Juliana Gerard joined the School of Communication in 2016. Her research and teaching interests are in language acquisition and language processing in children and adults. Her work has focused on how processes that are not specific to language, like memory and inhibitory control, can influence children’s language development.Juliana studied linguistics and cognitive science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and graduated summa cum laude with concurrent bachelors and masters degrees. She then moved to Maryland to pursue a PhD in linguistics, specialising in children's language acquisition, and finally to Ulster as a Lecturer in linguistics.