A universal aphasia battery for assessing language disorders in Indigenous languages: Top-up scholarship

About this scholarship

Supervisor: Associate Professor Stephen Wilson

Associate supervisor: Professor David Copland

Aphasia is a debilitating language disorder that commonly results from stroke. Assessment of aphasia is a critical first step for management and treatment, yet there are currently no aphasia assessments in most of the world’s languages, including any of the Indigenous languages of Australia. In this project, we will develop materials for the aphasia assessment in several traditional languages and creoles spoken by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and we will create a foundation for the development of aphasia batteries in other Indigenous and community languages.

HDR students on this project will work on developing aphasia assessments for multiple Indigenous languages, including Kalaw Kawaw Ya, Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole), Pintupi-Luritja, Pitjantjatjara, Warlpiri, NT Kriol, as well as for Aboriginal English.

This project will require you to develop knowledge of aphasia assessment, psycholinguistics, linguistics, and working collaboratively with Indigenous Australians. Prior experience in one or more of these areas will be beneficial. The project is well suited to students with a background in speech pathology or linguistics, but students with other backgrounds will be considered.

Please note: There is a separate scholarship that provides a living stipend and tuition fees for this project. This scholarship is a top-up scholarship for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander scholars who are admitted to UQ to work on this project.

How to apply

To be considered for this scholarship, please email the following documents to Associate Professor Stephen Wilson (smwilson@uq.edu.au):

• Cover letter
• CV
• Academic transcript/s
• Evidence for meeting UQ's English language proficiency requirements eg TOEFL, IELTS

Please note the following: Submitting the above documents does not constitute a full application for admission into The University of Queensland's PhD program. If you are selected as the preferred applicant, you will then be invited to submit a full application for admission. You can familiarise yourself with the documents required for this process on the UQ Study website.

Rules

Read the policy on UQ Research Scholarships.

A domestic part-time student with carer’s responsibilities, a medical condition or a disability, which prevents them from studying full-time may be eligible for scholarship consideration, on a case-by-case basis.