A workshop organised by Cambridge Language Sciences (CLS) brought together language researchers and local clinicians for an afternoon of networking and knowledge exchange.
The aim was to learn more about each other’s work and explore opportunities for collaboration as a route to research impact.
The workshop was attended by speech and language therapists and members of the Clinical Engineering team at Addenbrooke’s hospital.
On the research side, attendees included academics from the University’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, and Engineering.
The event, which included talks, discussion, lunch, and informal networking took place on 26 June 2023 at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute.
It highlighted the potential to work together on joint research, in shaping research agendas, and contributing to better patient outcomes through evidence-based policies and practices.
Matt Davis, CLS co-Director and Programme Lead on Hearing & Language at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, said “It was great to meet our colleagues at Addenbrooke’s who do so much to help individuals who struggle with speaking and understanding language. There are many areas of shared interest that we hope can turn into Language Sciences research projects in future.”
Sarah Pilsworth, Joint Professional Heads of Speech and Language Therapy at Addenbrooke’s, said “The session was exciting and thought provoking – generating lots of discussion around the possibilities of collaboration going forwards. Thank you very much to all those who were involved in its organisation and who presented on the day."
We are grateful to Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) for supporting this event via Cambridge Research Strategy Office’s Impact and Knowledge Exchange grant for interdisciplinary research groups engaging with non-academic partners.
Many thanks to all who attended, and special thanks to the presenters:
- Sarah Pilsworth and Bernardine Page, Joint Professional Heads of Speech and Language Therapy at Addenbrooke’s, for their overview of local Speech & Language Therapy services.
- Susan Pethers, Advanced Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Stroke & Neurorehabilitation, for her session on the practicalities and challenges of speech and language therapy in adult stroke, neurological and trauma rehabilitation.
- Leah Moors, Advanced Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, who presented therapeutic pathways and approaches in the Cleft Palate Unit.
- Abi Bush, Joint Head of Clinical Engineering Innovation, who talked about her team’s work with examples relevant to language and communications including clear facemasks to help lip-readers.
- CLS co-Directors, Dr Matt Davis, from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, and Professor Brechtje Post, Professor of Phonetics and Phonology in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics.
- Dr Kate Knill, Principal Research Associate in the Machine Intelligence Laboratory who presented the work of the ALTA Institute Spoken Language Technology Project.
Photo: Delegates at the CLS knowledge exchange meeting. Photo by Lorene Hunault.