Please report any queries concerning the funding data grouped in the sections named "Externally Awarded" or "Internally Disbursed" (shown on the profile page) to
your Research Finance Administrator. Your can find your Research Finance Administrator at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/finance/research/rs-contacts.php by entering your department
Please report any queries concerning the student data shown on the profile page to:
Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
Help Desk: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ras/portico/helpdesk
Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
Help Desk: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ras/portico/helpdesk
› More search options
Prof Bencie Woll
1.01
DCAL
49 Gordon Square
London
WC1H 0PD
Tel: 020 7679 8670
Fax: 020 7679 8691
Appointment
- Honorary Professor
- Div of Psychology & Lang Sciences
- Faculty of Brain Sciences
Biography
I am a linguist by training and came to UCL in August 2005 from my previous post at City University London, where I held a Chair in Sign Language and Deaf Studies, the first in this field in the UK. Before coming to London, I was at Bristol, where I first worked on language acquisition and then was a co-founder of the Centre for Deaf Studies, pioneering research on the linguistics of BSL and on Deaf Studies. I was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2012.
Research Groups
See More
See LessResearch Themes
Research Summary
My research and teaching interests embrace a wide range of topics related to sign language.
These include the linguistics of British Sign Language (BSL) and other sign languages, the history and sociolinguistics of BSL and the Deaf community, the development of BSL in young children, sign language, deafness and the brain, and developmental and acquired sign language impairments. I established and now direct the Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre, with core funding of 9,500,000 from the ESRC over ten years, from 2006-2015. This is the largest research centre in this field in Europe, with 3 co-directors, and over 30 staff, research students, and associates, working in several main research themes: Sign Language documentation and Sign Language change; Foundations of Communication, Hemispheric organisation of language processing; Iconicity as a link between language and cognition; Cognitive Control: executive functions; the nature of internal representations for sign and gesture.
These include the linguistics of British Sign Language (BSL) and other sign languages, the history and sociolinguistics of BSL and the Deaf community, the development of BSL in young children, sign language, deafness and the brain, and developmental and acquired sign language impairments. I established and now direct the Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre, with core funding of 9,500,000 from the ESRC over ten years, from 2006-2015. This is the largest research centre in this field in Europe, with 3 co-directors, and over 30 staff, research students, and associates, working in several main research themes: Sign Language documentation and Sign Language change; Foundations of Communication, Hemispheric organisation of language processing; Iconicity as a link between language and cognition; Cognitive Control: executive functions; the nature of internal representations for sign and gesture.
Teaching Summary
I teach modules on Sign Linguistics and on Deafness, Cognition and Language within the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences as well as supervising MPhil and PhD students. With colleagues, I have recently developed a new on-line self-directed course in BSL.
Academic Background
| 1992 | PhD | Doctor of Philosophy – Linguistics | University of Bristol |
| 1971 | MA | Master of Arts – Theoretical Linguistics | University of Essex |
| 1970 | BA | Bachelor of Arts – Linguistics | University of Pennsylvania |
