APTIS 2019 – ‘Inside the Academy/Outside the Academy’

As the UK and Ireland’s Association of Programmes in Translation and Interpreting Studies, our ambition is to improve the quality of learning and teaching as well as research on translation and interpreting programmes at HE institutions. To achieve this ambition, we encourage scholarly research ‘inside the Academy’ while supporting current and future professionals ‘outside the Academy’ by providing a forum where academics, professional organisations and stakeholders can exchange best practice – across and beyond the Academy.

Following the success of our 1st Annual Conference in Aston University in November 2018, our 2nd Annual Conference will act as a platform from which to enable translator and interpreter trainers, professionals and academics alike, to exchange ideas about the interaction and, sometimes, the tension between the academy and the world beyond (23-24 November 2019, Newcastle University). We would therefore like to invite proposals for papers, panels and hands-on workshops that look at the ways in which teaching and learning connects, or indeed, might connect, structures and concerns within the university setting with structures and concerns from outside that setting. Can we go beyond the dichotomy “Inside the Academy/Outside the Academy” in the UK and/or Irish contexts? Particular areas of interest include:

• University/industry partnerships in training (e.g. industry trainers working with the Academy, or visits by academics to industry players to learn more about them);
• Industry-inspired teaching in the classroom (e.g. how elements from the ‘outside’ feed into university teaching by helping create, for instance, simulated or life-like environments);
• Relationships between university programmes (or lecturers or students) and the local language communities surrounding the university;
• The potential impact of current ‘outside’ societal issues (which may include current debates on racism, sexism, (in)equality, etc.) on pedagogical approaches ‘inside’ the translation/interpreting classroom;
• The transition from university programmes into careers (academic or non-academic) and how we support them before, during and after;
• The transition back to university for students who spent time working in T&I outside the academy (free-lance experience, Year Abroad internship etc.);
• Work placements or internship programmes as part of study;
• Issues with recruiting etc.

This conference is open to non-UK/Irish academics and proposals on general translator and interpreter training practices are welcome too. However, the main focus of the conference remains TIS teaching and training in the UK and Ireland; the scientific committee will take this into consideration when reviewing proposals.

For more information about APTIS’s 2nd Annual Conference, please email the organisers on aptis2019@newcastle.ac.uk or check our website for regular updates: https://www.aptis-translation-interpreting.org/

For more information on how an Irish or UK University can JOIN APTIS (annual institutional membership fee for Universities is currently set at £155 per annum) please contact directly:

APTIS President Dr JC Penet (jc.penet@newcastle.ac.uk) or
APTIS Secretary Dr Anne Stokes (anne.stokes@stir.ac.uk).