Assistant professor at University of Salzburg, Austria.
Dr. Julia Krebs 🎓 is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Salzburg 🇦🇹, where she specializes in psycho-/neurolinguistics and sign language linguistics 🧠👐. She began her academic journey with certification as an Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) interpreter, gaining practical insights that now shape her research. Dr. Krebs is known for pioneering work on the neural processing of sign language using EEG and motion capture techniques 📊🎥. She has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles 📚, co-authored a definitive handbook on ÖGS grammar 📘, and leads two Austrian Science Fund (FWF)-funded projects. Her interdisciplinary contributions span linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and accessibility, promoting educational tools and enhancing societal recognition for sign language communities 🌍👩🏫. Collaborating with international scholars, her work significantly advances the theoretical and applied understanding of ÖGS. She is a rising leader in sign linguistics and cognitive processing research 🏆🌐.
Professional Profile:
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Suitability For Best Researcher Award – Assist. Prof. Dr. Julia Krebs
Dr. Julia Krebs stands out as a rising leader in interdisciplinary linguistic research. Her unique combination of practical experience as a certified Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) interpreter and her academic training in psycho-/neurolinguistics equips her to bridge theoretical insights with community needs. As an Assistant Professor, she has already made significant strides in applied research, neural processing of sign language, and educational accessibility. Her leadership in FWF-funded projects, her pioneering use of EEG and motion capture, and her substantial publication record demonstrate a strong and sustained research trajectory—especially remarkable at an early career stage.
🎓 Education
Dr. Krebs holds a Ph.D. in Psycho-/Neurolinguistics 🧠📖 from the University of Salzburg, where she continues her academic career. Her educational foundation is uniquely interdisciplinary—blending theoretical linguistics 📚, cognitive neuroscience 🧬, and practical communication through her formal certification as an Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) interpreter 👐🇦🇹. This rare combination allows her to approach linguistic research from both empirical and experiential perspectives, integrating scientific rigor with community-centered insight. Her academic training empowers her to bridge the gap between language theory and applied research in the context of neurocognitive processing and sign language acquisition 🎓🔍.
🧑🏫 Experience
Dr. Julia Krebs serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Salzburg’s Department of Linguistics 🏫📚. She has accumulated substantial experience in both teaching and research, focusing on sign language grammar, acquisition, and processing 🧠✍️. With roots as a professional ÖGS interpreter, she has a decade-long immersion in both practice and academia 👐👩🎓. Dr. Krebs has successfully led and collaborated on several major research projects, including EEG-based studies and motion capture investigations into sign language production 🎥💻. She works closely with international scholars and has contributed to curriculum development, interpreter education, and pedagogical strategies. Her contributions extend beyond research to real-world applications that empower the Deaf community and language educators alike 🌐👩🏫.
🚀 Professional Development
Dr. Krebs continually enriches her professional growth through advanced research collaborations, project leadership, and interdisciplinary integration 🌍🔬. She spearheads two major projects funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), applying innovative techniques like motion capture and electromyography (EMG) to study sign language production 🎥⚡. A proactive member of academic societies including the Sign Language Linguistics Society (SLLS) and the Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCNS) 🧠🌐, she stays at the forefront of emerging research. Dr. Krebs also engages in public science communication through co-authoring a seminal ÖGS grammar handbook and developing accessible educational materials 📘📢. Her professional path demonstrates a strong commitment to both advancing theoretical knowledge and fostering inclusive language education. As an early-career academic, she is building a global reputation through interdisciplinary research, co-authorship, and peer-reviewed publications 📚🤝, paving the way for future leadership in linguistics and cognitive science.
🔍 Research Focus
Dr. Julia Krebs’s research focus lies at the intersection of sign language linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and language acquisition 🧠👐📘. Her primary domain is Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS), where she investigates grammar structures, agreement markers, and word order through both theoretical and experimental approaches 🧪📊. A notable aspect of her work is the use of dynamic EEG experiments and motion capture to study how the brain processes and produces sign language stimuli 🎥⚡. Her studies provide critical insights into how signed and spoken languages share cognitive mechanisms, like subject-preference in sentence processing 🗣️🧠. She also emphasizes how this scientific knowledge can improve language instruction and interpreter training, fostering accessibility and cultural recognition for the Deaf community 🧏♀️📚. Dr. Krebs’s research contributes both to the foundational understanding of human language and to applied linguistics, making her focus both innovative and socially impactful 💡🌍.
🧠Research Skills
Dr. Krebs is equipped with a powerful set of research skills spanning neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, sign language analysis, and computational methodology 🔬📊. She excels in the design and execution of EEG experiments to study neural responses to linguistic stimuli 🧠💡. Additionally, she leverages motion capture and EMG to explore sign language production in real time, a rare and highly technical approach 🎥⚡. Her analytical expertise covers both quantitative and qualitative data interpretation, especially in syntactic and semantic analysis of ÖGS 📈📚. As a co-author of a grammar handbook, she demonstrates deep descriptive and applied linguistic competence. Her collaborative skills are also key—she effectively manages cross-disciplinary and international research teams 🤝🌐. Combined with strong academic writing and publication ability, Dr. Krebs’s toolkit enables her to make robust contributions to both theoretical and applied linguistics, helping to elevate the field of sign language linguistics globally 🚀✍️.
🏆Awards and Honors
Dr. Julia Krebs was honored with the Young Investigator Award 🎖️ by the University of Salzburg, recognizing her outstanding early-career achievements in linguistic research. Her co-authorship of the first comprehensive grammar handbook on Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) 📘 was a landmark contribution to the field and has received national acclaim for its academic and social value 📚🏅. In addition to this prestigious institutional recognition, her leadership in FWF-funded research projects demonstrates her scholarly merit and research credibility at the national level 🇦🇹💼. Her groundbreaking work has gained attention in the scientific community and continues to earn accolades for its impact on both academia and the Deaf community 🧏♀️💬🌟.
Publication Top Notes
1. Age of acquisition effects differ across linguistic domains in sign language: EEG evidence
📌 Authors: E.A. Malaia, J. Krebs, D. Roehm, R.B. Wilbur
📅 Journal: Brain and Language, Vol. 200, 2020, Article 104708
📈 Citations: 31
🔍 Summary:
This study uses EEG (electroencephalography) to examine how the age of acquisition (AoA) of sign language impacts neural processing across different linguistic domains. The findings show that early and late learners of sign language exhibit significantly different neural responses when processing syntax, semantics, and morpho-syntactic elements, indicating that AoA has domain-specific effects on language processing in the brain.
🧠 Contribution: First electrophysiological evidence supporting domain-specific AoA effects in sign language users.
2. Subject preference emerges as cross-modal strategy for linguistic processing
📌 Authors: J. Krebs, E. Malaia, R.B. Wilbur, D. Roehm
📅 Journal: Brain Research, Vol. 1691, 2018, Pages 105–117
📈 Citations: 30
🔍 Summary:
This paper explores the “subject preference” strategy — the tendency to interpret ambiguous sentences as having a subject-first structure — in both spoken and signed languages. Using EEG, the study demonstrates that this strategy is a cross-modal linguistic feature, not limited to spoken languages, and applies to sign language as well.
🧠 Contribution: Supports the theory that certain parsing strategies are modality-independent, reflecting universal cognitive-linguistic principles.
3. Age of sign language acquisition has lifelong effect on syntactic preferences in sign language users
📌 Authors: J. Krebs, D. Roehm, R.B. Wilbur, E.A. Malaia
📅 Journal: International Journal of Behavioral Development, Vol. 45(5), 2021, Pages 397–408
📈 Citations: 22
🔍 Summary:
This behavioral study investigates how AoA influences syntactic preferences in adult sign language users. Findings suggest that early exposure leads to more native-like preferences for canonical word order, whereas later learners demonstrate alternative syntactic strategies.
🧠 Contribution: Emphasizes the long-term syntactic impact of AoA in signed languages, with implications for education and cognitive development in deaf individuals.
4. Interaction between topic marking and subject preference strategy in sign language processing
📌 Authors: J. Krebs, E. Malaia, R.B. Wilbur, D. Roehm
📅 Journal: Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, Vol. 35(4), 2020, Pages 466–484
📈 Citations: 18
🔍 Summary:
This research explores how topic marking interacts with the subject preference parsing strategy in sign language. Using EEG, the study shows that topic marking can override the default subject-first strategy, demonstrating the dynamic nature of syntactic processing in sign language.
🧠 Contribution: Offers insights into hierarchical cue processing and discourse-level structure in signed languages.
5. The impact of transitional movements and non-manual markings on the disambiguation of locally ambiguous argument structures in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)
📌 Authors: J. Krebs, R.B. Wilbur, P.M. Alday, D. Roehm
📅 Journal: Language and Speech, Vol. 62(4), 2019, Pages 652–680
📈 Citations: 17
🔍 Summary:
This paper investigates how non-manual cues (e.g., facial expressions) and transitional hand movements help disambiguate syntactic ambiguity in Austrian Sign Language. Results show that signers rely heavily on these multimodal features for parsing sentence structure.
🧠 Contribution: Highlights the role of multimodal information in syntactic disambiguation and emphasizes the complexity of visual-spatial grammar.
Conclusion
Dr. Julia Krebs exemplifies the profile of a Best Researcher Award recipient: innovative, impactful, interdisciplinary, and community-engaged. Her scientific work not only advances core knowledge in neurolinguistics and sign language linguistics but also translates into real-world benefits—educationally, socially, and technologically. She is not only contributing to academia but also reshaping how we understand and support sign language users in society.