Nicolás Alessandroni received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). His project investigated the development of conventional tool use during the first year of life and its relation to early conceptual thinking, based on an ecological-enactive, extended, distributed, and semiotic approach to cognition. Originally from Buenos Aires, he obtained his bachelor's degrees in psychology and music from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina) and his MA in Cognitive Psychology and Learning from the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) / Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). He joined the lab in January 2022 as a Concordia Horizon Postdoctoral Fellow. As such, he focuses on the intersection between Open Science and infant research.

(Languages: Spanish, English, and French)

Click to access Nicolás’s academic website

Melanie López Pérez is a PhD student in Psychology at Concordia University. Melanie grew up as a Spanish-English bilingual in her home country Puerto Rico. She completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology at the University of Puerto Rico and earned her master’s degree in Developmental Psychology at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. Throughout her studies, Melanie has developed a keen interest in studying bilingual development. Currently, her research interests lie in studying bilingual language acquisition, bilingual parents’ speech and the phenomenon of code-switching. 

(Languages: Spanish, English & a little German)

Miranda Gómez Díaz is an PhD student in Psychology at Concordia University. Miranda grew up in a Spanish-speaking home but received bilingual education from a young age. She completed her undergraduate studies in Clinical Psychology at Universidad de Monterrey and then worked with neurodiverse bilingual children and their families in a clinical setting. This experience granted her a deep understanding of the importance for science-based decisions and shaped her interest in early language development. Currently her research interests are related to vocabulary development in bilingual infants.

(Languages: Spanish, English & French)

Xiaowei Gong joined the psychology Ph.D. program at Concordia University in 2024, after completing her master's degree in developmental psychology at Middle East Technical University in Turkey. She grew up in China and has studied and lived in China, the United States, and Turkey. Xiaowei has benefited from her cross-cultural and cross-linguistic perspective developed through her life experiences, which she brings to her academic work alongside her ongoing interest in psychology, particularly in early childhood. Her master's project was about the potential bilingual effect on children's cognition. For her Ph.D. program, she seeks to understand the cognitive mechanisms underlying early bilingual language acquisition and apply the findings from bilingual studies to a broader theoretical framework.

(Languages: Mandarin, English & Turkish)

Alexandra Paquette is a PhD student in Psychology at Concordia University. Raised in Singapore with roots tracing back to Quebec, Alexandra’s upbringing in a multilingual environment – learning English, Mandarin, and later French – nurtured her fascination with language acquisition and multilingualism. She earned a Bachelor of Social Sciences with Honours in Psychology from the National University of Singapore in 2023, where she was actively involved in bilingualism research. Alexandra is interested in bilingual language acquisition, language mixing, and family language strategies.

(Languages: English, Mandarin & French)

Hilary Killam has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Toronto, with a Minor in French and a Language Citation in Italian. She always enjoyed learning French at school, and in 2006 decided to spend a year in France in order to immerse herself in the language. With a lot of hard work, she learned to speak French as an adult, which certainly came in handy when she unexpectedly moved to Montréal! Most of Hilary’s work experience has been in a clinical setting, managing therapy intakes for a large psychotherapy clinic in Toronto, and now she is excited to take on a new challenge in supporting academic research.

(Languages: English, French & a little Italian)

Anne-Sophie Lavin is a final year undergraduate student at Concordia University pursuing a BA in Psychology. Having lived in both predominantly English- and French-speaking provinces and growing up in a bilingual household, she has always had a curiosity surrounding language development. This interest was further ignited after having taken Spanish and German courses in high school and college. Anne-Sophie’s passion for developmental psychology and working with children stems from courses she has taken throughout her academic path and from working as a tutor and daycare educator. Following her undergraduate degree, she wishes to pursue graduate studies in Clinical Child Psychology.

(Languages: French & English)

Kiara Brunet is a final-year undergraduate student in Honours Psychology at Concordia University. Raised in Montreal in a bilingual environment, Kiara has developed a strong interest in bilingualism and early language acquisition, particularly in how children learn and process nouns and verbs during infancy. She is also interested in the broader cognitive and developmental processes that shape early communication. Outside of academics, Kiara has volunteered as a Storytime Animator with MinibiblioPLUS, promoting literacy in marginalized communities and further strengthening her interest in developmental psychology and language. After completing her undergraduate degree, she hopes to pursue graduate studies in Applied School and Child Psychology. 

(Languages: English & French)

Shahd Bassal is a final-year undergraduate student at Concordia University, pursuing a BA in psychology. She will be completing her honours thesis during the 2026–2027 academic year. Originally from Syria, Shahd moved to Canada due to the war and had to adapt to a new environment where she did not initially speak the language. This experience shaped her interest in development, language, and the psychological experiences of children. Shahd is passionate about working with children and supporting those facing obstacles, an interest reflected in her volunteer work with youth from minority backgrounds. Her academic and personal experiences have guided her toward a focus on child development and mental health. Following her undergraduate degree, she plans to pursue graduate studies in Clinical Psychology with the goal of becoming a child psychologist.

(Languages: English, French, Arabic)

Amélie Paillier is a final year undergraduate student at Concordia University, pursuing a BA in psychology. She completed her thesis in 2026. With roots in France and Quebec, Amélie was raised in a French-speaking household. Outside the home, she grew up in predominantly English-speaking environments, a dynamic that sparked her interest in bilingualism and early language acquisition. Amélie has always been passionate about working with children, and her experience working at the Montreal Children’s Hospital deepened her interest in doing so. Her project will explore language discrimination in bilingual babies. After her undergraduate degree, she hopes to pursue graduate studies in Clinical Psychology. 

(Languages: French & English)