2026 Summer Research Program

This project runs from 12 Jan – 20 Feb 2026, with an anticipated commitment of 25 hours per week. While occasional in-person meetings may be required, most of the work can be done remotely.

More than half of the world’s population is bilingual or multilingual, and many people acquire additional languages beyond their first. Understanding how prior language experience shapes the learning of new languages is therefore essential, both for advancing research in language acquisition and for supporting increasingly diverse learner populations in educational settings.

This project sits at the intersection of cognitive science, foreign language education, and visual design. We are investigating how language learners comprehend sentences in real time, with a particular focus on how the processing strategies are shaped by prior language-learning experience.

To address this question, our behavioural experiments require visual stimuli that depict simple actions. The student researcher will contribute by developing line drawings tailored to the needs of the experimental manipulations. These illustrations are central to the research design, as they provide controlled contexts for examining sentence processing.

This project forms part of a broader project funded by the UQ–Emory Collaborative Research Partnership Grant. The student researchers contribute to this international research collaboration at the forefront of the field in bilingualism.

The student researchers will take a creative lead in developing a set of line drawings that will be directly integrated into experiments. They will gain experience illustrating human and animal figures in motion, designing matched pairs of images where roles are reversed, and preparing files in the required digital formats. This work will show what it means to create illustrations that function as controlled stimuli for research in cognitive science. The experience highlights an important transferrable skill: adapting creative work to meet specific requirements, much like industrial designers who balance artistic vision with client or user needs.

This project is ideal for students with strong pencil drawing skills and with a good understanding of the human form, expressive movement, and visual composition. The role particularly suits someone who are interested in applying their artistic abilities to research in cognitive science.

Successful candidates will be self-motivated and able to work independently, while maintaining strong attention to detail. They should be able to produce and prepare their work in digital format using illustration software. Equally important are a positive attitude toward research and a willingness to put in the work.

This is an excellent opportunity for students interested in seeing how design can be used in cognitive science contexts. Previous students who have worked in this role have gone on to careers in product and industrial design at SanDisk and Aquent, USA.

Dr. Sanako Mitsugi

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Mitsugi (s.mitsugi@uq.edu.au).