Project members

Merel Keijzer (project leader)

Merel Keijzer is full professor of English Linguistics & English as a Second Language at the University of Groningen, where she also holds a position as a Rosalind Franklin Research Fellow. Her research interests span the learning and teaching of English as a second language as well as multilingual engagement across the lifespan, with a special interest in the older adult life stage. She works on the cognitive and psychosocial effects of multilingual language engagement, in healthy older adults and those faced with cognitive and/or mood disorders. Merel leads the Bilingualism and Aging Lab (BALAB) in Groningen. Merel aims for her research to impact those who need it (older adults) but also engages in dialogue about the importance of language considerations with colleagues from adjacent disciplines such as cognitive and social psychology, cognitive aging, neuroscience and medical sciences. Merel is a former president of the Dutch Association for Applied Linguistics and recipient of the NWO Veni (2009), Vidi (2017) and the Ammodo Award for Fundamental Science (2023).

Merel is CAREful’s project leader, which was funded through an NWO Vici grant (2025).

Marlies Oegema

She is involved as a research assistant in CAREful. Her research interests include language, healthy aging, and dementia. Currently, Marlies is also pursuing a PhD project that investigates language, speech, and motor markers for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, in collaboration between the University of Groningen and Hanze University of Applied Sciences. She has a background in linguistics, holding a BA in German Language and Culture and Dutch Language and Culture, as well as an MA in Multilingualism and Language Acquisition.