📣 Help Shape the Future of UKRI's Gateway to Research (GtR)

We're improving UKRI's Gateway to Research and are seeking your input! If you would be interested in being interviewed about the improvements we're making and to have your say about how we can make GtR more user-friendly, impactful, and effective for the Research and Innovation community, please email gateway@ukri.org.

Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre: ESRC Legacy Centre

Lead Research Organisation: UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Department Name: Experimental Psychology

Abstract

There are three primary objectives of the activities proposed in the DCAL Legacy Centre application: Impact Generation; Communication; Capacity Building.

(1) Impact Generation. We aim to maximise the impact of the existing DCAL online resources listed below, all of which have been established with previous ESRC funding, by promoting and marketing these resources to the appropriate end-users. The funding will also be used, where necessary, to cover online hosting and service fees associated with each resource.

a. DCAL Online Assessment Portal (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dcal/dcal-portal). Over the last 12 years, DCAL researchers have created and standardised 9 assessments that are designed specifically for use with deaf adults or children, filling a much needed gap in the assessment tools available to practitioners (e.g. teachers, teachers of the deaf, educational psychologists, clinical psychologists and speech and language therapists) and researchers in the field. These tests are now hosted on an online portal. We aim to promote these assessments to practitioners and researchers working with deaf children or adults, who are the end-user groups who benefit from this resource.

b. BSL Corpus (https://bslcorpusproject.org/). The BSL Corpus is one of a small handful of online corpora of sign languages worldwide. This online open resource hosts ~125 hours of BSL video data and associated transcriptions from a cross section of the BSL community from 8 different locations across the UK. The BSL Corpus allows documentation of how BSL is actually used, rather than how people have traditionally assumed it is widely used. BSL SignBank is an online BSL dictionary (http://bslsignbank.ucl.ac.uk/dictionary/) which includes signs from the BSL Corpus. The aim is to increase the awareness of these online resources within end user communities: BSL teachers; those running BSL interpreter courses; BSL independent learners; and researchers conducting research in the field of BSL or developing assessments.

c. DCAL Research Data Archive (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/digital-collections/collections/dcal) is an online repository of DCAL's research data and associated supporting materials (documentation of procedures, stimuli, etc). We aim to increase awareness of these data and methods that are available for other researchers to use, thus increasing the impact of our research worldwide.

(2) Communication: We aim to build-on and extend our excellent history of communication of our research with different groups. We will organise innovative public events that will include a celebration of the 40th anniversary since the first BSL research symposium (Nov 2019) and 2 x DCAL-x events (modelled on TED-x). We will also invest in more online routes to communication - e.g. short lay-summaries of our research publications and other key findings, accessible in English and BSL.

(3) Capacity Building: We will continue our mission of capacity building of world-class researchers in the area of deafness, cognition and language - i.e. training new researchers in this field. We aim to consolidate and develop this further, via bursaries and team development. (a) We aim to establish travel bursaries so that deaf researchers can attend training courses that we offer. The aim will be to attract deaf individuals who can go on to study for a degree at UCL in our field. (b) We will also build capacity of our current team members by arranging a series of team development activities in order to ensure that DCAL develops through a time of change and continues to thrive.

Planned Impact

Who will benefit from the proposed activities?
-Practitioners and other professionals who work with deaf adults and children - teachers of the deaf, educational and clinical psychologists, and speech and language therapists.
-BSL professionals - BSL teachers, their students, BSL/English interpreters, and interpreter trainers.
-Other national and international researchers in the field
-Policy-makers
-Deaf people

How will they benefit from these activities?
-Practitioners: This group will benefit from the planned activities in numerous ways - most importantly via increased access to our online DCAL Assessment Portal. This portal hosts 9 assessments that have been designed by DCAL researchers, specifically for use with deaf children and adults. This is a major resource that will greatly benefit the practices of educational and health professionals working with deaf people.
-BSL Professionals: BSL teachers and their students, BSL/English interpreters, and interpreter trainers. These groups will benefit from improved BSL online resources including the BSL Corpus and BSL SignBank. These groups have already made extensive use of these resources to inform and enhance their teaching and learning.
-Other Researchers: Other national and international researchers in the field will benefit from DCAL's online resources. Our BSL resources (BSL Corpus and SignBank) are extremely valuable to researchers e.g. when establishing new stimulus sets. The DCAL Assessment Portal provides access to unique standardised assessments that are critical to full and accurate characterisation of a participant group. Although these specific resources are unique to the languages of the UK (BSL and English), DCAL staff have already advised researchers in numerous countries on adaptation of these resources and this benefit will extend to other countries.
-Policy makers: Improved teaching and assessments resources and an increased understanding of the processes underlying cognition and language in deaf people will provide an evidence-base for policy-makers in supporting appropriate education, training and services for deaf children and adults. This will help close the gap in education, employment, and health between deaf people and their hearing peers.
-Deaf people in society: A major social benefit will be in relation to equity and the status of deaf people in British society. All of the developments outlined above will lead to improved quality of educational and healthcare services and access for deaf people and provide more opportunities for self- development and employment. Deaf people who can become more highly qualified and trained will be in a better position to contribute to society in different ways, and will be able to achieve greater access, and equity in the wider community.

What will be done to ensure that they have the opportunity to benefit from this activity?
All of the activities outlined in this proposal are designed to ensure that the groups outlined above have the opportunity to benefit from our activities. Specifically:
-Practitioners, BSL Professionals and other researchers have all already benefited from the online DCAL resources. We expect these impacts to extend further and deepen with maintenance and improvements to these resources.
-Policy-makers will benefit from being made more aware of the potential impact of our research. This will be achieved via our improved communications and also from the involvement of a professional PR company, something we have not had the resources for since the end of the DCAL Centre grant (December 2016).
-Deaf people in society will benefit, ultimately from the resulting impact on the groups outlined above. In addition, our capacity building plans for deaf researchers to attend our summer schools, and for team development especially aimed at the challenges of deaf and hearing researchers working together will also benefit a targeted group of deaf researchers.

Publications

10 25 50

publication icon
Buchanan-Worster E (2020) Speechreading Ability Is Related to Phonological Awareness and Single-Word Reading in Both Deaf and Hearing Children. in Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR

publication icon
Buchanan-Worster E (2021) Speechreading in hearing children can be improved by training in Developmental Science

 
Title Audible: The Deaf Workplace 
Description Interview participation in a short film about experiences of deaf people in the workplace, created by Sanskriti Bhatnagar. Interview covered topics such as: Why are D/deaf people struggling to find work? Why are employers reluctant to hire them?; What does the current workplace, in terms of language adaptability, look like?; For D/deaf and BSL users, what would an ideal workplace look like? Why aren't we there yet?; How does this mentally affect those looking for work?; How does the government support enforcement of the Equality Act 2010?; How important is community in situations like these? 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2023 
Impact Available on YouTube - 68 views. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Zms34-OXw
 
Title Christopher Wren - What legacy now? 
Description A photographic exhibition celebrating the wide range of Christopher Wren's interests, part of Wren 300 programme commemorating the 300th anniversary of Christopher Wren's death. I contributed to the information provided alongside the photographs and in the exhibition leaflet about Wren's interest in deaf people and deaf manual alphabets 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2023 
Impact Created awareness of Wren's interest in deaf communication and sign language, resulting in increased numbers of visitors to DCAL History of BSL website 
URL https://wren300.org/events/christopher-wren-what-legacy-now/
 
Title Lightwave 
Description Light-Wave is a collaboration between Professor Bencie Woll (DCAL), Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq (Artist) and the east London deaf community. East London's deaf Community is a long-established, constituent part of East London life. However, the community has invariably been underrepresented or wholly unrepresented in cultural discourses. Our project aspires to facilitate a creative collaboration between us and local deaf people which affords recognition to the east London Deaf community's history, culture and language, thereby creating an artistic and academic legacy and tangible symbol of the community's richness and resilience. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The film's examination of regional and social variation in British Sign Language has led to increased interest among the deaf community and researchers in East London signing 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmkoMWIK32o
 
Title Sign2Win 
Description Gameshow series in British Sign Language, produced by BSLZone and available as broadcast TV or streaming. I provided guidance on the design of some of the game elements. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2023 
Impact Described as revolutionary television in Broadcast Now (https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/comment/sign2win-is-quietly-revolutionary-television/5176917.article). A third series is currently in production 
URL https://www.bslzone.co.uk/search-results?q=Sign2Win&search=
 
Description Outputs from this grant (start: Nov 2019) have been greatly impacted by COVID19 generally and also by the fact that the one post funded by this grant (Communication Officer) was on furlough from May 2020 until end of July 2020. Nevertheless, as planned, the Centre Legacy grant to date has enabled us to further maximise impact potential in four key areas: public relations activities in relation to media, policy-makers, practitioners and community. All of these groups have received an annual DCAL Newsletter (accessible in English and in BSL) at Christmas.

We have conducted numerous large scale public engagement activities, e g.:

Nov. 2019 - 40 Years of Research on BSL - workshop was attended by over 150 people from the community and practitioners.
Nov. 2021 - A series of online events which covered British Sign Language, Deaf Education and the Deaf Brain were held to celebrate DCAL's 15yr anniversary. This was attended by 305 people and received excellent feedback from participants.

November 2022 - Festschrift symposium in honour of Professor Bencie Woll on the occasion of her retirement - Professor at UCL, Fellow of the British Academy, Director of DCAL, sign language linguist. Attend by approx 150 people, in person and online, from the academic and non-academic communities.

January 2023 - DCAL hosted a memorial event to celebrate the work of Frances Elton who passed away in February 2022. Over 150 members of the British Deaf Community attended the event and saw a series of presentations from people who worked with Frances, including DCAL staff. At this event, the film, 'Lightwaves', was shown - a film made by Rubbena Aurengzeb-Tariq, in collaboration with Bencie Woll.

February 2023 - Deaf Migrants project. A two-day event at UCL, supported by UCL Grand Challenges of Cultural Understanding and Justice & Equality fund, explored the experiences and needs of Deaf Migrants living in London. The project aimed to examine potential areas for future research, current service provision in London, and identify how to influence policy at both national and local levels to improve outcomes for Deaf Migrants in London.
The event has directly led to the Greater London Authority setting up a call for a more in depth report into the challenges facing deaf migrants in the UK. This was awarded to DCAL Associate Research Fellow - Dr Tyron Woolfe (to start March 2024).

November 2023 - Promoting and expanding LGBTQ+ BSL Glossary - DCAL received funding from the UCL LGBTQ+ Equality Implementation Grant (LEIG) to examine emerging LGBTQ+ glossary in BSL. A second aim of this project was to build a relationship between Deaf and Hearing UCL staff, both LGBTQ and allies. We worked closely with the charity, Deaf Rainbow UK. We received over 80 suggestions for words needing a BSL sign. We worked with 8 selected focus group members, all Deaf and LGBTQ+. We then shared 20 proposed signs with the wider community for feedback at a community event attended by over 100 people.

November 2024 - DCAL Research Taster day for Undergraduates - The aim of this was to give deaf and hearing undergraduate insight into the type of research we conduct at DCAL and the different possible pathways into a research career. 48 people signed up to the event and it received excellent feedback.


We have also ensured the impact of our work in the 'Discover UCL Summer School for D/deaf and Hard of Hearing Students'. This is a residential programme for Year 11 and 12 students. The aim of the summer schools is capacity building, by encouraging Deaf and Hard of Hearing students to attend Higher Education. The Summer School has measurable impact: 29% of attendees (2014-18) went on to HE. We are currently building capacity of our current team members by arranging a series of team development activities in order to ensure that DCAL develops through a time of change and continues to thrive. DCAL has also collaborated with a London primary school for deaf children, where two of our grant-holders are school governors. We collaborated with school staff to produce e-books about coronavirus so that deaf children can access material in BSL. DCAL staff are also providing consultancy and expertise to the Department for Education, designing the planned GCSE in British Sign Language for England. We have also advised the Welsh Government on their Curriculum for Wales BSL guidance group in their creation of new curricula for deaf and hearing learners of BSL.

DCAL's developmental research has been published and presented in non-academic forums which has enabled us to communicate with parents and teachers about our research findings in an accessible format (e.g., the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD) magazine and Limping Chicken, a sector specific blog). We have also published a number of short lay-summaries of our research publications and other key findings so that more people can access our research, in English and BSL, these have been disseminated widely on social media platforms. DCAL has also raised awareness of deaf and disabled people's lived experiences and shared our resource for best practice of remote working through our Remote Working Guidelines which aim to address to the mental fatigue that arises from our new virtual way of working and interacting.
Exploitation Route Resources created at DCAL, such as the Remote Working Guidelines, E-books for Coronavirus continued to be shared and adopted and adapted by other users. The UCL Discover Summer School for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students has been recognised by The Russell group publication on Access as a case study of good practice, and the University of Edinburgh is seeking to copy our model through a collaborative link. We aim to develop the program further within its extended 4 day format. We will continue our mission of capacity building of world-class researchers in the area of deafness, cognition and language.

Resources created at DCAL, such as the Remote Working Guidelines, E-books for Coronavirus continued to be shared and adopted and adapted by other users. The UCL Discover Summer School for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students has been recognised by The Russell group publication on Access as a case study of good practice, and the University of Edinburgh is seeking to copy our model through a collaborative link. We aim to develop the program further within its extended 4 day format. We will continue our mission of capacity building of world-class researchers in the area of deafness, cognition and language.

We are consolidating further via paid DCAL summer internships and also 'research taster days' for undergraduates. The aim will be to attract deaf individuals who can go on to study for a degree at UCL in our field.

Other outcomes that can continue be developed for external use are the Online Assessment Portal, SignBank, DCAL's Research data archive and the BSL Corpus. We continue to promote these assessments to practitioners and researchers working with deaf children or adults, who are the end-user groups who ultimately benefit the greatest from this resource..

We regularly publish lay-summaries of our research publications and other key findings so that more people can access our research, in English and BSL. We provide an annual summary of our activities in a newsletter - again, accessible in both English and BSL.

DCAL staff are also contributing to the development of the BSL GCSE. They are also contributing to ongoing community discussions and debates about the newly approved BSL Act (June 2022).
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Education

Healthcare

Government

Democracy and Justice

Other

URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dcal/
 
Description The ESRC Legacy Centre Grant has used in the following areas to enable us to further maximise the impact potential of our work: LANGUAGE RESOURCES BSL SignBank is an invaluable reference for teaching/learning of BSL which is clear from its presence on social media. This is particularly true for Facebook and X (#bslsignbank) where deaf BSL signers and BSL learners regularly use, comment on and refer to BSL SignBank as a trusted resource. There are countless mentions and discussions of BSL SignBank on the Facebook groups "BSL - British Sign Language" and "BSL and Linguistics Teachers, Assessors & Researchers", the members of both of which are predominantly BSL teachers, learners and interpreters. We continue to promote SignBank future with the support of this Legacy Centre grant. We are also in the process of transitioning https://bslsignbank.ucl.ac.uk/ from external host to UCL server to ensure longevity of this publicly available resource. DCAL ASSESSMENT PORTAL The DCAL Assessment Portal (https://dcalportal.org) is a unique on-line resource, providing on-line access to assessments of cognition and language developed at DCAL. The Portal currently comprises 7 language assessments (BSL and English) and two batteries for testing for acquired cognitive and language impairment in users of BSL (e.g. for aphasia following stroke and for dementia). The website allows professionals concerned with developmental and clinical assessment of deaf children and adults to use our tests and norms. Since its inception in 2014 it has had over 750 users, including researchers and professional practitioners such as teachers, educational psychologists, clinical psychologists and speech & language therapists; and we have also worked to meet international demand for adaptations of these tools for assessment of cognition and language to users of other sign languages. Current collaborations include government agencies, clinical service providers and universities in Australia, Austria, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong and New Zealand. The current portal has recently been re-structured to improve functionality. We have run several promotion events. In conjunction with the Scottish Sensory Service we hosted an online webinar that was attended by 70 teachers of the deaf (TODs) and related practitioners. We also gave a workshop on the portal at the annual conference for the British Association for Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD). We have established partnerships with two TOD training programmes at the University of Birmingham and the University of Edinburgh through which their trainee TODs can use several of the BSL tests on the Portal as part of their teaching assignments. CONSULTANCY. DCAL staff have provided consultancy and expertise to the Department for Education, designing the planned GCSE in British Sign Language for England (planned start date 2025). DCAL staff are also advising the Welsh Government - Curriculum for Wales, BSL guidance group and Qualifications Wales - on the creation of new curricula for deaf and hearing learners of BSL. We are also providing consultancy to DEWA (Deaf Ethnic Women's Association) on their new research project on experiences of early intervention services to deaf children and their families from ethnic minority backgrounds, funded by the National Deaf Children's Society. DCAL staff are also involved in providing expert advice to GameLab, on a new animation TV series for deaf children. CLINICAL. As a direct result of DCAL research (2006-2016), the NHS established the first neuropsychology clinic for Deaf patients who use British Sign Language within the Cognitive Disorders clinic at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN). By developing services for this under-researched group, NHS provision has become accessible for the first time. The status of this clinic with NHS funding has been confirmed. Research in this area has demonstrated the extent of the previously unmet demand for clinical services for this excluded population and the developing influence of this work on UK government policy. Additionally, we have been actively collaborating with researchers and clinicians in other countries to develop adaptations in their own sign languages of the BSL Cognitive Screen (these include German Sign Language, Greek Sign Language and Austrian Sign Language). This has been supported by Erasmus funding (Woll and Atkinson). EDUCATION DCAL's research on early interaction, language and cognition - and on deafness and the brain - has provided an evidence base for the design of early intervention programmes and policies regarding early use of signed and spoken language. We have also established a collaborative relationship with a pair of schools (a school for deaf children and a school for hearing children co-located on the same site) where we have provided staff training. We currently have 3 research studies focussing on literacy development in deaf children. These will, in time, impact literacy education of deaf children in the UK. ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION Deaf people are hugely under-represented within Higher Education across the UK. DCAL has aimed to address this by leading on Widening Participation initiatives at UCL related to deafness. The most significant of these, and unique to UCL, is the Discover UCL Summer School for D/deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. This is a residential programme for Year 11 and 12 students. The Russell group publication on Access has presented this programme as a case study of good practice, and the University of Edinburgh is seeking to copy our model through a collaborative link. The Summer School has measurable impact: 29% of attendees (2014-18) went on to HE. This programme has also been expanded in 2021 to include a ½ day event for parents to equip those without experience of HE with practical information to help them support their deaf teens prepare for university life. As part of the legacy funding DCAL also offers Summer Internships to 3 deaf undergraduates. This has run successfully in 2023 and 2024 and will run again in 2025. This is a major part of our commitment to capacity building of deaf researchers in the field. In November 2024 we ran an online DCAL Research Taster day for undergraduates. The aim of this was to give deaf and hearing undergraduate insight into the type of research we conduct at DCAL and the different possible pathways into a research career. 48 people signed up to the event and it received excellent feedback. ON-LINE COURSES. In 2015, DCAL obtained UCL Seed Funding (£10K) for development of an on-line self-directed deaf awareness course, targeted at professionals working with or providing services to deaf people. Further funding (£12K) has enabled the creation of a suite of on-line deaf awareness courses targeted at healthcare professionals. These courses have now been accredited by the Royal College of Nursing, British Academy of Audiology, Royal College of Physicians, and Royal College of General Practitioners, which will ensure uptake and impact on access and attitudes towards deaf people using health care and social care services. Currently, around 160 professionals have registered for the courses to date. We also launched a free on-line deaf awareness toolkit for teachers in 2021. This course is free to users and currently has more than 1200 registered on the site. In summer 2024 we launched a reduced version of the general deaf awareness course, which takes only 1.5hrs to complete. This is openly available and free to all. To date 588 people have signed up to the free Deaf Awareness Course. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/short-courses/search-courses/deaf-awareness-working-and-communicating-well-deaf-people-online-course In January 2023 we also ran an online CPD session for Speech and Language Therapists in Ireland (N=20). Excellent feedback was received. KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE ACTIVITIES. DCAL conducts a wide range of public engagement and knowledge exchange activities. For example, in 2023 we held a conference in honour Frances Elton. Frances had worked at DCAL for many years and was a pioneer in the field of BSL linguistics research. We attend many annual events aimed at the deaf public, to discuss our findings and ideas for future work with the public (e.g., Deaf Day, City Lit College; British Deaf Association annual conference; British Association of Teachers of the Deaf annual conference). In addition to our presence online and annual newsletter (available in printed English and in BSL) DCAL staff have been involved in a wide range of print and TV engagement activities.
First Year Of Impact 2006
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural

Societal

Economic

Policy & public services

 
Description - teaching on UCL Paediatric Neuropsychology MSc, annually
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact improved training of clinical practitioners who attend the course
 
Description Advisor to Department for Education in development of a GCSE curriculum and qualification in British Sign Language
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Appointment to the BBSRC Pool of Experts (VC)
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Consultancy for Welsh Government in development of Wales National Curriculum for BSL
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Contribution to national consultation/review - Presentation and report to UK Government (Cabinet Office) BSL Advisory Board
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
 
Description Course Content for BSL GCSE
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
URL https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/12/21/british-sign-language-gcse-everything-you-need-to-know/
 
Description DCAL response to British Sign Language GCSE consultation, and subsequent change of content
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
URL https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-british-sign-language-bsl
 
Description Deaf migrant event
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/news/2023/mar/deaf-migrants-experiences-and-needs-explored-ucl-event#:~:t...
 
Description Development of national BSL GCSE teacher training to enable delivery of BSL GCSE
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
Impact under development
 
Description Evaluation committee for PASTEUR PARIS-Institut de l'Audition
Geographic Reach Europe 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact The committee provided advice to members of the Id'A for improvement of their research, clinical and educational plans.
 
Description Presentation and report to UK Government (Cabinet Office) BSL Advisory Board - Health and Social Care subgroup
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
 
Description producing guidance for government communicators and others on BSL translation and interpreting to support the implementation of the BSL Act 2022.
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact The BSL Act is designed to help ensure all public services and information are accessible to Deaf people who use BSL. The Act requires the government to report how relevant ministerial departments are using BSL in communications with the public on policy and changes to the law. The Act and its provisions will impact the lives of c. 150,000 users of BSL in Great Britain.
URL https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2023/01/25/british-sign-language-act-improving-how-government-comm...
 
Description (EASIER) - Intelligent Automatic Sign Language Translation
Amount € 3,991,591 (EUR)
Funding ID 101016982 
Organisation European Commission 
Sector Public
Country Belgium
Start 01/2021 
End 12/2023
 
Description Grand Challenges Small Grants
Amount ÂŁ7,136 (GBP)
Organisation University College London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2022 
End 03/2023
 
Description LGBTQ+ Equality Implementation Group
Amount ÂŁ4,710 (GBP)
Organisation University College London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2023 
End 11/2023
 
Description Lord Randolph Quirk Small Project Fund - Finalising British Sign Language Definition Task
Amount ÂŁ13,458 (GBP)
Organisation University College London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2025 
End 07/2025
 
Description Mechanisms of reading development in deaf children
Amount ÂŁ1,580,335 (GBP)
Funding ID 220291/Z/20/Z 
Organisation Wellcome Trust 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2020 
End 09/2025
 
Description Student Success Fund
Amount ÂŁ1,000 (GBP)
Organisation University College London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2023 
End 04/2024
 
Description Understanding the mechanisms of multimodal communication in deaf children with cochlear implants - awarded to Carly Anderson
Amount ÂŁ300,000 (GBP)
Organisation Wellcome Trust 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2021 
End 06/2026
 
Description Understanding variation in reading progress in deaf children
Amount ÂŁ823,018 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/Y002350/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2024 
End 03/2027
 
Title Australian Sign & Gesture Reference Library 
Description Hodge, G., Green, J. & B. F. Kelly. (2021). The Australian sign & gesture reference library. DOI:10.17605/OSF.IO/CXNBV A collection of references collated by Australian researchers about sign language and gesture 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Improved open access to resources about sign language and gesture 
URL https://osf.io/cxnbv/
 
Title BBC-Oxford British Sign Language Dataset 
Description Dataset of broadcast sign language interpreting with English subtitles 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Largest dataset of BSL video material used for LLM research involving translation between BSL and written English 
URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.03635
 
Title BSL SignBank 
Description BSL SignBank: A lexical database and dictionary of British Sign Language (First Edition) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2014 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Use of the resource by students, teachers, interpreters, researchers. 
URL http://bslsignbank.ucl.ac.uk
 
Title British Sign Language corpus project : a corpus of digital video data of British Sign Language 2008-2009 
Description The primary output (dataset) produced by the BSL Corpus Project 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2011 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Use of the resource by students, teachers, interpreters, researchers. 
URL http://www.bslcorpusproject.org
 
Title DCAL Research Data Archive 
Description The DCAL Research Data Archive holds the data outputs of the UCL Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre. The vast majority of research studies on language and cognition are based on languages which are spoken and heard. DCAL's research provides a unique perspective on language and thought by placing sign languages and Deaf people in the centre of our understanding of language and communication. DCAL's research since 2006 has contributed substantially to the recognition that deafness is an important model for exploring questions in linguistics, cognitive sciences and neuroscience. All metadata for the projects in this archive is openly available. Some data is restricted to named researchers. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This archive provides access to DCAL's research data, metadata, stimuli, etc for use and reuse by other researchers. It is expected to be widely used by researchers not only in the fields of deafness and sign language research but also in psychology, development, neuroscience, and linguistics more generally. 
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/digital-collections/collections/dcal
 
Title sj-csv-1-las-10.1177_00238309221107002 - Supplemental material for Sociolinguistic Variation in Mouthings in British Sign Language: A Corpus-Based Study 
Description Supplemental material, sj-csv-1-las-10.1177_00238309221107002 for Sociolinguistic Variation in Mouthings in British Sign Language: A Corpus-Based Study by Heidi Proctor and Kearsy Cormier in Language and Speech 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Raised awareness of mouthing in British Sign Language. Interest from postdoctoral researchers in other countries to apply for funding to study mouthing in their sign languages at DCAL. 
URL https://sage.figshare.com/articles/dataset/sj-csv-1-las-10_1177_00238309221107002_Supplemental_mater...
 
Title sj-csv-2-las-10.1177_00238309221107002 - Supplemental material for Sociolinguistic Variation in Mouthings in British Sign Language: A Corpus-Based Study 
Description Supplemental material, sj-csv-2-las-10.1177_00238309221107002 for Sociolinguistic Variation in Mouthings in British Sign Language: A Corpus-Based Study by Heidi Proctor and Kearsy Cormier in Language and Speech 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Raised awareness of mouthing in British Sign Language. Interest from postdoctoral researchers in other countries to apply for funding to study mouthing in their sign languages at DCAL. 
URL https://sage.figshare.com/articles/dataset/sj-csv-2-las-10_1177_00238309221107002_Supplemental_mater...
 
Description Consortium for Research in Deaf Education (CRIDE) 
Organisation NDCS National Deaf Children's Society
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Fiona Kyle is the vice chair for the Consortium for Research in Deaf Education (CRIDE)
Collaborator Contribution CRIDE is a national voluntary consortium with representatives from national organisations, charities, and professional practitioner bodies such as the National Deaf Children's Society, British Association for Teachers of the Deaf, and Heads of Sensory Services. CRIDE conducts and analyses an annual national survey of deaf provision across the UK surveying every Local Authority (99% response rate). The Department for Education use the CRIDE survey results as well as lobbyists and international researchers.
Impact Annual CRIDE Surveys
Start Year 2011
 
Description Consortium on Language Assymetry 
Organisation Bangor University
Department School of Healthcare Sciences
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Consortium on Language Asymmetry (COLA) is a group of research teams united by an interest in understanding language lateralisation in the brain. It was set up in 2018 with the aims of sharing knowledge, data and materials, and conducting collaborative experiments. The universities involved are: University of Oxford, University College London, University of Lincoln, University of Essex, University of Western Australia, Lancaster University, University of Athens.
Collaborator Contribution The team from UCL, including myself, have contributed to this consortium in terms of designing research questions, experimental studies, data collection, data analysis.
Impact A Registered Report outlining out planned study has been accepted by Cortex (no DOI as yet).
Start Year 2018
 
Description Consortium on Language Assymetry 
Organisation Lancaster University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Consortium on Language Asymmetry (COLA) is a group of research teams united by an interest in understanding language lateralisation in the brain. It was set up in 2018 with the aims of sharing knowledge, data and materials, and conducting collaborative experiments. The universities involved are: University of Oxford, University College London, University of Lincoln, University of Essex, University of Western Australia, Lancaster University, University of Athens.
Collaborator Contribution The team from UCL, including myself, have contributed to this consortium in terms of designing research questions, experimental studies, data collection, data analysis.
Impact A Registered Report outlining out planned study has been accepted by Cortex (no DOI as yet).
Start Year 2018
 
Description Consortium on Language Assymetry 
Organisation University of Lincoln
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Consortium on Language Asymmetry (COLA) is a group of research teams united by an interest in understanding language lateralisation in the brain. It was set up in 2018 with the aims of sharing knowledge, data and materials, and conducting collaborative experiments. The universities involved are: University of Oxford, University College London, University of Lincoln, University of Essex, University of Western Australia, Lancaster University, University of Athens.
Collaborator Contribution The team from UCL, including myself, have contributed to this consortium in terms of designing research questions, experimental studies, data collection, data analysis.
Impact A Registered Report outlining out planned study has been accepted by Cortex (no DOI as yet).
Start Year 2018
 
Description Consortium on Language Assymetry 
Organisation University of Oxford
Department Department of Experimental Psychology
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Consortium on Language Asymmetry (COLA) is a group of research teams united by an interest in understanding language lateralisation in the brain. It was set up in 2018 with the aims of sharing knowledge, data and materials, and conducting collaborative experiments. The universities involved are: University of Oxford, University College London, University of Lincoln, University of Essex, University of Western Australia, Lancaster University, University of Athens.
Collaborator Contribution The team from UCL, including myself, have contributed to this consortium in terms of designing research questions, experimental studies, data collection, data analysis.
Impact A Registered Report outlining out planned study has been accepted by Cortex (no DOI as yet).
Start Year 2018
 
Description Consultant as expert on linguistic aspects of sign languages, for Gamelab UK on sign language animation 
Organisation Gamelab UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution K Cormier Sought as expert to consult for Gamelab UK on a new animations for deaf and hearing children including characters using British Sign Language and American Sign Language. Provided advice on linguistic wellformedness and problems of animated characters' signing and how this integrated with sound and speech.
Collaborator Contribution K Cormier Sought as expert to consult for Gamelab UK on a new animations for deaf and hearing children including characters using British Sign Language and American Sign Language. Provided advice on linguistic wellformedness and problems of animated characters' signing and how this integrated with sound and speech.
Impact Animated cartoons will be available on various media.
Start Year 2018
 
Description DCAL Partnership with Islington Council 
Organisation Islington Council
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution KC providing advice to Employment Services Islington Council who are aiming to setup apprenticeships for deaf teachers of British Sign Language
Collaborator Contribution Employment Services Islington Council are aiming to setup apprenticeships for deaf teachers of British Sign Language
Impact No outputs yet
Start Year 2024
 
Description De-Sign: ERASMUS+ project on dementia and the deaf community 
Organisation European Commission
Country Belgium 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Consultant to a European project which is seeking to improve information and services linked to dementia for deaf people in several European countries (Austria, Germany, Italy and Greece).
Collaborator Contribution Austria, Germany and Greece are adapting the BSL Cognitive Screen which was developed at DCAL into other sign languages to provide better diagnosis of dementia, and have designed and are delivering information about dementia to their deaf communities.
Impact No outputs yet
Start Year 2022
 
Description Funded expert collaborator on ERC Starter Grant to Dr. Jennifer Culbertson, "Syntax Shaped by Cognition" 
Organisation University of Edinburgh
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Kearsy Cormier as funded expert collaborator on ERC Starter Grant to Dr. Jennifer Culbertson, "Syntax Shaped by Cognition", 2018-2023
Collaborator Contribution Kearsy Cormier as funded expert collaborator on ERC Starter Grant to Dr. Jennifer Culbertson, "Syntax Shaped by Cognition", 2018-2023
Impact In progress
Start Year 2018
 
Description Invited expert panel member at CrossMoGram workshop, 3-4 October 2023 
Organisation University of Lancashire
Country United Kingdom 
PI Contribution KC was one of 6 experts on sign language and creole linguistics invited to take part in a workshop on AHRC-DFG funded project, CrossMoGram, led by Nick Palfreyman at UCLAN, Preston - to advise on aspect marking in BSL and other sign languages.
Collaborator Contribution UCLAN partner and other contributors contributed their expertise on aspect marking in sign languages and creoles
Impact Co-supervision of a UCL PhD student with UCLAN PI Palfreyman. Also planned funding application.
Start Year 2023
 
Title DCAL Assessment Portal 
Description Portal providing access to all DCAL's assessment tools for use with deaf adults and children 
Type Of Technology Webtool/Application 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact Much interest from researchers and practitioners in other countries in adapting and translating the assessments;. Very positive response from teachers and speech/language therapists. Many very positive reviews. 
URL https://dcalportal.org
 
Description 40th anniversary celebration of the first BSL Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact DCAL with the British Deaf Association and Heriot-Watt University is organised a one-day event public engagement event that has been supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as a part of the Festival of Social Sciences. 150 people attended which consisted of talks and a panel which took questions from the audience which sparked questions and discussion. DCAL also recruited additional participants for our research database.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dcal/news/2019/aug/hold-date
 
Description Academic Spotlight Series 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Academic Spotlight Series provides an opportunity for people to get to know more about DCAL's colleagues' area of expertise, their research, or their job role at DCAL and to create more awareness about DCAL. This is filmed in British Sign Language with a voice over and captions and is released across social media platforms such as Facebook, X and Instagram.

Since March 2024, we have published three academic spotlight videos. The first academic spotlight video was published on 10th October 2024, which was about a research officer who is collaborating with Deaf Ethnic Women's Association (DEWA) and National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS). The second academic spotlight video was published on 6th December 2024, which was about a PhD student at DCAL. The third academic spotlight video was published on 20th January 2025, which was about the Centre Administrator at DCAL.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024,2025
URL https://www.youtube.com/@DCAL_UCL
 
Description Access To Higher Education 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Deaf people are hugely under-represented within Higher Education across the UK. DCAL has aimed to address this by leading on Widening Participation initiatives at UCL related to deafness. The most significant of these, and unique to UCL, is the Discover UCL Summer School for D/deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. This is a residential programme for Year 11 and 12 students, now in its 9th year. The Russell group publication on Access has presented this programme as a case study of good practice, and the University of Edinburgh is seeking to copy our model through a collaborative link. The Summer School has measurable impact: 29% of attendees (2014-18) went on to HE. This programme has also been expanded in 2021 to include a ½ day event for parents to equip those without experience of HE with practical information to help them support their deaf teens prepare for university life.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description BATOD: Kate Rowley & Dani Sive, Preventing Language Deprivation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact An article written by Kate Rowley and Dani Sive (Headteacher of Frank Barnes) on preventing Language Deprivation in BATOD.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.batod.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Preventing-Language-Deprivation.pdf
 
Description BATOD: The Preschool Language and Literacy Study 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact An article on the progress of the The Preschool Language and Literacy Study and recruitment of further participants for the study.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description BATOD: UCL's Summer School 2020 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Natasha Wilcock and Manjula Patrick summarise this year's event for Years 11 and 12 students, unique to UCL, that aims to redress the balance by equipping deaf students for university life. Although usually a residential event, this year the programme was rationalised to fit in with resources and limitations of technology; balancing the amount of online material (hosted on UCL's existing virtual learning infrastructure) that could be self-directed, with the logistics of running numerous live person-to-person interactive elements using MS Teams.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.batod.org.uk/information/batod-association-magazine-2021/
 
Description Blanche Neville School Visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact We were visited by Blanche Neville School on 28 February, where their students had the chance to learn about the research and work we conduct at DCAL.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Blog: 'La cogniciĂłn, el lenguaje y el cerebro de las personas sordas'. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Blog about deafness, language and cognition in Spanish. The aim is to promote our work in other languages, and reach a larger and more diverse audience. 'La cognición, el lenguaje y el cerebro de las personas sordas'.
https://deafbrainplasticity.com/2024/03/25/la-cognicion-el-lenguaje-y-el-cerebro-de-las-personas-sordas/
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://deafbrainplasticity.com/2024/03/25/la-cognicion-el-lenguaje-y-el-cerebro-de-las-personas-sor...
 
Description Chair for BSL Expert Panel 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact I was invited by Education Wales to be the chair of an expert group. This group was responsible for developing a BSL Glossary for Education Wales. This glossary will be made available to all those working in education in Wales.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2022-08/atisn16508doc1.pdf
 
Description Chair for Expert Group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact I was invited by Open Inclusion to chair an expert group in order to obtain feedback on their TV viewing experiences. In particular, Open Inclusion wanted to know about deaf people's viewing experiences and how they interacted with captions, in-vision interpreting, live interpreting/captioning etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Clive Mason and Bencie Woll - Language Impairments in the development of sign 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Clive Mason interviews Bencie Woll about a research project she worked on with Gary Morgan. The research project's paper is called 'Language impairments in the development of sign: Do they reside in a specific modality or are they modality-independent deficits?' which sparked discussion and questions afterwards on social media.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwJv-fpK17U&t=16s
 
Description Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The project was presented to a group of practitioners attending the British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children (BATOD).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.batod.org.uk/event/batod-national-conference-2022/
 
Description Coronavirus E-Books 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact DCAL in collaboration with Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children produced four e-books for deaf children about coronavirus, in British Sign Language. This was an initiative started by the RISE books project in the US, led by Donna Jo Napoli and Gene Mirus. Their team did these books (and others) for American Sign Language, and then invited DCAL and others from many countries to sign the books in other sign languages - https://riseebooks.wixsite.com/access/copy-of-coronavirus-stories. These books are incredibly valuable for deaf children whose first or preferred language is British Sign Language (BSL) - providing them with access to crucial information about what coronavirus is, in a way that's directly accessible to them
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://riseebooks.wixsite.com/access/copy-of-coronavirus-stories
 
Description DCAL 2019 Christmas Newsletter 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact DCAL's 2019 Christmas Newsletter was sent to a mail list over over 1000 members of the public, practitioners and policy influencers to inform people of our research updates.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dcal/dcal-newsletters/2019-dcal-christmas-newletter
 
Description DCAL 2020 Christmas Newsletter 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact DCAL's 2020 Christmas Newsletter was sent to a mail list over over 1000 members of the public, practitioners and policy influencers to inform people of our research updates.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dcal/dcal-newsletters/2020-dcal-christmas-newsletter
 
Description DCAL stall at BSL Curriculum Launch Event at Frank Barnes School for deaf children 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact DCAL stall promoting DCAL research to attendees at event.
Kate Rowley provided a presentation on "Language Acquisition: Get It?" at Frank Barnes deaf school to a large audience attending to for the "Celebrating the launch of the BSL Curriculum for Primary and Secondary Schools" event.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.fbarnes.camden.sch.uk/the-launch/
 
Description Deaf Awareness: Working and Communicating Well with Deaf People (Online Course) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This self-paced online course was created to provide individuals and organisations with the knowledge and skills necessary to communicate effectively with deaf people. The course covers key topics such as the different experiences of deafness, models of deaf identity, historical and societal perspectives, communication methods, and legal requirements under the Equality Act 2010.

The intended outcome is to improve deaf awareness across various sectors, fostering a more inclusive society by equipping participants with practical tools to support accessibility. Employers and service providers who complete the course gain insights that help them better accommodate deaf colleagues and clients, ultimately improving workplace inclusivity and customer satisfaction.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023,2024,2025
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/short-courses/search-courses/deaf-awareness-working-and-communicating-well-dea...
 
Description Deaf Brain - CPD event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact MacSweeney and Cardin delivered 2hr CPD information session on the 'Deaf Brain' for 21 Speech and Language Therapists across Ireland (North and South). Excellent feedback received.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/research/deafness-cognition-and-language-dcal/study-dcal/short-courses-an...
 
Description Deaf Brain Public Engagement Event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Organisation and delivery of the 'Deaf Brain' science dissemination event. This event presented and discussed knowledge gained about deafness, language and cognition from research on neuroscience. A panel of national and international deaf and hearing experts presented their work to an international audience of attendants. The presenters were: Dr. Lauren Berger (Gaulladet, DC), Dr. Joanna Atkinson ( NHS), Prof. Mairead MacSweeney (DCAL, UCL), Prof. Bencie Woll (DCAL, UCL), and Dr. Velia Cardin (DCAL, UCL). The event was aimed primarily at deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, but it was also attended by academics, teachers, artists, interpreters and other members of the general public. Presentations were mainly delivered in British Sign Language, American Sign Language and English, and interpreted simultaneosly. This event was also part of a series of events celebrating 15 years of the Deafness, Cognition and Language (DCAL) Research Centre.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Deaf Day - City Lit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Stall at City Lit College - Deaf Day - April 2023 and 2022.
TO engage with wide range of deaf people and professionals in the field about our research
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022,2023,2024
URL https://www.citylit.ac.uk/deaf-day
 
Description Deaf Drag Bingo 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact DCAL celebrated the release of the LGBTQ+ BSL Glossary on Deaf Rainbow UK website by hosting Deaf Drag Bingo event on 23rd November
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2024/jan/british-sign-language-lgbtq-glossary-developed-ucl-researchers
 
Description Deaf Migrants' Experiences and Needs Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact In collaboration with Deaf migrants, a two-day event was held to learn about their lives in London. The event examined services and aimed to identify areas for better outcomes locally and nationally. Everyone focused on cooperation and research to provide comprehensive support.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/news/2023/mar/deaf-migrants-experiences-and-needs-explored-ucl-event
 
Description Deaf Rainbow UK: How more LGBTQ+ signs are being recognised in an online glossary (BSL) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article on Limping Chicken was published about our LGBTQ+ BSL Glossary project and our Deaf Drag Bingo night
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://limpingchicken.com/2024/01/09/deaf-rainbow-uk-how-more-lgbtq-signs-are-being-recognised-in-a...
 
Description Development of resources 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I developed a series of video clips explaining language and literacy development in deaf children. This is now available to practitioners working with deaf children in Wales.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Dr Velia Cardin - Dissociating Cognitive and Sensory Neural Plasticity in the Brain 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Dr Velia Cardin produced a lay summary of a paper 'Dissociating Cognitive and Sensory Neural Plasticity in the Brain' which sparked discussion and questions afterwards.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8guOwSsuO8Y&t=18s
 
Description Expert working group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I was part of an expert working group where we discussed BSL signs in relation to LGBTQIA+ terms. The group was made up of about 8 people and I provided the group with linguistic advice. The agreed signs were then filmed and is now available on the Deaf Rainbow website.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://deafrainbowuk.org.uk/bsl-glossary/
 
Description Family Day at the British Library 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Stall at Family Day at the British Library on 21st Sept. To engage with wide range of deaf people and professionals in the field about our research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Festschrift for Professor Bencie Woll 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Festschrift symposium in honour of Professor Bencie Woll on the occasion of her retirement - Professor at UCL, Fellow of the British Academy, Director of DCAL, sign language linguist.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO3wM1iuqTU
 
Description Fiona Kyle: Introduction to DCAL Portal 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact DCAL researchers have developed nine research-informed assessments suitable for use with the deaf population. The DCAL Portal provides access to these online assessments of sign language, speechreading and cognition for use by practitioners and researchers.

Fiona Kyle introduced the DCAL Portal and the range of online tests that it offers. She explained how to get started with using the Portal and give a walk-through demonstration of how to use it.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL http://www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/courses/deaf/dfeb22d.html
 
Description Frances Elton Memorial 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact A one day event, directed towards the deaf community, which explored issues in sign language teaching, the British deaf community, and future developments, in the context of a memorial to Fances Elton, a pioneer of BSL teaching in the UK and a former member of DCAL
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description G Hodge invited presentation at Harvard University, USA. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Hodge, G. & S. Gulamani. (2022). Showing and seeing: Enactment in British Sign Language conversations. Meaning & Modality Linguistics Laboratory, 20 January. Harvard University, USA.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Hodge, G. (2021). What is the value of signed language corpora for Deaf Studies? SIGNS@HWU Roundtable Series, 19 May. Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Gab Hodge participated in a roundtalbe discussion on the value of signed language corpora for Deaf Studies.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description How British Sign Language developed its own dialects, The Conversation. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Schembri A, Cormier K. 2019. How British Sign Language developed its own dialects. The Conversation, 5 March 2019. https://theconversation.com/how-british-sign-language-developed-its-own-dialects-112445
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://theconversation.com/how-british-sign-language-developed-its-own-dialects-112445
 
Description In2Science 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Volunteered as a mentor for In2Science, 2020. Due to COVID19 this was online in 2020.
In2scienceUK empowers young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve their potential through life changing opportunities that give them insights into STEM careers and research and boosts their skills and confidence.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://in2scienceuk.org/
 
Description In2Science Mentor 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact In2Science is a charity supporting yr 12 students from under-represented groups to gain experience of STEM areas of research. I volunteered as a mentor (online) 2022 and 2023. I was also nominated as 'mentor of the week' in 2023.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022,2023
URL https://in2scienceuk.org/
 
Description Indie Beedie: Disability History Month Newsletter 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Indie Beedie took part in a Newsletter for Disability History Month where she discussed intersectionality, deafness in the workplace and disability equity.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?e=__test_email__&u=4d8a82fe167a8f84d4c39f126&id=a454463118
 
Description Indie Beedie: Haben Girma: the Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Indie Beedie wrote an article for Disability History Month on Haben Girma as an inspirational deaf-blind figure.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/fbs-edi/2021/12/01/haben-girma-the-deafblind-woman-who-conquered-harvard-law...
 
Description Interview for Socially Sound (Social Media Influencers) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I appeared as an academic expert on how hearing children with deaf parents develop language. I was interviewed by social media influencers, Sarah Adedeji and Kirsty Jade. This interview is available on Instagram and YouTube.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwm3OfC-se4
 
Description Interview for TV 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I appeared as an academic expert on Rose Ayling Ellis' programme, Signs for Change, and met with Rose. We talked about language and I carried out language assessments on Rose (English and BSL, British Sign Language). This was broadcast on BBC One.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001n9sr
 
Description Interview for deaf magazine programme 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact I was interviewed by See Hear (a magazine programme for deaf people) about BSL Slang. This was broadcasted on 6th March 2024.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Interview on LBC radio 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact radio interview about new GCSE in BSL.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/british-sign-language-gcse-schools-england-government/
 
Description Interview with BBC Radio Coventry 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interview by BBC Radio Coventry on the history of BSL, as part of their Sign Language Week compaign "Sign Up to Sign". The presenter of the programme and leader of the campaign is a hearing native signer.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Interview with RAI Italian Television 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interview with RAI Italian television about the newly launched 999 Sign Language Service for their main news bulletin in Italy.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Invited Keynote 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact I was invited to talk about bimodal bilingualism in deaf children at the British Deaf Association's (BDA) BSL (British Sign Language) Conference. I received a standing ovation for my talk.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://bda.org.uk/bda-announces-bsl-conference/
 
Description Invited Keynote 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I presented at the 2nd Rehabilitation Conference for Hearing Impairment. This conference was attended by over 50 practitioners working with deaf children - mostly audiologists, speech and language therapists and teachers of deaf children. I talked about literacy development in deaf children.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.batod.org.uk/event/aesculap-academia-save-the-date-2nd-rehabilitation-conference-for-hea...
 
Description Invited Talk 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I was invited to give a talk on language and literacy development at the British Deaf Association (BDA) annual meeting/conference/AGM.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://bda.org.uk/protect-preserve-promote/
 
Description Invited Talk 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A group of speech and language therapists working with deaf children attended a talk about bilingualism in deaf children - how deaf children can learn both British Sign Language (BSL) and English.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Invited Talk 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I, along with Joanna Atkinson, was invited to give a talk about our research into healthy aging deaf adults (50+). We explained that previous research enabled us to develop norms for health aging deaf adults who use British Sign Language (BSL) as their main language and those findings were useful for diagnosis and treatment of deaf adults who have developed age-related illnesses/disorders (e.g., stroke, dementia). This was part of a drive to recruit further participants and to collect more norms for various cognitive and language assessments. This took place at the annual Deaf UK 50+ gathering, this time in Blackpool, United Kingdom, where there were over 350 attendees.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://deafuk50plus.co.uk/upcoming-trip/blackpool-2023/
 
Description Invited departmental talk at the University of Oslo 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Gave a departmental talk at the University of Oslo to academics and postgraduate students.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Invited lecture 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Practitioners working with deaf children - teachers and teacher assistants - attended a webinar about how to prevent language deprivation in deaf children. This led to questions and discussions afterwards. Some practitioners found it very useful for their work and would implement some of the recommendations I made in their work.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Jonathan Keane: How companies can make their remote working inclusive for the deaf and blind 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Jonathan Keane produced an article on the future of work utilising DCAL's published accessible remote work guidelines. Jonathan questioned Sannah Gulamani and Mairead and DCAL is cited in the article.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/20/how-to-make-remote-working-inclusive-for-the-deaf-and-blind.html
 
Description Kate Rowley & Patrick Rosenbury: BBC See Hear. Deaf, Little and Loud. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Kate Rowley and Patrick Rosenburg took part in a BBC See Hear special called Deaf, Little and Loud looking at Deaf Children's Development. Both were experts observing and providing commentary on the children.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00144cs/see-hear-series-41-episode-15
 
Description Kate Rowley - This is Deaf 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Kate Rowley appeared on This is Deaf with Ahmed Mudawi on BSLBT in December 2021
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.bslzone.co.uk/watch/deaf-series-1/deaf-education
 
Description Kate Rowley - Young Futures 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Kate Rowley joined a seminar run by the NDCS called 'Young Futures' to talk about her career path.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ndcs.org.uk/our-services/our-events/events-for-children-and-young-people/your-future-web...
 
Description Kate Rowley: How do deaf children learn to read - LBC Radio 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Kate Rowley was approached to answer a question from LBC Mystery Hour where people can phone and ask random questions. Someone called in and asked 'how do deaf children learn to read?' Kate Rowley answered the question on national radio using her expertise in the field.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.globalplayer.com/catchup/lbc/london/episodes/2zGyiANejRSVgYkEuHP8qLbkTW/?t=9243
 
Description Kate Rowley: Sign Language Is Not Universal - LBC Radio 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Kate Rowley featured on LBC on the 2nd December to talk about how Sign Language is not Universal.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Keynote presentation at the National Australian Conference for Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Keynote at the National Australian Conference for Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf 2023. It was a hybrid event to approximately 150 delegates.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description LGBTQ+ BSL glossary in collaboration with Deaf Rainbow UK 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Dr Kate Rowley, Tyron Woolfe, Patrick Rosenburg and Calum Medlock worked together to carry out the LGBTQ+ BSL Glossary Project funded by LGBTQ+ Equality Implementation Group. Kate held 3 sessions with 10 participants to discuss and confirm LGBTQ+ BSL signs. Further work was made to create videos teaching how to sign the new terms, which was added to Deaf Rainbow UK's website.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://deafrainbowuk.org.uk/bsl-glossary/
 
Description Lay Summaries 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Lay summaries provide a concise explanation of research projects, designed to be easily understood by the general public. These summaries are filmed in British Sign Language with voice-over and captions and are shared across social media platforms such as Facebook, X, and Instagram. Since 2021, we have published ten lay summary videos spanning multiple years, covering a range of topics in sign language and deaf studies. This ongoing initiative ensures our research remains accessible to a broad audience, engaging thousands of viewers internationally and facilitating knowledge exchange beyond academic circles.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021,2022,2024,2025
URL https://www.youtube.com/@DCAL_UCL
 
Description Limping Chicken - Joana Pereira: Research on the importance of Deaf-led Signed Songs in the UK and Portugal 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Joana Pereira was invited to write an artlcle for Limping Chicken on her research on Deaf-Led Signed Songs in BSL and Portuguese Sign Language at UCL.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flimpingchicken.com%2F2021%2F03%2F1...
 
Description Limping Chicken : Sannah Gulamani: Remote Working: the impact on deaf people (with BSL video) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article about Remote Working Guidelines created by DCAL and the impact of home working and zoom calls with suggestions for better working practice for deaf and hearing people.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://limpingchicken.com/2020/10/02/sannah-gulamani-remote-working-the-impact-on-deaf-people-with-...
 
Description Magazine article 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Patients, carers and/or patient groups
Results and Impact This was a magazine article entitled, 'how to make sure your deaf child develops language', and it was published in the Cochlear Implanted Children's Support Group magazine.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Modification of indicating verbs in BSL. Jordan Fenlon, Adam Schembri & Kearsy Cormier 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Clive Mason giving a summary of a research project that was published by Jordan Fenlon, Adam Schembri and Kearsy Cormier about modification of indicating verbs in British Sign Language: A corpus-based study which sparked discussion and questions on social media.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGwV5x2xCbA&t=128s
 
Description Newspaper Article, "Yes, Love Island's Tasha has a deaf accent - and it's just one of many" by Kate Rowley 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Dr Kate Rowley's deaf perspective on a deaf issue mentioned in the newspaper.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://twitter.com/RogerBeeson/status/1550009505089552386
 
Description Participation at the BSL Conference 2024 in Manchester 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Stall at BSL Conference 2024 in Manchester on Friday April 26th 2024. To engage with wide range of deaf people and professionals in the field about our research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://bda.org.uk/bsl-conference-2024/
 
Description Podcast 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I took part in a podcast, 'New Thinking' podcast episode with Dr Naomi Paxton (presenter) and Gerardo Ortega Delgado (linguist) and we discussed the latest research in BSL.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Podcast Interview: What's the BSL sign for 'Throuple'? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Patrick Rosenburg was invited to attend a podcast interview about the LGBTQ+ BSL Glossary project
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0h55ngf
 
Description Postgraduate Study at DCAL - Taster Day 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact DCAL hosted an online Postgraduate Taster Day on Wednesday, 13th November 2024, from 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM. The event was designed for prospective Master's and PhD students interested in studying at DCAL. The session provided insights into DCAL's research areas, including the development of cognition and language, sign language linguistics, and the neuroscience of deafness and sign language. Attendees also had the opportunity to learn about postgraduate pathways, research opportunities, and the support available for students. The event was delivered in BSL and English, with BSL and International Sign interpreters and captions provided.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/events/2024/nov/postgraduate-study-dcal-taster-day-13th-november-2024
 
Description Presentation at Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children for "Preserving, Protecting and Promoting BSL Day" 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Preserving British Sign Language: BSL Corpus. Presented at Preserving, Protecting and Promoting BSL Day, Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children (Deaf community outreach event), 5 October 2022.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Presentation at UCL International Day of People with Disabilities Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Deafness Cognition and Language. Session led with Indie Beedie, UCL International Day of People with Disabilities Conference. Topic: Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world. University College London, 2 Dec 2022.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/students/events/2022/dec/international-day-persons-disabilities-conference-202...
 
Description Presentation to National Deaf CAMHS 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Carly Anderson, Kate Rowley and Patrick Rosenburg delivered a presentation to external organization called National Deaf CAMHS on 3rd July 2024, it was a staff study morning and the title of presentation was sign and spoken language comprehension in deaf individuals: Theories from brain imaging and practical applications.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Radio Interview 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I appeared as an academic expert on sign language, and how deaf people develop and process sign language. This was on BBC Radio 3 with Dr Naomi Paxton and Gerardo Ortega.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0f81jz0
 
Description Rebecca A Withey: Deaf Migrants in London, a research event hosted by UCL (BSL) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The article highlights a two-day event at University College London focused on the experiences of Deaf Migrants in London, aiming to shed light on their unique challenges and needs. It brought together ten Deaf Migrants from diverse backgrounds to discuss key issues, facilitated by a Deaf Migrant, revealing a significant gap in accessible information and support. The discussions underscored the migrants' struggles with language barriers, rights awareness, and service access, leading to feelings of isolation and invisibility. The event prompted a call for improved language learning opportunities, better service criteria clarity, and increased involvement of Deaf Migrants in service planning, aiming to enhance their integration and well-being in British society.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://limpingchicken.com/2023/05/03/rebecca-a-withey-deaf-migrants-in-london-a-research-event-host...
 
Description Robert Adam - Ghostwriting: Deaf translators within the Deaf Community. Chris Stone, Robert Adam and Breda Carty 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Robert Adam giving a summary of a research project that was published with Chris Stone and Breda Carty about deaf translators within the Deaf Community which sparked discussions and questions linked to the research on social media afterwards.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HKtgqz21fs&t=19s
 
Description TV programme 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I appeared as an expert/presenter on BBC's See Hear. The programme was entitled, 'Deaf, Little and Loud' and was a fly on the wall programme - similar to Secret Lives of Cats/Dogs etc. and I observed/commented on deaf children's language. This had a big impact and many people approached me sharing how much they learnt from the programme.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Talk at Edinburgh Deaf Club 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Talk at Edinburgh Deaf Club about the links between the Choshu 5 (founders of modern Japan, who attended UCL in the mid-19th century) and deaf workers in Glasgow at the time, and the consequent establishment of the first Japanese school for the deaf. Attended by representatives of deaf education in Japan, Japanese Consulate in Edinburgh, and members of the Scottish deaf community. The event linked to research currently being undertaken by a deaf Japanese academic on this topic.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Television programme 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I featured in BBC's See Hear as an expert on deaf children's language access and socialisation. This was a documentary on deaf education and language development in deaf children. See Hear is a magazine programme for deaf and hard of hearing people and is on BBC Two.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Testing in Sign Languages (Briefing Sheet) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact This briefing sheet provides information on sign language testing, including what sign languages are and who uses them, common misconceptions about sign languages and sign language testing, why assessing sign languages is important, and unique factors to consider when testing sign languages. The authors explain that sign languages are natural languages used by over 70 million deaf people worldwide, and that sign language testing is necessary for educational, research, and clinical purposes. They also highlight the need for careful consideration of language background and quality of language exposure, and suggest that sign language tests should be trialled and normed on deaf populations for each signed language. Finally, they provide advice for sign language test developers, including avoiding highly iconic signs and items that can easily be gestured, being aware of lexical variation within each signed language, and using video technology for test delivery and scoring.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://ukalta.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/UKALTA-BS1-22-Sign-Language-Testing.pdf
 
Description The Essay - Sign Language Is My Language: Christopher Laing 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Kate Rowley and DCAL mentioned in relation to SignStrokes project
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0cywzp2?fbclid=IwAR1X7r52LnLw-xdDNw6cJPuojpEZFbBi-Pp2lKgrinUrvCwQu...
 
Description The Legacy of DCAL - A celebration of 15 years of research excellence. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The Legacy of DCAL - A celebration of 15 years of research excellence. This was a science dissemination event. This event presented and discussed knowledge gained about deafness, language and cognition from research on linguistics, psychology and neuroscience. A panel of national and international deaf and hearing experts presented their work to an international audience of attendants.

9th November - 6pm - 7.30pm
Visual Vernacular Performance by Zoe McWhinney followed by Q&A and presentations on BSL Linguistics and Technology
- Panel discussion of Visual Vernacular, International Sign Language and Sign Language linguistics with Zoe McWhinney, Neil Fox (DCAL-UCL), Bencie Woll (DCAL-UCL) and Robert Adam (Heriot-Watt)

10th November - 6pm - 7.30pm
- Deaf Education and DCAL. Collaborative presentation with Kate Rowley (DCAL-UCL), Dani Sive (Headteacher of Frank Barnes) and Clare Nelder (Chair of DToD).

11th November - 6pm - 7.30pm
- The Deaf Brain - Chaired by Bencie Woll (DCAL-UCL). Presentations from Velia Cardin (DCAL-UCL), Joanna Atkinson (NHS), Lauren Berger (Gaulladet, DC) and Mairead MacSweeney (DCAL-UCL).

The event was aimed primarily at deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, but it was also attended by academics, teachers, artists, interpreters and other members of the general public. Presentations were mainly delivered in British Sign Language, American Sign Language and English, and interpreted simultaneosly
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description The Light Wave Project - Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A video project Led by Deaf artist Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq and the east London deaf community, to recognise the richness of the community's history, culture and language in collaboration with Bencie Woll published on DCAL's youtube with subtitles and soundtrack. Engagement with the community. Funded by UCL Culture.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OzaxlRzHLA
 
Description The Psychologist: Joanna Atkinson: What are the barriers to our profession, and how can we remove them? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Dr. Joanna Atkinson submitted a response to 'What are the barriers to our profession, and how can we remove them?'. The article provided an insight into personal and professional barriers that can exist in the journey to and through psychology.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-34/february-2021/what-are-barriers-our-profession-and-how-...
 
Description Webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact I took part in a webinar where I talked about my career to young deaf people. This was recorded and is now available on the National Deaf Children's Society's (NDCS) website.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ndcs.org.uk/our-services/our-events/events-for-children-and-young-people/your-future-web...
 
Description Website Article - "Love Island's Tasha is the show's first deaf contestant - here's what you should know about deaf accents" by Kate Rowley 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Kate Rowley wrote this article for The Conversation UK about deaf accents. The comments on the article show that people engaged with the content and provided additional insights and questions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://theconversation.com/love-islands-tasha-is-the-shows-first-deaf-contestant-heres-what-you-sho...
 
Description Workshop for NextSense Australia 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Delivered a one day workshop on reading development in deaf children to approximately 100 teachers and practitioners in Australia.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Workshop on the DCAL Portal at the BATOD conference September 2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This workshop began by introducing the DCAL Portal and the range of online tests that it offers. Dr Kyle explained how to get started with using the Portal and gave a walk-through demonstration of how to use it. The workshop presented the assessments most commonly used by teachers of the deaf to measure language abilities and language development in deaf children. The workshop focused on the BSL Receptive Skills Test, the Test of Child Speechreading, BSL Vocabulary Test and the BSL Communicative Development Inventory.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description • Hodge, G. & L. Ferrara. (22 February 2021). How we can make language theory more inclusive? Auslan vlog and English blog for Acadeafic. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An Auslan and English blog for Acadeafic which is a platform that vlogs and blogs about sign language and Deaf Studies research for the general public and has an international reach. Discussion was sparked on social media and direct contact and engagement made with Gab Hodge on her work in the blog.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020,2021
URL https://acadeafic.org/2021/02/22/language-theory/
 
Description • Hodge, G. & S. Gulamani. (2021). Showing and seeing: Enactment in British Sign Language conversations. Centre for Language Evolution, 8 June 2021. University of Edinburgh, UK. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Gab Hodge and Sannah Gulamani gave a talk about Enactment in British Sign Language conversations at the University of Edinburgh
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description • Hodge, G. & S. Racz-Engelhardt. (2021). Perspectives on Sign Language Research: A conversation with Dr. Gabrielle Hodge. Institut fĂĽr Deutsche Gebärdensprache, 15 December. Universität Hamburg, Germany. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Hodge & Racz-Engelhardt engaged in a discussion on perspectives on Sign Language Research at Institut für Deutsche Gebärdensprache. Universität Hamburg, Germany.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description • Hodge, G. (19 November 2020). Getting "Under My Skin": Exploring deaf and hearing communication practices in dance. IS vlog and English blog for Acadeafic. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Gab Hodge wrote a blog for Acadeafic which is a platform for academic vlogs and blogs about sign language and Deaf Studies research which sparked discussion on social media and direct contact with Gab Hodge on the content of the blog.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://acadeafic.org/2020/11/19/getting-under-my-skin/
 
Description • Hodge, G. (2020). Signed languages and corpus linguistics: what can we learn about why languages differ? UCL Sign Language Society, 16 November. University College London, UK. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact Gab Hodge gave a talk about sign language and why languages differ to the UCL Sign Language Society.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020