Confirmed Speakers
Susie Dent - In conversation, with extended audience Q&A
Michelle Deeter MCIL
Michelle Deeter holds an MA and DPSI and is a Chinese to English translator and interpreter. Her assignments take her to a variety of venues, including universities, botanical gardens, hospitals and hotels. She also takes on remote interpreting assignments to interpret at various meetings and conferences. As a member of the National Register of Public Service Interpreters, she is experienced in both medical and legal interpreting. She teaches translation and interpreting part-time at Newcastle University.
Steve Doswell MCIL CL - Chair of CIOL Council
Steve is an experienced linguist and corporate communication practitioner with extensive experience spanning energy, power engineering, robotics, financial services and higher education.
He has also had experience as a translator (French/German-English) and became a CIOL member in the 1990s after completing the Final Diploma in Spanish. He was President of FEIEA, the European Association of Internal Communication 2010-2012 and CEO of the UK’s Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) 2011-2016. Steve is an author, having recently published a successful book based on his experience of the diverse languages and cultures of Europe experienced whilst running in all 28 EU countries for charity.
Ilenia Goffredo MCIL - Translator
Ilenia Goffredo is the co-founder and managing director of LingBox (www.lingbox.co.uk), a London-based translation agency providing businesses with translation services in multiple languages.
With over 10 years' experience in the translation industry, she has also been working as a professional English-Italian interpreter and translator specialised in marketing & advertising, business, market research and fashion, including a role as a Senior sub-editor for a global platform for luxury fashion.
Along with being an active member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists and an associate of the Institute of Translation & Interpreting, she holds a Master’s degree in Interpreting (Conference and PSI) and a Bachelor’s degree in Translation and Liaison Interpreting.
Rebecca Nicholls MCIL - Translator
Rebecca has worked in film and television for over twenty years, working with broadcasters and producers all over the world. After a BA in French from the University of Durham, Rebecca won a scholarship to QUT in Australia, where she gained a post-graduate level diploma in Film and Television Production. She worked at Channel Nine in Australia, before returning to Europe to work in international film distribution in London and Paris. She now specialises in the translation and distribution of French-language documentaries into English-speaking markets, with a particular interest in films about human rights and environmental issues.
Stella Hodkin - Chief Language Service Officer at CLEAR Global / Translators without Borders
Stella is a language service industry expert with an unwavering passion for languages and a profound belief in the transformative power of global communication. With over 20 years of experience in the language service industry, Stella has held a variety of roles, working as both a freelance and in-house translator, before transitioning to management roles within global language service providers.
In 2018, Stella joined the Leadership Team at CLEAR Global (formerly Translators without Borders), and today coordinates the Language Services Team. In this capacity, Stella leads a team dedicated to providing life-changing and potentially life-saving information in accessible language formats, leveraging TWB's community-based model to provide NGO partners with essential language services and support.
Additionally, Stella serves as Chapter Manager for the Italian Chapter of Women in Localization, further contributing to the advancement and empowerment of women within the localization industry.
Zoe Moores - Researcher, lecturer and professional subtitler
Zoe Moores is a researcher, lecturer and professional subtitler. Her doctoral research at the University of Roehampton explored how respeaking could be introduced into the live event setting in the UK to broaden the access provided for both d/Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audience members and the wider audience, and what additional skills and training would be required for those involved. She worked closely with the charity Stagetext to co-ordinate the project. Her work on the SMART project at the University of Surrey explored the provision of multilingual access through respeaking. Zoe provides consultancy and training in the areas of access and respeaking. She is a visiting lecturer at the University of Roehampton and a research fellow at the University of Warwick. As a member of GALMA, the Galician Observatory for Media Accessibility, she has been involved in a number of accessibility-related projects.
Professor Lingjin Kong (Frank) MCIL CL - Shandong Technology and Business University
Lingjin Kong is a Chartered Linguist, full Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists and Professor at Shandong Technology and Business University and Guest Professor of Beijing Forestry University.
He is an experienced Conference Interpreter and Translator with over 12 years’ experience and has been working with the Indian Embassy since 2010.
Vasiliki Prestidge MCIL CL MITI
Vasiliki is a translator, interpreter, transcreator, blogger, consultant and director of Greek to Me Translations Ltd. She works with English, Greek and French primarily and her team covers other language combinations. Services facilitate the business operations of the legal, creative, marketing & advertising, fashion and media industries across the UK, Greece, and Cyprus.
Vasiliki is a Chartered Linguist, member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL), the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI). She is registered with the Greek Consular Authorities in the United Kingdom as a certified translator and interpreter. She holds a BA in English Language and Linguistics and Masters in Business Translation and Interpreting. As Member of Council to the CIOL and Board Member of the IoL Educational Trust she overseas and supports the organisations' strategic goals.
She is a Lecturer in Legal Translation and Languages at the School of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University. Her mission is to help organisations and individuals achieve their goals through the power of words. Through The Translators Mentor, Vasiliki helps aspiring or young translators to overcome self-limiting beliefs, build a business mindset and achieve their highest potential.
You can follow her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Katie Santos MCIL CL - Interpreter
Katie studied Languages & Literature at the universities of Coimbra, Grenoble, and Southampton. She is a qualified interpreter, MCIL CL, Fellow of the ITI, and is on the National Register of Public Service Interpreters.
Besides interpreting, Katie has taught Portuguese, Translation and Interpreting at the Universities of Portsmouth, Bristol, Surrey and Southampton. In 2014, after intensive training, Katie became a Green Badge tourist guide in English and Portuguese, recognised by the Institute of Tourist Guiding and is also a T-Guide recognised by FEG in 2022. She has combined her love for languages, teaching and travelling by setting up Oak Tree Tours.
Gwenydd Jones MCIL CL - Freelance translator, editor and writer
Gwenydd Jones is a freelance translator, editor and writer. She holds the DipTrans, an MA in translation studies and an MA in legal translation.
Gwen's training company, The Translator’s Studio, specialises in teaching the art of translation and helping translators prepare for the CIOL CertTrans and DipTrans exams.
You can follow her on LinkedIn and visit her YouTube channel.
Dr Diana Singureanu MCIL CL and colleagues from the University of Surrey Centre for Translation Studies
Diana Singureanu holds a PhD in Interpreting Studies from the University of Surrey where she is also collaborating as a researcher on various projects on remote interpreting: WEBPSI (developing an EU web portal for video-mediated public service interpreting to improve access to basic services for migrants and refugees) and ASR4Court - Automatic Speech Recognition for Court Interpreting.
Diana holds a Masters in Translation Studies, a second Masters in Conference Interpreting and a DPSI Law. She also works as a Conference Interpreter and legal interpreter, is a member of CIOL Council and coordinator of CIOL's Interpreting Division.
Chloe Stout MCIL - Translator
Chloe Stout MCIL is a French and Italian into English translator based in West Yorkshire. She holds an MA in Audiovisual Translation Studies from the University of Leeds and has been freelancing for the last four years.
She mainly works on material in marketing, entertainment and education and loves combining her linguistic and technical capabilities in her subtitling work.
Norma Schifano PhD - Associate Professor in Modern Languages
Norma Schifano is Associate Professor in Modern Languages at the University of Birmingham. She specialises in Romance comparative linguistics, with specific attention paid to linguistic minorities (specifically the Italo-Greek speakers of southern Italy), and migrant communities (specifically the Latinx population of the UK). Her research encompasses a variety of topics in formal morphosyntax, including verb movement (Verb Movement in Romance, Oxford University Press, 2018), with a particular focus placed upon the investigation of internal vs contact-induced linguistic change. Norma is also interested in ethical challenges and opportunities raised by collaborations between academics and third-sector organisations representing linguistic minorities.
Confirmed Panellists
Dr Mariam Aboelezz MCIL CL
Mariam is a Lecturer in Arabic Translation Studies at the University of Liverpool. She previously taught at University College London, Birkbeck College and Lancaster University. She also worked as an Arabic translator at the British Library for seven years. Her research interests include Arabic linguistics, sociolinguistics and translation, and she has published a number of academic papers in these areas. She is particularly interested in the translation of cultural heritage. She has been a member of CIOL since 2007 and, in addition to a DipTrans from CIOL Qualifications, holds a PhD in Linguistics and MA in Language Studies from Lancaster University, and a BA in English Language from Ain Shams University in Egypt. She is passionate about promoting the teaching of non-European languages and fostering positive attitudes towards heritage languages in the UK.
Anita van Adelsbergen MCIL CL - Vice Chair of CIOL Council
Anita van Adelsbergen is a Chartered Linguist in the UK and an interpreter and sworn translator in the Netherlands. Alongside her career as a linguist, she has worked as an equestrian journalist and TV commentator for international broadcasters, including the Dutch national broadcaster NOS.
Mike Orlov - Executive Director NRPSI
Mike Orlov is Executive Director of the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI) and is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management (FInstLM), consultant, facilitator, mentor, business coach, trainer, public speaker as well being a published business writer. Mike is passionate about the role of professional public service interpreting and translating and is committed to lobbying and advocating for greater recognition, awareness and appreciation of language-service professionals serving the public and the public-sector in the UK.
The CIOL Awards
Celebrate and recognise outstanding contributions in the field of languages, as well as exceptional achievement in CIOL's professional language qualifications.
Recent winners receiving their CIOL Awards from HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO, CIOL Patron.
And much much more - watch this space for more speakers and the full conference season programme
Reserve your place and secure an 'early bird discount' by booking now via Eventbrite
