Frequently asked questions

The 3rd L+ School will take place from 24 to 28 August  2026, entirely online via Zoom.

To accommodate participants from different regions, lectures and practical sessions will be offered in two time zones:

• UTC+2 (Asia, Africa, and Europe-friendly)

• UTC−4 (Africa, Europe, and the Americas-friendly)

The full schedule is available here.

Participants are welcome to attend sessions in either time zone. 

Unlike previous editions, each lecture and practical session will be taught live only once, and no sessions will run in parallel. This allows participants to attend sessions across both timezones if they wish.

Whenever possible, lectures and practical sessions will be recorded and made available on YouTube after the event for participants who are unable to attend live.

Local hubs are in-person meeting points organized by local volunteers where participants can attend the online school together, network with peers, and benefit from shared internet access and facilities.

You can find all information on local hubs on this page.

Lectures are live presentations by leading researchers in first-language acquisition. Each lecture is followed by a live Q&A session.

Practical sessions are hands-on workshops focused on research methods and tools. Some practicals may require participants to complete a short preparatory assignment, such as watching tutorial videos or installing software (e.g., R or PsychoPy) before the session.

Networking sessions provide opportunities to meet other participants, learn about Master’s and PhD programmes, internships, and international research opportunities, and interact with researchers and peers from around the world.

Students at all levels (BA, MA, and PhD) and early-career researchers from all regions of the world are welcome to apply. We particularly encourage applications from participants based in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and South and Central America.

Applicants should demonstrate an interest in first-language acquisition (typical and/or atypical, monolingual and/or multilingual). There are no formal prerequisites in terms of prior knowledge or technical skills.

Please describe what you hope to gain from participating in the L+ School. Explain your academic or professional goals as specifically as possible and how the school will contribute to achieving them.

Maximum length: 100 words.

Decision letters have now been sent to all applicants. If you have been offered a place, please confirm your participation using the link provided in your acceptance email by 3 August 2026.

If you have not received a decision email, please check your spam or junk folder. If you still cannot find it, please contact us at language1.summerschool.dpss@unipd.it before 3 August 2026 so that we can assist you.

Participants will need a stable internet connection suitable for videoconferencing.

Some practical sessions require participants to install free software in advance, such as R and PsychoPy.

Communication, scheduling, and announcements during the school will take place through Whova, which is accessible via web browser and mobile devices. This platform will also allow interactions with lecturers, practical session leaders and assistants, as well as with other students before, during, and immediately after the school.

Live sessions will be held on Zoom, which can be accessed either through the desktop/mobile application or a web browser.

A webcam and microphone are recommended for participating in discussions, although participants may also ask questions using the chat.

If you experience difficulties accessing any of these platforms from your country or region, please contact the organizing team.

To receive a certificate of participation, students must have attended at least six sessions, with a minimum attendance of 30 minutes per session.

For online participants, attendance is verified using the Zoom attendance logs. We check each participant’s name, the number of sessions attended, and the amount of time they remained logged in during each session.

For participants attending at local hubs, attendance is verified by the local hub hosts.

If you meet these requirements, you will receive the /L+/ School feedback form by email during the week following the school. Completing this form is required to receive the certificate.

Due to budget constraints, we are unfortunately unable to provide sign language interpretation for this edition of the school.

Whenever possible, presentation slides and other written materials will be shared with participants before the lectures. Questions may be asked either orally or through the Zoom chat.

We also plan to record lectures and make them available on YouTube with automatically generated captions to improve accessibility.