Dr. Janet Werker, UBC Psychology Professor and Canada Research Chair, is the recipient of the 2015 SSHRC Gold Medal, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s (SSHRC) highest research honour.

Psychology students may know Professor Werker from their undergraduate Infancy classes, but she has also been internationally recognized for her research investigating language acquisition in both monolingual and bilingual learning infants.

Dr. Werker’s accomplishments are as vast as her body of research. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Institutes for Advanced Research, the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Psychological Association, The American Psychological Association, The American Psychological Society, the Cognitive Science Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and most recently, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her awards include the Killam Research Prize, the UBC Alumni Prize in Social Sciences, the Jacob Bieley Prize, and the Anne L. Brown Award in Developmental Psychology.

Now Werker adds the SSHRC Gold Medal for Achievement in Research to her list of awards and commendations. It is awarded to individuals whose sustained leadership, dedication and originality of thought have inspired students and colleagues alike. She received this honour on November 16 in recognition of the pioneering discoveries she has made in language acquisition; for her commitment to global and interdisciplinary collaborations; and for her exceptional record of mentorship and training in her field. Please join us in congratulating her on this achievement.

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