Rate My Professor Vera Kempe

Professor Vera Kempe is Professor of Psychology and Language Learning in the Department of Sociological and Psychological Sciences within the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences at the University of Abertay Dundee. She obtained her BSc and MSc in Psychology from Moscow State University and her PhD from Humboldt University. Her research investigates first and second language learning and processing in children and adults, the evolution and function of child-directed speech, cross-linguistic comparisons of morphology acquisition, dialect processing, the interplay between emotion and communication, literacy acquisition in situations of dialect exposure, and cultural transmission of language. As Leader of the Society Theme at Abertay University, she fosters interdisciplinary links between behavioural science and game design. She delivers courses such as PSY302 Developmental Psychology at BSc level, PSY507 Developmental and Social Psychology at MSc level, PSY310 Cultural Evolution of Behaviour, and PSY405 Language Education and the Early Years.

Professor Kempe has secured major research funding, including Leverhulme Trust Grant RPG-2016-093 (£151,059, 2016, PI) on literacy acquisition in dialect exposure, Leverhulme Grant RPG-375 (£67,897, 2012, PI), Royal Society Partnership Grant (£2,700, 2015, PI), Language Learning Research Grants (2010, 2001), British Academy Small Grants (2008, 2003), Nuffield Undergraduate Research Bursary (2006), NATO Collaborative Linkage Grants (2001, 1999), and Spencer Foundation Grant ($35,000, 1999). She co-authored the textbook Language Development and co-edited the Encyclopedia of Language Development with Patricia J. Brooks. Prominent publications include Children are not the main agents of language change (2025, Psychological Review), No evidence for generational differences in the conventionalisation of face emojis (2025, Computers in Human Behavior Reports), Diminutives facilitate word segmentation in natural speech: Cross-linguistic evidence (2007), Diminutivisation supports gender acquisition in Russian children (2003), and The Role of Diminutives in the Acquisition of Russian Gender (2001). With 86 research outputs and over 2,225 citations on ResearchGate, her contributions shape theories of language acquisition and inform educational practices. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Supervisory Board of Studies in Second Language Learning.