Dr Christina Sotiropoulou Drosopoulou
Senior Research Associate
My profile
Biography
I graduated from the University of Patras in 2008 with a first class BA (Hons) in Philology and Linguistics. Two years later, I enrolled full time on a two-year MA in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at the University of Patras. During my MA studies I became fascinated with research on the neurobiology of language and my masters research project investigated the linguistic and cognitive factors affecting word reading in post brain injury ‘neglect dyslexia’. My MA was funded by a bursary from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and a portion of the research for my masters research project was supported by an Erasmus Scholarship from the European Commission for a three-month visit at the Psycholinguistics /Neurolinguistics lab at the University of Potsdam, Germany. I graduated with a distinction in 2012, whereupon I registered as a full-time PhD student at the University of Manchester (Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, supervisors: Dr. Paul Conroy and Prof. Matthew Lambon Ralph). My research focused on the development of a new speed-focused naming therapy and investigated the impact of naming speed on word retrieval in different contexts (confrontation picture naming and connected speech) and different populations (elderly neurotypical participants and patients with aphasia). Following completion of my PhD in 2016, I worked as a lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Manchester and I am currently working as a senior research associate in Communication Disability at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Academic and professional qualifications
PhD (University of Manchester)
MPhil (University of Manchester)
MA (University of Patras)
BA (University of Patras)
Memberships of committees and professional bodies
British Aphasiology Society
Society for the Neurobiology of Language
Prizes and awards
Award from the State Scholarships Foundation for distinction (1st in my class) in my MA studies
Erasmus Scholarship from the European Commission for research on Neurolinguistics at the University of Potsdam, Germany
Award from the State Scholarships Foundation for distinction (1st in my class) in the first year courses of my MA studies
Scholarship from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation to support my MA studies
Award from Skouras Public Benefit Foundation for distinction (top marks in my year) in my BA studies
Award from the State Scholarships Foundation for 3rd entry ranking at Philology & Linguistics Department for BA studies
Research outputs
My research interests include acquired language and communication disorders, especially aphasia and dyslexia; assessment and treatment of word retrieval difficulties (anomia) in different contexts (confrontation naming and connected speech); learning and brain-computer interface in ageing.
As part of my role as senior research associate, my research relates to communication disability in low and middle income countries (in collaboration with Dr Julie Marshall), as well as to language development through aided communication, particularly with regard to discourse and conversational data (in collaboration with Prof Janice Murray).