ProfessorGail Gillon

Professor Gillon (Ngāi Tahu iwi) is the Founding Director of the University of Canterbury Child Well-Being Research Institute. Prof Gillon is also the New Zealand UNESCO National Commissioner for Education.

Professor Gillon has a strong leadership and research background in education and speech-language therapy. She has held roles as Dean of Science, Dean of Education, and Pro-Vice Chancellor for the College of Education, Health and Human Development  at the University of Canterbury. Most recently she was the Deputy Director for the Better Start National Science Challenge E Tipu E Rea. She contributed to the leadership of a 10-year programme of research ($34million) focused on ensuring all young children have a successful start to life. 

Professor Gillon is well known internationally for her research in phonological awareness and children’s early literacy development. She has won several prestigious research awards for her pioneering work in effective interventions to accelerate reading in children with speech and language disorders and children with dyslexia. She has published well over 100 scientific research papers, and has presented numerous keynote and invited speeches around the world.

Professor Gillon is the Co-Lead Developer of the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA). This is a culturally responsive and structured literacy teaching approach based on the science of reading. It is currently being implemented in over 1000 schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand. Professor Gillon is leading a range of research projects analysing data from the response of over 100,000 young children to BSLA teaching. Recent projects include understanding early literacy development in children who are English Language Learners, accelerating literacy in Maori and Pacific children in culturally responsive ways and the use of novel online assessments to monitor children’s growth in foundational oral language and early literacy skills.

Professor Gillon is a Fellow of Te Aparangi, the Royal Society of New Zealand, the first New Zealander to be made a Fellow of the American Speech-Language and Therapy Association, and a Life member of the New Zealand Speech Language Therapy Association. She has received several awards for her research including the prestigious University of Canterbury Research Excellence Medal and the University of Canterbury Research Innovation Medal.