Communication difficulties affect up to 90% of people with Parkinson's disease, impacting social participation, wellbeing, and quality of life. Yet we still do not fully understand why these changes occur, what other symptoms they are associated with, or how best to identify and monitor them. This project offers a unique opportunity to contribute to a nationally and internationally significant research programme investigating communication changes in Parkinson’s disease using data from the New Zealand Parkinson's Disease Progression Programme.
Opportunities are available to investigate several communication-focused research streams, allowing the project to be tailored to individual interests. Specific research areas for this project include investigation into changes to language complexity in Parkinson’s diseases and progression of these changes over time; or exploration of communicative participation over time in Parkinson’s disease and factors that are associated with any reductions in communicative participation.
The project will involve transcription of speech samples, analysing existing speech and language data, quantitative research skills, contributing to data interpretation, and presenting findings at the Summer
Scholarship Showcase. This project is well suited to students interested in speech-language pathology, health sciences, linguistics, and neurodegenerative diseases
Supervisors
Primary Supervisor: Eloise Fairbairn
Other Supervisor(s): Catherine Theys, Tracy Melzer
Application and funding
This is a UC Commitments Summer Scholarship research project. Emailed applications will not be considered. Find out more here: University of Canterbury Scholarship Portal - UC Commitments Summer Scholarship
Final date for receiving applications
25 September 2026
