Dr. Christopher Fennell

Dr. Christopher Fennell holds a PhD in developmental psychology (UBC, 2004) and is a Full Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa. He is currently the Research Chair in Language Learning and Acquisition at the UOttawa Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute. He is the Director of the Language Developmental Lab at the University of Ottawa and the Co-Director of the UOttawa Living Lab at the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

He is the former Director of the School of Psychology (2020-2023), a position in which he worked closely with hospital partners, and is currently Associate Vice-Provost, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Dr. Fennell has served on provincial (e.g., Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program) and national (e.g., Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, New Frontiers in Research Fund) review committees, as well as on The Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada as their public member. This extensive experience with university and scientific administration have given him direct experience with important administrative and research issues across diverse fields.

His own research work on language acquisition in infants, particularly those learning two languages, has resulted in publications in top journals and has been well funded by research organizations (NSERC, SSHRC, etc.). Via his research speciality of infant language acquisition, Dr. Fennell has also been involved with clinical/health research and its applications (e.g., work with audiologists and other clinicians).