"A visual world: Research on sign language"

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This presentation will give an overview of key research that is currently being (or has recently been) conducted by members of the sign language research team at Heriot-Watt University, which draws upon linguistic, sociolinguistic, and applied linguistic frameworks for the analysis of sign language structure, usage, communication and identity.

Note: the event will be interpreted into BSL.

Programme

12:15pm      Lunch (at own expense)
                      Attendees are welcome to meet up and network beforehand over lunch Bella Italia.
                      The restaurant is only a few minute walk from the venue of the presentation.
2:00pm        Presentation followed by Q&A
3:00pm        Introduction to BSL (approximately 30 minutes).

Lunch venue
Bella Italia
54-56 North Bridge
Edinburgh EH1 1SB

Once the talk has concluded Scottish Society committee members usually go for a drink at a nearby café or pub. Please feel free to join if you have some time available as this is a great opportunity for networking with students and fellow linguists.

The CIOL Scottish Society is able to provide a proof of attendance note for CPD purposes. Anyone wishing this should make contact with a member of the Committee at the meeting; requests made after the event cannot be fulfilled.

Speaker bio

Jemina Napier
Jemina is an interpreter researcher, educator and practitioner and a Fellow of CIOL. She has practiced as a sign language interpreter since 1988, and works between English and BSL, Auslan or International Sign.  Jemina was in the first cohort of interpreters to receive International Sign interpreter accreditation in 2015 through the new accreditation process established jointly by the World Federation of the Deaf and the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters.

In 2013, she returned to the UK after 15 years in Australia, where she was Head of Translation & Interpreting at Macquarie University in Sydney, and also where she established the only accredited postgraduate training program for sign language interpreters in Australia. She is now Professor and Chair of Intercultural Communication in the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, where she teaches sign language interpreting at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and supervises PhD students conducting research on sign language and/or interpreting related topics. Jemina’s research focuses primarily on sign language interpreting as a situated social practice and interpreting pedagogy, and she has published 11 books and edited volumes and nearly 100 peer-reviewed book chapters and journal articles on these topics. 

Jemina has been actively involved in the sign language interpreting profession having served on boards of professional associations in the UK and Australia. She served on the Australian Sign Language Interpreters Association (ASLIA) board from 2002-2009 (Vice-President 2005-2007, President 2007-2009) and was awarded Honorary Life Membership at the ASLIA AGM in 2012 in recognition of her contribution to the profession.

Jemina was an inaugural board member of World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI), and is currently co-chair of the European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters Committee of Experts, a member of the World Federation of the Deaf Expert Group on Accessibility, and a member of the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters (SASLI) Continuing Professional Development Committee. She was the inaugural Editor of the International Journal of Interpreter Education and still serves on the editorial board, and has provided training to sign language interpreters across the globe in Brazil, Fiji, USA, New Zealand, Kosovo and supported training in Gambia.