PhD candidate
Samira Khademrad is a PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics at the University of Groningen, working under the supervision of Merel Keijzer, Sarah Janus, Seyed Hadi Mirvahedi, and Josh Prada. She holds a BA in English Language Teaching from Azad University in Tabriz, Iran. Following nearly a decade as an English language educator, she completed her MA in Applied Linguistics at the University of Groningen. Her award-nominated master's thesis, conducted within the BALAB, investigated the language barriers and healthcare struggles of elderly Afghan migrants in the northern Netherlands. Prior to starting her PhD, she also served as a Research Assistant at BALAB. Samira's research focuses on the intersection of multilingualism, cognitive health, and equitable healthcare. She is particularly interested in utilizing participatory action research to support vulnerable migrant populations and amplify underrepresented voices in dementia care.
Project description
First-generation migrants in the Netherlands are disproportionately affected by dementia, yet they are significantly underrepresented due to culturally and linguistically insensitive care systems.
As part of the NWO Vici-funded CAREful about Language project, Samira’s PhD project, CARE to talk, focuses on the role of language in person-centered dementia care for migrants. She first conducts co-creation research with Afghan and Iranian stakeholders to identify the specific language practices needed to achieve dementia-friendly communities for those still living at home.
Building upon that community-based foundation, her primary independent research investigates the transition into long-term residential care. She examines whether placing a patient's home language at the center of their care plan, alongside providing multisensory home-language therapy, improves the psychosocial health, quality of life, and cognitive functioning of Persian-speaking (Afghan and Iranian) and Turkish-speaking migrants. The project innovatively integrates person-centered care templates with multisensory reminiscence therapy to foster meaningful interactions, even in the absence of a shared language. By treating language as a fundamental condition for inclusive care, her research aims to effect social transformations in dementia care landscapes for underserved migrant populations.
