Public talks
September 2026: MultiAge visited the Sahara Memory
Cafè (organised by Alzheimer’s Society) in Stockport, in order to meet
the members and have an informal discussion on language usage, dementia
and cognition.
August 2026: Imran represented MultiAge at the
Pakistani Arts & Culture Association’s monthly cultural gathering
for Pothwari shers (poetry), at the Lodge Community Centre, West
Bromwich. In addition to the shers, a traditional poetic and recitation
art form from the Pothwar region of Pakistan, the event included a short
talk by Imran on Pahari-Pothwari/English bilingualism in younger and
older communities.
May 2026: MultiAge visited the Sahara Memory Cafè
(organised by Alzheimer’s Society) in Rochdale, in order to meet the
members and have an informal discussion on language usage, dementia and
cognition.
May 2026: MultiAge visited the British Muslim Heritage
Centre at Manchester during the jummah. We were glad that we sparked an
open conversation about language switching and cognition in dementia. We
are thankful to the BMHC for the generous invitation and to the large
community for their helpful feedback and involved discussions. It was
also an absolute pleasure to see a historical heritage site mosque and
we surely took many photos of the fantastic building and court yard!
April 2026: We presented a talk at the Henry Barran
Community Centre, Leeds - ladies’ group. We spoke about ageing and
multilingualism, as well as the importance of practicing both languages
for ageing.
February 2026: We gave a talk at the Henry Barran
Community Centre, Leeds. We spoke about ageing and multilingualism at
the men’s community group, where discussion concentrated on the role of
the home language across the generations and the importance of social
networks for practicing both languages.
January 2026: We presented two talks and held
discussions for the women’s and men’s groups in the Pakistani Community
Centre, Derby. Our discussions sparked genuine interest in the
importance of research on multilingual heritage-language communities in
the UK, and generally - on the value of studying language control in
older adults.
January 2026: We visited the GAP SHAP group in
Newcastle, where we spoke about multilingualism and ageing, and enjoyed
a very welcoming and engaged discussion on the topic.
November 2025: We were invited to Small Heath’s
Neighbourhood Planning event, Birmingham. We spoke about the importance
of multilingualism in our community and neighbourhood, and how
multilingual people’s cognitive and language abilities may change with
age. We specifically addressed the importance of including
multilinguals’ voices in the better scientific understanding of ageing
and dementia.
November 2025: We gave a talk at Hamara Centre’s
men’s group, Leeds. We discussed the meaning of multilingualism, the
status of South Asian languages in the UK, and how our brain changes -
including its language abilities - when we age.
October 2025: We gave a talk at Hamara Centre’s women’s
group, Leeds. Here we discussed the nature of multilingualism in the
context of South Asian languages, how languages change across
generations, as well as language and ageing more broadly.
August 2025: Our team gave a talk at Longsight
Community Art Space, Manchester, for the Chai Kahni group for local men.
We spoke about language and ageing and presented an overview of the
MultiAge project.
May 2025: Dr Zlati Ilchovska presented a general-public
talk on bilingual brains’ potential, as part of the multinational
multi-city “Pint of Science” festival, York, UK. She talked about the
value of bilingualism and the benefits it can offer to us, while also
debunking a few popular myths about bilingualism!
Conference presentations and posters
June 2026: Zlati presented a poster at the 6th
International Symposium on Bilingual and L2 Processing in Adults and
Children (ISBPAC), held at the University of Reading. She presented some
preliminary data on language control in the context of connected speech
and ageing.
Ilchovska, Z. G., Nazir, F., Arif, I., & de Bruin, A. (2026, June).
The effects of ageing and interactional context on language control
in connected speech. 6th International Symposium on Bilingual and
L2 Processing in Adults and Children, Reading, UK.
June 2026: Angela gave a talk, while Zlati presented a
poster at the Conference on Multilingualsm, held at Université Toulouse
– Jean Jaurès in Toulouse, France. We presented some preliminary data on
picture naming and ageing, and once again showcased the potential of
Angela’s established research on bilingualism, lexical alignment and
ageing.
de Bruin, A., Jones, E. G., & Sequeira, A. (2026, June). Lexical
alignment within and across languages in bilingual younger and older
adults. Conference on Multilingualsm, Toulouse, France.
Ilchovska, Z. G., Arif, I., Nazir, F., & de Bruin, A. (2026, June).
Language control with ageing in heritage language speakers: Cued and
voluntary language switching contexts. Conference on
Multilingualsm, Toulouse, France.
May 2026: Nora and Zlati presented posters, while
Angela gave a plenary talk, at the Northern SLA Round Table (“The
multilingual North: Multilingualsm research across the N8”), held at
Lancaster University. Our team demonstrated MultiAge’s research plans,
some preliminary data and most importantly - showcased important
previous research on bilingualism, language control, and ageing.
de Bruin, A. (2026, May). The influence of context on multilingual
language production. The multilingual North: Multilingualsm
research across the N8, Lancaster, UK.
Kennis, N., Eijk, L., & de Bruin, A. (2026, May). Effects of
interlocutor language profile on lexical alignment The multilingual
North: Multilingualsm research across the N8, Lancaster, UK.
Ilchovska, Z. G., Arif, I., Nazir, F., & de Bruin, A. (2026, May).
Language control with ageing in heritage language speakers: Cued and
voluntary language switching contexts The multilingual North:
Multilingualsm research across the N8, Lancaster, UK.
April 2026: Zlati presented a talk at the University
of Southampton, on language control and ageing. She discussed some
preliminary findings that the project has already produced.
February 2026: Zlati presented a talk at the
Psychologinguistics Research Group of the School of Psychology,
University of Birmingham. She discussed language control with ageing in
heritage multilingual speakers.
November 2025: Dr Angela de Bruin presented a research
talk at the Psychonomic Society meeting, in Denver (USA). She presented
research looking at the benefits of code switching, specifically how
multilinguals might use code switches to let the listener know that
unexpected information is coming up.
De Bruin, A., & Bennett, A. (2025, November). The influence of
code switching on the processing of unpredictable information. 66th
Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Denver, USA.
Late September 2025: Dr Zlati Ilchovska presented
online a research talk at the Brazilian Seminar of Language and
Cognition, organised by the State University of Campinas. She spoke on
the topic of control during language switching. Additionally, she
presented the structure of the MultiAge project, some preliminary
findings of its first study, and talked about the role of the switching
context, in which bilinguals practice their two languages daily. You can
watch
the
recording of the Youtube stream, starting at 33:34.
Ilchovska, Z. G., Nazir, F., & de Bruin, A. (2025, September).
Language control with ageing in heritage language speakers: Cued and
voluntary language switching contexts. V Seminário Linguagem e
Cognição - InCognitus, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem da Univ
ersidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
Early September 2025: Dr Zlati Ilchovska presented a
research poster with preliminary findings at the very large conference
of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP), held at the
University of Sheffield. The poster enjoyed a lot of attention and
sparked the interest of a variety of researchers in bilingualism,
multilingualism, ageing and minority languages!
Ilchovska, Z. G., Nazir, F., & de Bruin, A. (2025, September).
Language control with ageing in heritage language speakers: Cued and
voluntary language switching contexts. 24th biennial conference of
the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP), Sheffield City,
UK
June 2025: Dr Angela de Bruin presented a research
poster on a preliminary study looking at how multilingual language
choice is influenced by the language choices of your conversation
partner. This poster was presented at one of the largest conferences on
multilingualism worldwide - the International Symposium on Bilingualism,
in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
de Bruin, A., Sequiera, A., & Grace, E. (2025, June). Language
choice alignment in bilingual speakers. International Symposium on
Bilingualism, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
November 2024: Dr Angela de Bruin presented a talk on a
research project looking at the way multilinguals’ language production
is influenced by short exposure to other multilinguals. This talk was
given at one of the largest conferences on experimental psychology
worldwide (Psychonomic Society), in New York City (USA).
de Bruin, A., Wang, J., Daryanani, R., & Coumel, M. (2024,
November). Bilingual language switching during production: the
impact of exposure to another bilingual’s switching patterns. 65th
Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New York City, USA.
