Sharon Unsworth

Email: sharon(dot)unsworth(at)ru(dot)nl

Dr. Sharon Unsworth is an Associate Professor at Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) in the Centre for Language Studies. She received her B.A. in French and German from Newcastle University (United Kingdom), a M.A. in Language Acquisition from Durham University (United Kingdom), and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Utrecht University (the Netherlands). Her previous academic positions include Utrecht and Leiden University, as well as the Meertens Institute in Amsterdam (the Netherlands).

Sharon’s research focuses on the factors contributing to successful bilingual acquisition. Recent studies include topics such as how a bilingual child’s two languages influence each other, the role of older siblings, and the impact of hearing non-native input. Together with colleagues in the UK and France, she as recently developed a tool for researchers and professionals to quantify bilingual experience. Her research has been funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the ESRC. Sharon currently serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism.

Sharon is also an active science engager, working to pass on research insights to the public. She was the initiator and is the current director of the Kletskoppen child language festival, which is the Netherlands’ only child language festival. She also has a podcast about bilingual children, available in Dutch and in English, called Kletsheads.