I train as a cognitive neuroscientist studying brain processing of speech and language. I am recently starting a Wellcome ECA Fellowship in Dr Matt Davis’ group, co-sponsored by Dr Davis and Dr Bob Carlyon, and Prof Douglas Hartley (Nottingham BRC). I will combine EEG and high-density functional near infrared spectroscopy/diffuse optical tomography (fNIRS/DOT) to study the underlying brain processes for audiovisual integration during speech comprehension by cochlear implant (CI) recipients.

Previously I have been working with Dr Holly Robson at UCL studying neural speech tracking in post-stroke aphasia, and at Nottingham with Prof Hartley studying inter-brain synchrony (via ‘hyperscanning’) during mother-child interactions in typical hearing and cochlear implanted children. I am still part of both teams overseeing analyses of neuroimaging data from aphasic and CI individuals.

I focus on brain processes of: (1) ‘neural tracking’ (how brain signals align and respond to millisecond-scale acoustic and linguistic features) of continuous speech; (2) functional cortico-cortical connectivity (cross-modal sensory and higher-order cognitive and language-related regions) during speech perception; and (3) inter-brain synchrony (brain-to-brain 'communications') during interpersonal interactions. My fellowship aims to test these processes in adult cochlear implant recipients when they perceive audiovisual speech and how these processes develop over time during CI rehabilitation. My long-term personal aim is to contribute to further understanding of typical and atypical brain processing of speech and testing potentially useful neuroscientific tools and methods that may support vulnerable (hard-of-hearing, aphasic, neurodivergent and neurodegenerative) individuals who are faced with day-to-day speech and communicative challenges.

More information in my personal webpage

.