About us

Mirta Vernice is Associate Professor of General Psychology at the University of Urbino. She works on language acquisition in typically developing monolingual, bi- and multilingual, and atypically developing children (with Language and Learning Disorders). In 2011 she was one of the co-authors of the Consensus Conference on Specific Learning Disorders of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. She has collaborated with Bilingualism Matters since 2012, and has been the coordinator of BM@Urbino since 2023.

Chiara Celata is associate professor of Glottology and Linguistics at the University of Urbino. Her research interests are in the field of laboratory phonology, and generally concern the relationship between individual variation and historical change in languages. Her studies on bilingualism focus on the pronunciation and lexicon of Italian as a heritage language among different generations of emigrants in North America, in collaboration with the University of Toronto and Purdue in West Lafayette. 

Manuela Berlingeri is Full Professor of Psychometrics at the University of Urbino. Since 2018, she has been Scientific Director of the AST Pesaro-Urbino Centre for Developmental Age Clinical Neuropsychology. Her research mainly focuses on the combination of neuroimaging and neuropsychological techniques for the study of language and memory disorders in the lifespan.

Cristina Rosazza, associate professor of Neuroscience at the University of Urbino, studies cognitive functions with imaging techniques and physiological data. She is interested in ageing, cognitive reserve, bilingualism and bidialectism. She collaborates with the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Besta in Milan.   

Gloria Cocchi is a lecturer in General and Applied Linguistics at the Department of Communication Sciences, Humanistic and International Studies at the University of Urbino. Her fields of research include formal syntax and language acquisition. She is the author or co-author of five monographs and numerous articles on various topics, including Bantu languages, Italian and its dialects, English language, L2 acquisition, mixed productions (code-switching) of bilingual speakers.

Cristina Pierantozzi is the coordinator of the teaching and seminar activities of CISDEL (Centro Integrato Servizi Didattici ed E-Learning) at the University of Urbino. She discussed a doctoral thesis on the formal aspects of code-switching in childhood bilingualism at the University of Urbino and carried out research at the University of Hamburg where she worked on L2 acquisition and the Critical Period. She has taught General Linguistics at the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Urbino. Her research interests include the assessment of language literacy in L1 and L2, translanguaging and code-switching in child and adult bilingualism. 

Valentina Persici is a research fellow at the Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Urbino. She works on language development and musical skills in typically and atypically developing children and young adults (with DSA, bilinguals, cochlear implant). She uses behavioural and (electro)physiological methods (eye-tracking, EEG) in her research. 

Silvia Stefanelli is a researcher in Clinical Psychology at the University of the Republic of San Marino. A psychologist and psychotherapist, she graduated in School and Community Psychology from the University of Bologna, subsequently specialising in Developmental Neuropsychology. She gained clinical experience at the Centre for Developmental Neuropsychology and in private facilities. She has dedicated herself to research and teaching on neurodevelopmental disorders, language and school learning difficulties at various universities, including San Marino, Urbino and Modena. She deals with neurocognitive assessment and treatment planning of neurodevelopmental disorders, mainly cognitive impairment and learning disabilities. 

Olesya (Alessia) has a degree in Business Languages, specialised in Russian and English, and wrote her thesis ‘Living in parts, dreaming of wholeness: the personal socio-affective consequences of biculturalism on the bilingual individual’. With expertise in business and communication, she now contributes to Bilingualism Matters to promote the benefits of bilingualism.