Sharynne McLeod

Sharynne McLeod is a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Children’s Voices Centre at Charles Sturt University, Australia. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA), President of the International Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics Association (ICPLA), and former Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Her work focuses on communication rights as fundamental human rights, contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

• Research Leadership: Developed the Multilingual Children’s Speech website with resources in 131 languages and 71-language ICS validation.
• Global Impact: Invited speaker at ASHA conventions and institutions across 25+ countries.
• Scientific Awards: Honors of ASHA, Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, Life Member of Speech Pathology Australia, and Stanford-Elsevier Top 2% Scientist.
• Mentorship: Mentored 174 authors for The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development and supported first-generation PhD researchers to leadership roles.

Research Trends: Her 2025–2022 articles highlight multilingual speech assessment, participatory methodologies, and policy shifts from medical models to functioning and participation frameworks. Key subfields include cross-linguistic transfer, dental-speech interactions, and digital intervention tools.

Scientific Awards:

• Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2021)
• Royal Society of NSW Fellowship (2021)
• Speech Pathology Australia Life Membership (2015)
• Australia’s Top Researcher in Audiology/Speech Pathology (The Australian, 2019)
• Most Productive Researcher Award, Faculty of Arts and Education (2021)

Advising & Collaborations: Mentored 14+ PhD/Master’s researchers globally, including Fulbright and Churchill Fellows. Led the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech and collaborated with 174 authors for The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World.