at Keplerstr. 2 in Tübingen, Sering maintains an active research program with regular publications and software releases since 2013. His work environment benefits from the resources of the University of Tübingen's linguistics infrastructure and collaborative opportunities across disciplines.

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