Professor Cat Davies' Inaugural Lecture now available to view

LAHRI is delighted to announce that the Inaugural Lecture of Professor Cat Davies (School of Languages, Cultures and Societies) is now available to view on the LAHRI Professorial Inaugural Lectures page on our website. 

In this Lecture titled ‘How many languages do you speak? Contributions of linguistics to psychology, language intervention, covid recovery, and early years education policy', Professor Davies reviews the contribution of linguistics to diverse fields including cognitive and developmental psychology, early years education, speech and language therapy, and its role in reducing socioeconomic inequalities.

Using interdisciplinary approaches, and by attempting to integrate theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and data, She shows how she has sought to bring the clearest and most compelling findings to those who can put them to practical use.

The focus is on two main areas: experimental pragmatics, which has provided many of the methods and techniques for her work; and early language development, which has (among other applications) allowed her to publicly highlight the impact of COVID-19 on the youngest members of society. With thanks to a host of wonderful collaborators, practitioners, mentors, students, and several hundred toddlers and their families, Professor Davies presents some of the highlights and lessons learned from my research career to date.

The Lecure was given on 8 February 2023.