Professor Stephen Bax, who has attracted international headlines over the past few weeks with his research into the Voynich manuscript, will examine the script and language of the celebrated 15th century document in a special talk on Thursday 10 April.

During the lecture, the Professor of Applied Linguistics will focus on the procedure and problems in decoding the manuscript, and will also discuss moves to identify the underlying language of the manuscript.

Additionally, he will report on recent developments in his Voynich research project – taking into account the huge feedback and input he has received from scholars around the world since his work was released.

Aside from expert help and many media calls, Professor Bax, who has been dubbed the "a real-life Indiana Jones", since Indiana also 'cracked' the Voynich code in a novel, has been fortunate to receive his very own Indiana Jones-style hats (pictured).

The Amazonas Real Brazilian TARP HAT COMPANY sent them through the post as a gift after seeing Professor Bax on BBC television.

Whilst Professor Bax isn't busy decoding manuscripts, his day-to-day role at Beds is at CRELLA at Putteridge Bury, which provides world-leading research and development in English language learning and assessment.

On Tuesday 25 February Stephen highlighted his work a CRELLA, at his inaugural lecture as a professor. The focus in that address was on his career research and the mechanics behind how we read and how we understand text.

Professor Bax highlighted the fact that it often involves needed intertextual knowledge (being able to understand a piece of text through your prior knowledge of another text or a symbol).

He also demonstrated advances in eye-tracking technology (of which CRELLA is leading world research in language testing), displaying examples of how it can give insights into the cognitive processes used when we read texts during exams.

"By using modern, non-intrusive eye-tracking technology, we can see exactly what people are looking at millisecond by millisecond. With the exam example you can clearly see how one candidate successfully scanned the text quickly and found the answer, while the unsuccessful candidate read laboriously through, inefficiently, and so failed to find the solution."

"So this wonderful technology gives us potentially useful insights into the reading process which can help students to read better in future."

Book free tickets for the 10 April lecture here: www.stephenbax.eventbrite.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITOR

View more information on Professor Bax's work on the Voynich 

Find out more about his work at the University's Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA) and also on his personal website www.stephenbax.net

To get your own tarp hat visit www.tarphat.co.uk