The University's first annual lecture on disability issues was delivered this week by Professor Usha Goswami, one of the country's leading cognitive developmental psychologists, who spoke on a cross-language approach to developmental dyslexia.

Usha Goswami has returned to Cambridge to take up the post of Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education. Previously Professor of Cognitive Developmental Psychology at the Institute of Child Health, University College London. She is no stranger to Cambridge, having been a Lecturer in Experimental Psychology at the University from 1990 - 1997.

Usha Goswami works primarily on reading acquisition and dyslexia, and she also works on basic learning processes such as learning by analogy. Her psychological research and writing are internationally admired, and have already been influential in education, especially in relation to aspects of the National Literacy Strategy.

Her current goal is to set up a Centre for Neuroscience in Education in the Faculty, with a dedicated laboratory being constructed as part of the new Faculty Building on the Hills Road site and a lectureship in Neuroscience in Education about to be advertised. Cambridge already has world-class expertise in basic and clinical neuroscience, making a Centre for Neuroscience in Education an important strategic development.

Recognition of the potential value of neuroscience for education is growing all the time, but there are currently rather few laboratories around the world that are even pursuing education-relevant agendas. As well as being focused around a programme of strong research, the Centre will play an important role in educating potential users about what current neuroscience can offer education. Professor Goswami already uses cognitive neuroscience techniques including fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and ERP (event related potentials) to study the brain mechanisms involved in reading in both dyslexic children and deaf adults.

The planned Centre will focus particularly on ERP measures of language as a tool for examining educational questions. Professor Goswami's appointment is intended to strengthen psychology in the Faculty of Education, which hopes eventually to offer courses in Mind, Brain and Education in partnership with the Graduate School of Education at Harvard.

The lecture was organised by the Disability Resource Centre and sponsored by St. John's College.


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