My primary research interest focuses on multilingual acquisition and its effects on cognitive control, memory and metacognitive processing from infancy to older age.

My work on multilingualism has been heavily inspired by historical debates among philosophers, linguists, psychologists and educators, where second language acquisition, especially in children, was considered detrimental for cognitive development, an idea that unfortunately has paved its way into today’s thinking that multilingual learners have "special needs". In fact, in my professional contacts with parents, I frequently find educators who discourage multilingual families to raise their children as multilinguals because ‘two languages in a single mind will delay their "normal" cognitive development’.

My work shows unequivocally that multilingual acquisition is not detrimental for cognitive and linguistic development and enables education practitioners and policy makers to make informed decisions on the importance of second language learning in childhood and lifelong education. 

I have been the first to apply a developmental method of investigation embracing the whole lifespan to the study of multilingualism. I use a convergence of experimental methodologies including behavioural tasks, neuroimaging (magnetic resonance imaging – MRI), eye-tracking and computational modelling. 

By using brain imaging of large, well-matched samples of multilingual and monolingual speakers, I have provided new and robust evidence about how a multilinguistic experience can change brain structure and function. A better understanding of functional anatomy is particularly important for rehabilitation therapies following brain damage.

I have significantly contributed to dissipate the misleading belief that acquiring multiple languages in early stages of life can be detrimental. In particular, the evidence that I provided has shown that multilingualism may be particularly beneficial within the disadvantaged population: my recent work has provided empirical evidence that low socio-economic status bilingual speakers outperform monolingual peers in crucial executive function skills. This evidence is vital to promote second language learning in the more deprived areas of our societies in which the pandemic has impacted on the population.

Recently, I have broadened my area of research from the classical WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic) populations, to ongoing projects targeting multicultural, multilingual and socio-economic diversity. I firmly believe that a complete understanding of the ontogeny and phylogeny of the developing human mind depends on sampling diversity. In 2021, in collaboration with Prof. Li Wei, I obtained UCL Global Exchange Funds to establish a partnership with Beit Berl College in Israel to study the attainment gap among the Arab-Israeli disadvantaged pupils after the pandemic in Israel, and propose new interventions based on blended learning and parental engagement to Israeli policy makers.

I have built a network of 14 primary 21 secondary and 2 Special schools in Cambridgeshire through a proactive collaboration with multi-academy Trusts. This collaboration has already produced significant results. In 2021, in collaboration with the UCL Centre for Inclusive Education, I obtained Higher Education and Innovation funds (HEIF) to carry out a knowledge exchange project in collaboration with 4 primary schools in Cambridgeshire. The project aims to support teachers in their language interaction and communication with children in reception classes in schools with high density of multilingual families. I am also extending my research interest to genetic methodologies, including behavioural and molecular genetics.