Marit Kristine Westergaard
Professor of English Linguistics
Dr. Philos. Linguistics (Tromsø)
Cand. Philol. English, German, Linguistics (Tromsø, Bergen, Oslo)
MA Linguistics (UC San Diego)
Research
Publications
Presentations
Teaching & Supervision
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Academic leadership experience (selection)
- Director of Center for Language, Brain & Learning (C-LaBL), funded by the Trond Mohn Foundation (NOK 70+ mill.), 2024-2029.
- Director AcqVA Aurora (Acquisition, Variation & Attrition: The Dynamic Nature of Languages in the Mind), funded by UiT (NOK 30 mill.), 2020-2024.
- Principal Investigator MultiGender: A Multilingual Approach to Grammatical Gender, 2019-2020. Funding: Centre for Advanced Study (Oslo) (with Terje Lohndal).
- Director of AcqVA (Acquisition, Variation & Attrition), joint NTNU/UiT research group 2016-2023.
- Leader of research group LAVA (Language Acquisition, Variation & Attrition), funded by Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences & Education 2015-2019.
- Principal Investigator MiMS, Micro-variation in Multilingual Acquisition and Attrition Situations, funded by the Research Council of Norway, 2016-2020 (NOK 9 mill.)
- Director of CASTL (Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics), a Norwegian Center of Excellence 2009 – 2012, funded by the Research Council of Norway and UiT 2003-2012 (approx. NOK 12 mill. per year).
- Principal Investigator BIC, Bilingual Immigrant Children, funded by the Tromsø Research Foundation 2012-2014 (NOK 1 mill.).
- Principal Investigator NoRus, Bilingual Norwegian-Russian Children in North Norway, funded by the Tromsø Research Foundation 2012-2014 (NOK 1 mill.).
- Leader Language Acquisition @ CASTL, 2009-2015.
Positions
- Secretary General of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Oslo, 2024-2028.
- Professor II (20%) – Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, August 2015-December 2024.
- Professor of English linguistics, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, 2013-.
- Director of CASTL, Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics, A Norwegian Center of Excellence, 2009-2012
- Senior Researcher, CASTL, 2009-2012
- Professor of Linguistics, University of Tromsø, 2009-2012
- Associate Professor of English linguistics, University of Tromsø, 1988-2008
- Assistant Professor, University of Tromsø, 1986-1988
- Research fellow (English for Specific Purposes), University of Tromsø, 1985-1986
Awards / Academies and other memberships
- Michael Sharwood Smith Award for best article in Second Language Research 2021-2023.
- Outstanding Research Award 2019, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
- Research Award 2016, Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education.
- Member of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, 2016-.
- Member of The Royal Norwegian Society of Science and Letters, 2019-.
- Member of Academia Borealis, Academy of Science and Letters North Norway, 2016-.
- Member of the Executive Committee of IASCL (International Association for the Study of Child Language), 2011-2017.
- Affiliate of MultiLing (Multilingualism in society across the lifespan), University of Oslo (a Norwegian Centre of Excellence), 2013-.
- Associate member of CeLM (Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism), University of Reading (a UK Centre of Excellence), 2013-.
Academic leadership training
- Research leadership course, University of Oslo, 2011-2012
- Academic leadership program, University of Tromsø, 2009-2012
- AFF (Administrative Research Institute) course on academic leadership for women, Oslo/Bergen 1999-2000
SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION (selection)
- Member of the Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) for the National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC), UCLA, 2021-2024
- Member of the Research Council of Norway (RCN) Program Committee of the Norwegian-Czech Research Cooperation Program for EEA and Norway grants, 2012-2017, 2018-2024
- Vice member of the Research Council of Norway (RCN) Program Committee of the Norwegian-Polish Research Cooperation Program for EEA and Norway grants, 2018-2022
- Member of review panel for Linguistics, Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), 2016-2018
- Vice member of the RCN Program Committee of the Norwegian-Estonian Research Cooperation Program for EEA and Norway grants, 2012-2017
- Member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL), 2011-2017
- Member of scientific board, LiVVal. Variation in Language. Edizioni Ca’Foscari, Venice University Press
- Member of the Board, Tromsø Research Foundation, 2007-2014
- Associate editor of Nordic Journal of Linguistics, 2012-2015
- Member of the editorial board of Second Language Research, 2024-
- Member of the editorial board of Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2022-2027
- Member of the editorial board of Journal of Child Language, 2021-
- Member of the editorial board of Maal og Minne, 2016-2021, 2022-2026
- Member of the editorial board of Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics, 2016-
- Member of the editorial board of Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 2015-
- Member of the editorial board of Studies in Bilingualism, 2015-
- Member of the editorial board of Studies in Germanic Linguistics, 2013-
- Member of the editorial board of Norsk Lingvistisk Tidsskrift [Norwegian Journal of Linguistics], 2011-
- Member of the editorial board of Nordic Journal of Linguistics, 2010-2012, 2021-
- Assessor for funding organizations & academies: Dutch Research Council, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ, Sweden), Kungliga Vitterhetsakademien, British Academy, Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS), Nansen Research Excellence Award
- Reviewer for various publishers, including the journals Language, Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, International Journal of Bilingualism, Studia Linguistica, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, Linguistic Inquiry Squibs, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Journal of Child Language, Nordic Journal of Linguistics, Language Learning, Journal of Language Contact, Heliyon, Heritage Language Journal, Mind & Language, The Journal of the European Second Language Association, Ampersand, Second Language Research, Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, Frontiers in Psychology, Acta Psychologica, Linguistics Vanguard, Journal of Linguistics, Languages, Glossa Psycholinguistics
- Reviewer for various conferences, e.g. GASLA (Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition), GALA (Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition), GLOW (Generative Linguistics of the Old World), DiGS (Diachronic Generative Syntax Conference), IGG (Incontro Grammatica Generativa), NoSLIP (Norwegian Graduate Student Conference in Linguistics and Philology), CLS (Child Language Symposium), ICLaVE (International Conference on Language Variation in Europe), GALANA (Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America), ISBPAC (International Symposium on Bilingual and L2 Processing in Adults and Children)
- Member of PhD & Habilitation committees and search & promotion committees at a number of institutions, including UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Lund University, University of Oslo, Oslo University College, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, University of Siena, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University of Ulster, University of Leeds, University of York
- On the organizing committee for a number of conferences and workshop, including Transdisciplinary Approaches to Language Variation (TALV) 2018, Heritage Language Acquisition: Breaking new ground in methodology and domains of inquiry 2016, Multilingual Acquisition, Processing and Use 2015, CASTL Decennium 2012, CGSW 2010, 1992, The Acquisition of Linguistic Variation 2010, Optionality in the Input: Children’s Acquisition of Variable Word Order (GLOW XXX, 2007), Workshop on Language Acquisition at Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics (Aalborg, Denmark 2006), Workshop on Language Acquisition at Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics 2002, GLOW 1995
- Organized several National Research Courses in Language Acquisition
SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY
- Flere språk til flere, a UiT branch of the international network Bilingualism Matters. Flere språk til flere offers research-based information about bilingualism to families, schools, public administrators, and politicians.
SCHOLARSHIPS/VISITS ABROAD
- EEA Norway Grant Exchange, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, February 2016
- Guest researcher at Sonderforschungsbereich Mehrsprachigkeit, Universität Hamburg, April 2011
- Visiting scholar at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, fall 2008
- ERASMUS Exchange at Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy, November 2007
- Visiting scholar at CISCL, University of Siena, Italy, spring 2006
- Sabbatical in Flensburg, Germany, spring 2004, fall 2006, spring 2013
- Visiting scholar at St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, 2001 and summers 2002 and 2003
- Fulbright Foundation grant for research scholars, 1990-91: Research associate at University of California, Santa Cruz
- Rotary Foundation Graduate Scholarship, 1983-84: Graduate student at University of California, San Diego
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE (selection)
- Member of the Board of the Master Programme “English Acquisition and Multilingualism”, UiT, 2018-2022
- Representative to the Board of the PhD program, Humanities Faculty, 2009
- Vice chair of the Department of Language and Linguistics, 2005-2007
- Chair of the board for the integrated Masters program in teacher training: 2003-2005, 2005-2009
- Representative on the board for the study program in economics and language, 2005-2009
- Representative, Board of the Department of Language and Linguistics, 2003-2005
- Representative, English Department Council, 1997-99, 2001-2003
- Representative, Humanities Faculty Board, 1997-99, alternate 2001-2003
- Representative, Board of the University of Tromsø (1st alternate), 1999-2001
- Member of the Board of the Norwegian Study Centre in Great Britain, 1991-2001
- Member of the Board of UNISCENE (European University Network for Innovative Student-centred Education), 1998-2001
- Representative to the European educational program LINGUA, 1995-2000
- Contact person for various ERASMUS agreements with European universities
- Chair of Teaching Committee (Undervisningsutvalget), Humanities Faculty, 1997-1999
- Representative, Council of employment (Tilsettingsrådet), University of Tromsø, 1995-1996
- Head of the English Department, 1991-1993
- Member of the English Department’s “Three-term committee” and main organizer of the Department’s three-term project (initiated by the Ministry of Education), 1991-1993