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Interdisciplinary and Strategic Research

Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics

 

Cambridge Language Sciences

Linguistics

What we do

Cambridge Language Sciences is an Interdisciplinary Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. It aims to strengthen research collaborations and knowledge transfer across disciplines in order to address large-scale multi-disciplinary research challenges relating to language research. It hosts a virtual network which connects researchers from across the university including humanities, social sciences, biological sciences, medicine, computer science, engineering and technology. It also collaborates closely with Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press, and has strong links with other world-leading partners in the field of language sciences. The current Co-Directors of Cambridge Language Sciences are Professor Brechtje Post (Theoretical & Applied Linguistics), Dr Matt Davis (MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit), and Professor Paula Buttery (Computer Science & Technology).

 

Why Language Sciences?

Technological advances such as brain mapping and machine learning mean that applied research in language sciences is increasingly affecting our everyday lives – from the development of search engines and virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa, to biomedical text mining and dementia research. An interdisciplinary approach is well placed to address new research challenges posed by an increasingly multilingual and multicultural society which is shaped by migration and social change.

 

Impact

Key areas of impact for Cambridge Language Sciences related research include education, technology, health and society.

 

  • Education: language teaching, learning & assessment, developmental psychology, literacy, dyslexia, language education & policy – current research is exploring the cognitive and learning advantages of being multilingual, and how to raise learning outcomes in challenging contexts.

 

  • Technology: AI, deep learning, natural language processing, computational analysis of text & data mining – this has had a real-life impact on new technological innovations such as search engines, virtual assistants (e.g. Siri, Amazon Alexa).

 

  • Health: cognitive neuroscience, biomedical text mining, dementia research, autism, deafness – a recent example is our collaboration with the Africa’s Voices foundation where natural language processing of SMS in countries like Somalia and Kenya has been used to inform public health interventions. 

 

  • Society: fake news; migration, multilingual societies; crime and security, e.g. forensic phonetics, intelligence, and democracy ("fake news") – current research through the MEITS (Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies) project is examining the benefits of bilingualism for individuals and society.

 

www.languagesciences.cam.ac.uk

News

Book publication: The New Cambridge History of Russian Literature

4 December 2024

The New Cambridge History of Russian Literature (Cambridge University Press) has been edited by Prof Simon Franklin, Dr Rebecca Reich and Prof Emma Widdis.

Languages, Power and Cultures (Trinity College) and Langevity (Emmanuel College) programmes open for applications

2 December 2024

Applications are open for the Languages, Power and Cultures Programme at Trinity College, aimed at students in their penultimate school year.

Selwyn Sykes Cambridge Masters Studentship in Italian Studies

20 November 2024

Selwyn College will offer two studentships for UK MPhil students in Italian Studies for entry in October 2025.

Doyle Calhoun on archives, literature and anticolonial resistance

18 November 2024

Content Notice: This article contains discussions of colonial violence and suicide. Dr Doyle D. Calhoun teaches and works on a range of topics related to African and Caribbean literatures and cinemas; Senegalese literature and cinema in French and Wolof; the archives and afterlives of French slavery; Négritude; and the...

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