An influential July 2010 report by Paul Kerswill, Professor of Sociolinguistics at Lancaster University, "Multicultural London English: the emergence, acquisition and diffusion of a new variety", predicted that the cockney accent will disappear from London's streets within 30 years. The study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, said that the accent, which has been around for more than 500 years, is being replaced in London by a new hybrid language. "Cockney in the East End is now transforming itself into Multicultural London English, a new, melting-pot mixture of all those people living here who learnt English as a second language", Prof Kerswill said.