Dr Anna Piasecki

• Qualifications:Ph.D. (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
• Position:Deputy Head of School of Creative and Cultural Industries
• Department:Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries, and Education (ACE)
• Telephone:+4411732 87141
• Email:Anna.Piasecki@uwe.ac.uk

About me

I am currently leading the School of Creative and Cultural Industries, which is home to an exciting range of programmes in the creative arts and humanities. In my role I am keen to find synergies across our diverse subject areas and lead the development of innovative and collaborative research initiatives and programmes of study.

My academic journey has been possibly as diverse as the subject areas in our School. I received some of my schooling in Poland and completed an undergraduate degree in Germany – with a double major in Biology and English Studies, and a minor in Hispanic Studies. I then went on to do my PhD in New Zealand (in Psycholinguistics), after which I took up a position at UWE Bristol. 

My doctoral research and projects following from that revolved around the area of bilingualism and second language acquisition. Using psycholinguistic tools and methods, my research explored the mechanisms that allow bilinguals to use the appropriate language in ambiguous situations. With collaborators across the globe, I have been pursuing projects that focus on second language (L2) learning, including work on L2 phonology, vocabulary and collocation acquisition, as well as sentence processing.

More recently, my research has moved into the area of neuropsychology and the application of our knowledge in the real world, especially in clinical settings and in education. Some of the projects I currently pursue are as follows:

• Development of intra-operative language tests for brain tumours (NHS collaboration);
• Understanding children's memory processes to aid the development of a digital learning tool for the acquisition of phonics;
• Investigating the impact of language and culture on memory processes and cognition more generally;
• Exploring the intersection of creative technology, music and brain processes – the manual McGurk effect.
  

Area of expertise

Brain, Cognition and Behaviour

Publications

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