Mats Granlund, PhD, is a full professor of psychology and disability research and Chair of the interdisciplinary CHILD research environment. His research focus over the last 16 years has been on participation in everyday life for children and youth in need of special support.(2020 – 2023)

Chair of the department and Houston Harte Centennial Professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. He holds a PhD in Speech-Language Pathology with an emphasis on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) from Purdue University. He served as the Chair, Associate Dean for Research, and Assistant Vice President for Research at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Centre before joining the University of Texas in Austin. Prof Koul’s research efforts have primarily focused on understanding the symbol, referent, and instructional variables that influence graphic symbol learning in persons with severe communication impairment as a consequence of developmental or acquired disabilities. Within this broad area, he focuses on synthetic speech perception, the role of synthetic speech output on graphic symbol learning, and the efficacy of AAC intervention in persons with aphasia. (2020 – 2023)

A speech therapist and professor at Manchester Metropolitan University, Prof Janice Murray specialises in Augmentative and Alternative Communication. From 2009 to 2012 Prof Murray was the Chair of the UK charity, Communication Matters. (2020-2023)

Professor MaryAnn Romski is an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist and Regents Professor of Communication, Psychology, and Communication Sciences & Disorders at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. She is the Director of the Center for Research on Atypical Development and Learning (CRADL) and a founding member of the Center on Research on Challenges to Acquiring Language & Literacy (RCALL). Prof Romski is a Fellow of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), and the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC). She received the Honors of ASHA in 2015, the AAIDD Leadership Award in 2019, and the AAIDD President’s Award in 2021. Her research program focuses on the communication development of children and adults with developmental disorders who encounter difficulty speaking, particularly the development and evaluation of computerized communication interventions in natural environments and the role of families.

Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northeastern University and Director of Clinical Research, OCE, Boston Children’s Hospital. His research interests are related to the efficacy of interventions in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), particularly as they relate to the role of speech output and different graphic symbol sets for individuals with developmental disabilities. (2020-2023)