Barbara Dancygier completed her MA and PhD at the Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw, where she also worked as a faculty member till 1992.   After an extended research affiliation with the Linguistics Department at the University of California, Berkeley (first as a Fulbright Scholar, then as an independent researcher), she moved to Canada in 1997.   She taught at Simon Fraser University (Linguistics) and at the University of British Columbia (English).

She is now a Professor in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver.   Her primary focus in teaching and research is the department's Language Program (English Language Major, and also Graduate Program).   She is an associate of the Center for Human Evolution, Cognition, and Culture at UBC.   She lives in Vancouver with her husband and her son.