With the 2025 Flux Congress just around the corner, the Flux Trainee Committee is excited to spotlight some of your fellow attendees through our trainee research profiles. If you’re a trainee—whether a student, post-bacc, or postdoc—and would like to be featured, we invite you to fill out our interest form!
At Flux, we are committed to nurturing the next generation of researchers who are shaping the future of developmental cognitive neuroscience. In our new Trainee Spotlight series, we will highlight the achievements, aspirations, and contributions of outstanding trainees within our community. These young scientists are not only pushing the boundaries of research but also embodying the spirit of collaboration and innovation that drives our field forward.
Today, we are excited to introduce Dr. Giuditta Smith. Let's dive into their journey, insights, and what motivates them to make a lasting impact in developmental cognitive neuroscience.
Dr. Giuditta Smith
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
What is the focus of your research?
Clinical linguistics and psycholinguistics, focusing on language assessment and screening tools and practices across the lifespan, particularly at the intersection with multilingualism. My main clinical areas are aphasia and developmental language disorders.
What is your most interesting research finding or inquiry so far?
I have contributed to the research on assessment of expressive language in speakers of Italian as a heritage language by demonstrating that one of the linguistic markers for Italian (i.e., the production of pronouns) is not reliable in this population. Similarly, I have contributed to the discussion around the adoption of a gold standard of formal language when assessing receptive and expressive language in native speakers of colloquial varieties in diglossic contexts (in my case, Malay)
Are you presenting at the Flux meeting in Dublin?
Yes
What do you enjoy doing when not researching?
I have recently started learning the drums, and studying occupies most of my free time. I am also a passionate advocate for lesbian visibility and lesbian rights within and without the LGBTQI+ community.
Best piece of advice you have received as a trainee?
The best piece of advice I got as an early career researcher was to never drop active collaborations when you change labs. Every year of experience must be a number of contacts added to your frequently contacted list. Another useful piece of advice is never to stop applying to job positions, so that you get a feel for what you need to work on in your CV.
Do you have any advice for early-stage trainees?
One of the most useful things we can do as early career researchers is to build a strong research identity, while still dipping your toes in different topics, and expanding your research network. Very hard to balance!