Today it's great to have Dr Monica Barbir on the podcast. Dr Barbir is the Postdoctoral Researcher at the International Research Center for Neurointelligence (IRCN) BabyLab, University of Tokyo. She is interested in the cognitive mechanisms that make learning language easy for babies but hard for adults. Her goal is to innovate novel language learning methods that would ultimately allow adults to learn language as well as babies. Dr Barbir studied language acquisition at the University of Toronto and the Ecole Normale Supérieure, taught English as a foreign language with the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Programme, and designed novel tools for learning language during her MA in comic book design. Listen to this episode to hear more about Dr Barbir's amazing research, great insights regarding the issues women face in Academia, and wonderful advice for everyone regardless of career choice.
Time stamps:
[00:49] Dr Barbir's introduction
[01:24] Dr Barbir's research journey
[06:09] Obstacles in research journey
[11:56] Work/life balance
[17:42] Dr Barbir's research on grammar
[26:47] Hopes for future research
[28:55] Issues that women in Academia are facing today according to Dr Barbir
[32:40] Dr Barbir's advice for everyone thinking about a career in Academia or for those just starting a career in Academia
Links:
Dr Barbir's website: https://monicab.net/
IRCN BabyLab: https://babylab.ircn.jp/en/
International Research Center for Neurointelligence (IRCN): https://ircn.jp/en/
The University of Tokyo: https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/
Science-based information about language learning in childhood in form of comics: https://kotoboo.org/
Get in touch:
e-mail: podcast.irenalovcevic@gmail.com
twitter: @IrenaLovcevic
instagram: @irenalovcevic
website: https://munduslibrium.com/