Professor Yvonne Wren

Overview

Yvonne is Professor in Speech and Language Therapy at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Director of Bristol Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit at North Bristol NHS Trust and Professor of Speech and Communication at the University of Bristol. She was also chair of the Child Speech Committee and on the board of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (aka IALP) from 2016 to 2022, is the founder and inaugural chair of the Child Speech Disorder Research Network, and was Associate Editor for the journal Folia Phoniatrica et Logopedica from 2016 to 2019.

Yvonne qualified as a speech and language therapist at the University of Manchester and then worked in a clinical capacity in Liverpool and Bristol for ten years before joining BSLTRU. She obtained her PhD in 2005 from the University of Bristol and was awarded a research fellowship from the National Institute of Health Research in 2011. While Yvonne’s specific research interests are in speech sound disorder and cleft lip and palate, she leads a team of researchers and clinical academics conducting research across a wide range of areas related to speech, language, communication and swallowing impairment.

Yvonne is senior research advisor to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapist (RCSLT) and a member of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech. The impact of her work includes the development of two sets of guidelines for the transcription and analysis of children’s speech with the Child Speech Disorder Research Network, both of which have been endorsed by RCSLT, and the identification of risk factors for persistent speech disorders, which has contributed to the All Wales Speech Pathway and clinical guidance provided by the RCSLT.

Her awards include a Giving Voice award from the RCSLT in 2022, Certificate of Appreciation from the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2021, Patient Involvement and Engagement in Research (PIER) Award from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (with colleagues in the Cleft Collective) in 2020, and the Editor’s award for the Speech Section of the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research (with Sound Start Study colleagues) in 2017.

Yvonne receives numerous invitations to speak and give keynote presentations at both national and international conferences and has over 100 publications.

Research Publications

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