Juliana Gerard

Dr. Juliana Gerard is a Lecturer in Linguistics at Ulster University's School of Communication and Media, Belfast campus. She specializes in language acquisition and processing in children and adults, with research focusing on syntactic development and interactions between language and cognitive processes like memory and inhibitory control. Gerard holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Maryland and joined Ulster University in 2016.

Her research interests span first language acquisition, bilingual language development, syntactic dependencies, and applications of artificial intelligence in educational contexts. She established the Ulster Child Studies Consortium and collaborates with the Ulster Centre on Multilingualism (UCoM) on language development research.

Gerard's publications demonstrate consistent focus on experimental approaches to language acquisition, with recent expansion into AI applications in education. Her work frequently examines how task design and cognitive constraints influence language development outcomes.

Scientific Awards:

• Research Impact Fund (2024-2025)
• International Science Partnerships Fund (2024)
• AHRC Impact Acceleration Account (2023-2024)
• NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (2016-2017)
• Multiple presentation awards at UMD Graduate Research Appreciation Day

Research Leadership: Gerard leads the Language and Memory Research Lab and supervises multiple PhD students working on language acquisition, bilingualism, and syntactic theory. She has secured significant research funding for projects on child development and AI in education.