A picture of Drs Tony Herdman and Sid Fels looking at a cap covered in electrodes on a research assistant.

Research

Research

Three Primary Themes

  1. Language, Sustainability, and Transnationalism 

    • explores the ways in which language shapes and is shaped by interactions between individuals and communities

  2. Communicating Mind and Body 

    • explores the physical and neural foundations of language

  3. Evolving Language in an Information Economy 

    • explores language’s role in information and technology

Five Grand Challenges 

We have articulated five key research challenge areas of focus for interdisciplinary research:

  1. Simulating Languaging Bodies (SLaB)
  2. Mapping Language Acquisition and Decline (MaLAD)
  3. Supporting Community-Engaged Language Survivance (SCELS)
  4. Enhancing Language and Literacy Education (ELLE)
  5. Reimagining Public Discourse (RePD)

Why?

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These include 16 sub-themes that span the interdisciplinary field of language sciences, and cover key questions our members are working to answer. Our aim is to build a global network of scholars, teachers, and learners, who work with community partners to translate knowledge into practical results. Groups involved in language science research are distributed throughout UBC.

Click here to view Research groups.

Need a collaborator? 

Explore this page for Language Sciences-funded projects, research news, and to find a collaborator for your next research project.

Research News

Language Science Collaborations

Title Journal or Funding Program Cluster Researcher(s) Date
Psychology research during the pandemic: The upside of being onlin Royal Society of Canada Task Force on COVID-19, The Globe and Mail Janet Werker, Alona Fyshe
Trolled on the Campaign Trail: Online Incivility and Abuse in Canadian Politics SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant, Language Sciences Initiative, the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions Heidi Tworek, Maite Taboada
Building blocks of language learning formed in infancy, and video chats can help later on Royal Society of Canada Task Force on COVID-19, The Globe and Mail Janet Werker
Democratic Health Communications during Covid-19: A RAPID Response Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, the Institute for European Studies, the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs Heidi Tworek
Centre for Community Engaged Documentation and Research Canada Foundation for Innovation John R. Evans Leaders Fund Daisy Rosenblum

First Nations land acknowledegement

We acknowledge that UBC’s campuses are situated within the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, and in the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples.

UBC Language Sciences

4031 Audain Art Centre
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4
Tel 604 822 7435
E-mail language.sciences@ubc.ca
Website languagesciences.ubc.ca

Research Excellence Clusters at UBC Vancouver is a joint initiative of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver and the Vice-President, Research and Innovation. Funding support for the clusters is provided by Academic Excellence Funds – UBC Vancouver.

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