Tan Yifan

    cicitan2011@gmail.com

    A new academic laboratory that focuses on bilingualism and language disorder research was unveiled on Saturday at the Shenzhen Research Institute of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), promising to support researchers and scientists in related fields and to attract more talent from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and overseas.

    The Bilingualism and Language Disorders Laboratory, which is believed to be the first of its kind to be settled in the city and will become an intelligent support for interdisciplinary studies, is affiliated with The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) — Utrecht University (UU) Joint Center for Language, Mind and Brain. The center was launched on March 14.

    “It is a milestone for the universities and for such research in China,” said Virginia Yip, chairperson of the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages of CUHK and one of the initiators. “The opening of the two research centers will gather second-to-none scientists from the three regions to share their knowledge to solve many frontier science problems.

    “As a city that links Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, the Shenzhen lab bears a strategic importance which will ease communication between institutes, doctors and researchers, and will provide more chances for mainland students to get involved,” she added.

    The Shenzhen laboratory is said to focus on the research of people who suffer from language disorders and impairments by conducting studies on language, cognition, genes and the brain, and the results will help develop therapy and clinical treatments through the collaboration with local hospitals.

    According to a report in the People’s Daily last year, China is lagging behind by lacking more than 100,000 needed language therapists.

    “With the creation of such a program, we will be able to foster more talent and make increased contributions to the local community,” said Peter Burbach, chairperson of the Department of Translation Neuroscience, Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who is a renowned scholar and leader in the field.