Event Details

The Multilingual North: Challenges and Opportunities brings together the multilingualism research community from across the N8 Research Partnership.

This event constitutes the 2026 edition of the Northern SLA Round Table, following the inaugural meeting hosted in Leeds in 2024 (organised by Clare Wright, Linguistics, with Monika Schmid, University of York) and the second edition, also held in Leeds in 2025 (organised by Clare Wright, Linguistics, with Tom Hammond, Education, University of Leeds).

The event brings together researchers from across the N8 Research Partnership working on multilingualism, language learning, education, and cognition. Organised by the Multilingualism and Cognition Research Group at Lancaster University, it combines invited research talks and professional development activities, and features plenary lectures by Dr. Angela de Bruin (University of York) and Prof. Vicki Chondrogianni(University of Edinburgh).

Date & venue: Thursday, 21 May 2026 | 10:00–16:00 | Management School, Lecture Theatre 3 (LT3), Lancaster University. The venue can be easily located using MazeMap.

North-SLA program:

• Registration: 10:00–10:30
• Plenary 1: 10:30–11:30 - Angela de Bruin, "The influence of context on multilingual language production"
• Poster session for PhDs and Postdocs & Lunch: 11:30–13:00
• PhD & Postdoc seminars:
• Session 1 (13:00-14:00): Early career funding opportunities
• Session 2 (14:00-15:00): Publishing
• North-SLA round table discussion (senior members): 13:00–15:00
• Plenary 2: 15:00–16:00 - Vicky Chondrogianni, "Insights into heritage language development and processing from child heritage speakers of Greek"

Day 2: Optional EEG Workshop (22 May, 2026 | 10:00-16:00)

On day 2, an optional EEG workshop (22 May) will take place, led by Dr. Katherine Jean Sendek (UiT The Arctic University of Norway). This session will cover core EEG concepts before moving quickly to Aperiodic Activity as a Measure of Brain Connectivity. Aperiodic activity is a rapidly emerging and highly informative component of the EEG signal that has traditionally been treated as noise. Over the past decade, the 1/f (aperiodic) structure of EEG signals has gained prominence as a powerful indicator of brain connectivity, signal coherence, and individual differences, with applications to cognition, language processing, bilingualism, cognitive ageing, and susceptibility to disordered cognition.

The EEG workshop will conclude with a session on equity and inclusivity in neuroimaging methods, including a panel discussion led by Dr. Carly Anderson (Lecturer in Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Lancaster University) and Dwaynica Greaves (PhD Candidate, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London) focusing on: Reducing hair-related bias in neuroimaging research: Community-led approaches for textured hair.

Attendance is free of charge. Please register for the events on Doodle here.

For any questions about the events, please contact Fatih Bayram via f.bayram@lancaster.ac.uk.

Organising Committee (Fatih Bayram, Patrick Rebuschat, and Jason Rothman)